Toronto Chinese restaurant sees boost after Kendrick Lamar ‘Euphoria’ mention
By Bryan Ke
New Ho King, a Chinese restaurant in Toronto’s Chinatown, has experienced a surge of positive reviews after being mentioned in Kendrick Lamar’s diss track.
Key points:
- Lamar drops his reference to the Toronto Chinatown restaurant in his new track “Euphoria,” a diss track aimed at Canadian rapper Drake, which was released on Tuesday.
- In the later part of the song, Lamar raps, “I be at New Ho King eatin’ fried rice with a dip sauce and a blammy, crodie.”
- After hearing the reference, many fans of the Compton-born American rapper started leaving five-star reviews for New Ho King on Google. Its owner, Johnny Lu, told City News that his phone has been “blowing up with messages” since.
The details:
- “I’m trying to learn this song now,” Lu giddily told City News while playing the track. “I see, Kendrick’s a good guy. Oh my God.”
- While their relationship started amicably, with collaborations on several projects earlier in their careers, Lamar fired the first shot in Big Sean’s 2013 song “Control.” He continued on with the assault later that year at the 2013 BET Hip Hop Awards.
- Both artists reportedly fired subtle shots at each other in 2015 and 2016. The feud escalated further when J. Cole, another rapper involved in the beef, took aim at Lamar in Drake’s October 2023 song “First Person Shooter.”
- Lamar then responded with his own diss in Future and Metro Boomin’s track “Like That,” released in March. Drake later joined the fray with his two tracks “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made,” targeting Lamar and their feud.
- In his “Euphoria” track, Lamar accused Drake of many things, including using ghostwriters and artificial intelligence to create his music.
- Lamar also employed Canadian slang in his lyrics, including the word “crodie,” which is reportedly the Crips gang version of the word “brodie,” a slang used in Toronto for “brother” or “bro.”
Reactions:
- After the diss track went viral on YouTube, amassing over 10.2 million views in just two days, many people left positive reviews on New Ho King on Google, with one person writing, “Drake didn’t want me to support local but Kendrick said I should try the fried rice.”
- “Thank you Kendrick, now i have to order 100 Glutinous rice, I’m loving this restaurant! They gonna be seeing me everyday,” another review read.
- “I will be there soon when I visit Toronto and try the food! Thanks Kendrick Lamar for the referral,” one rap fan wrote on Google reviews.
- Meanwhile, some users on X are praising Lamar for exposing Toronto’s Chinatown businesses to the rest of the world. One user wrote in their post, “Ya everyone in toronto knows drake reps blueblood steakhouse or some other rosedale bistro while kendrick is amplifying new ho king we are absolutely cooked.
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