Like That (Future and Metro Boomin song)

"Like That" is a song by American rapper Future, American record producer Metro Boomin and fellow American rapper Kendrick Lamar. It was sent to US rhythmic radio through Freebandz (under the business name Wilburn Holding Co.), Boominati Worldwide, Epic Records, and Republic Records as the third and final single from Future and Metro's collaborative studio album, We Don't Trust You, on March 26, 2024.^[1] Solely produced by Metro himself, the three artists wrote the song alongside Kobe Hood; Rodney-O & Joe Cooley are also credited as songwriters as the bass line in the song contains samples of their 1986 song, "Everlasting Bass". "Like That" also has additional elements that contain samples of Eazy-E's 1989 single, "Eazy-Duz-It", and contains a vocal sample of Michel'le. It is a trap and hardcore hip hop track that is predominantly composed of lively percussions. "Like That" received positive reviews from music critics, who primarily praised Lamar's performance. His verse, which attracted significant media coverage, is a diss aimed at fellow rappers Drake and J. Cole; some outlets consider it to be his response to their 2023 collaboration, "First Person Shooter".

"Like That" was quickly met with commercial success, debuting atop the Billboard Hot 100, Global 200, and Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs charts simultaneously. It was both Future and Lamar's third number-one single on the former chart, and Metro's first as a credited artist. The song also topped the Canadian Hot 100 and peaked within the top ten of several countries in Europe and Oceania.

Background

On October 6, 2023, Drake released the song "First Person Shooter" as part of his album For All the Dogs, with rapper J. Cole, in which the latter shouts out the two rappers and Kendrick Lamar as the "big three" of rap music.^[2] Additionally, Drake indirectly called out Metro Boomin in December 2023 for being a "tweet and deleter" after the latter posted a tweet on Twitter aimed at him.^[3]

Composition and lyrics

"Like That" is a "bouncy" trap and hardcore hip hop track driven by "rapid" and "uniquely southern" percussions, as well as a "menacing" bassline.^[4] It samples two songs: Rodney-O & Joe Cooley's "Everlasting Bass" (1988) and Eazy-E's "Eazy-Duz-It" (1989).^[4] Metro Boomin, who has greatly admired the former group, contacted Rodney-O through his record companies and asked for his permission to use the sped-up sample on "Like That". He approved after listening to a version of the song that cut off before Lamar's verse started.^[5]

Lyrically, Lamar uses his surprise appearance to directly respond to "First Person Shooter", rapping: "Yeah, get up with me, fuck sneak dissing / "First Person Shooter", I hope they came with three switches". He also rejected J. Cole's idea of the three rappers representing hip hop as its "big three" and claims that he alone takes the top spot: "Motherfuck the big three, nigga it's just big me".^[6] Throughout his verse, Lamar compares his rivalry with Drake to Prince's reported feud with Michael Jackson ("What? I'm really like that / And your best work is a light pack / Nigga, Prince outlived Mike Jack").^[7] Drake has notably compared himself to Michael Jackson on numerous occasions, including during the final verse of "First Person Shooter", and Lamar has similarly compared himself to Prince. Lamar also makes references to the Click ("Niggas clickin' up, but K.Dot be legit / No 40 Water") and Stephen King's 1983 novel Pet Sematary ("'Fore all your dogs gettin' buried / That's a K with all these nines / He gon' see Pet Sematary").^[8]

Critical reception

Angel Diaz of Billboard ranked "Like That" as the third best song on We Don't Trust You. Diaz wrote that the track is "Hip-Hop in its purest form" and described it as "the album’s thesis".^[9]

Andrew Sacher of BrooklynVegan argued that the Lamar appearance feels "like an event" and "another great one" at that, as he shows up in a "chest-out, no-bullshit mode" on the track.^[10] Carl Lamarre at Billboard thought that Lamar appeared on the track with "vitriol" while delivering "an explosive verse".^[6] HotNewHipHop's Alexander Cole called the beat a perfect fit for Future, "who glides over the track at the beginning and end".^[11] Dylan Green of Pitchfork thought, "It's guest Kendrick Lamar who provides the song's showstopping moment, dropping the therapeutic malaise of 2022's Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers in favor of coming directly at contemporaries J. Cole and Drake after years of subliminals."^[12]

Commercial performance

Upon the release of We Don't Trust You, "Like That" earned 10.26 million on-demand streams in the United States and 7.21 million streams on Spotify globally.^[13][14] It peaked atop the Spotify U.S. chart with 3.73 million first-day plays, besting its closest competitor by nearly 400,000 streams.^[15] Within its first three days of availability, the song accumulated 25.62 million streams in the country.^[13] Several of Drake's songs saw a noticeable increase in streams due to "Like That", such as "First Person Shooter" (10 percent) and "What Would Pluto Do" (34 percent).^[13]

"Like That" debuted at number one on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 for the chart issue dated April 6, 2024, with 59.6 million streams, 9,000 digital downloads sold, and an airplay audience of 5.6 million.^[16] It marked Future and Lamar's third number-one single in the country and Metro's first as a billed recording artist, having co-written and co-produced previous chart-toppers "Heartless" by the Weeknd (2019) and "Bad and Boujee" by Migos featuring Lil Uzi Vert (2016).^[16] "Like That" also debuted atop the Billboard Global 200 with 91 million streams and 10,000 copies sold worldwide, becoming Future, Lamar, and Metro's first number-one single, and at number six on the Global Excl. US chart with 31.9 million streams.^[17]

The single premiered atop Billboard's Streaming Songs chart as Lamar's fourth, Future's third and Metro's first number-one song.^[18] It marked the largest opening week for a track since Taylor Swift's 2022 single "Anti-Hero" (59.7 million),^[16] and the best streaming week for a hip hop song since Drake's 2021 single "Way 2 Sexy" featuring Future and Young Thug (67.3 million).^[18] Additionally earning the biggest streaming week of any song in the U.S. in 2024 so far, it tallied the most streams in a single week since Miley Cyrus' 2023 single "Flowers" (59.7 million streams during its second week of charting).^[16]

Charts

References