M Night Shyamalan praises Kendrick Lamar ‘The Sixth Sense’ reference
The ongoing feud between Kendrick Lamar and Drake might be subdued for the time being, nevertheless, director and screenwriter M Night Shyamalan has opened up about being a central reference in two of the Compton rapper’s songs which borrow lines and themes from his 1999 classic The Sixth Sense.
Lamar referenced the director’s hit supernatural movie twice during the battle, first in ‘Euphoria‘ and again in ‘Not Like Us’. In the former, Lamar raps, “Am I battlin’ ghosts or AI? Feelin’ like Joel Osteen/ Funny, he was in a film called A.I./ And my Sixth Sense tellin’ me to off him.” In ‘Not Like Us’, he says the classic line, “I see dead people.”
Appearing on the Way Up with Angela Yee podcast with his daughter Saleka, the director opened up about having met Lamar before and appreciating his work, saying, “We kind of lightly know each other, and I did know [he was a fan].” He added: “He’s very gracious with me, and I love him.”
Shyamalan then revealed that someone in his office told him about the reference in ‘Euphoria’, recalling, “The first song ends with it, so someone in the office was like, ‘Oh, Kendrick just dropped something and it references one of your [movies]’. I was like, ‘Oh, cool.’ That was before everything blew up.”
The director and Saleka appeared ahead of his upcoming movie Trap, in which his daughter stars alongside Josh Hartnett, Ariel Donoghue, Hayley Mills, and Alison Pill. The movie is partially inspired by Operation Flagship, a sting operation in which 101 wanted fugitives were arrested at a conference after being lured there under the false guise of being offered free NFL tickets.
In addition to starring as singer Lady Raven, Saleka also composed fourteen songs for the movie, and she made contributions to her father’s movie Old and the series Servant. After attending one of his daughter’s shows on tour, Shyamalan was inspired by the concert and the Prince movie Purple Rain when incorporating musical elements into Trap, with Saleka also noting that Bollywood played a vital role.
Discussing the movie in an interview with Consequence, she described it as a “Shyamalan American version of a Bollywood movie that is grounded and the songs make sense — not necessarily a musical, but completely music-centric.”
Trap will be released in the US on August 2nd, 2024, and in the UK on August 9th, 2024.