Dr. Dre easily declares Kendrick Lamar the victor in his beef with Drake, but there was one moment in particular that made him call it before the pair were done going back and forth last spring.
Dre joins Kenya Barris and Malcolm Gladwell for the debut episode of their new Audible series The Unusual Suspects, published on Thursday (January 30). When the topic of his mentee and the beef came up, Dre noted that it was the second Drizzy started talking about K. Dot’s family that he threw away any support he may have had for the OVO rapper.
“I love [‘Not Like Us’],” he said. “I’ma say this on camera. I don’t want to get negative. My whole sh*t is about being positive and moving forward and all that sh*t, but the fact I heard Drake say something negative about Kendrick’s wife and his kids, that made me say, ‘Ah, adios!’”
Listen to the clip below, via Billboard.
Drake said multiple things about Kendrick Lamar’s partner Whitney Alford during the back and forth, including alleging she had an affair with Kendrick’s longtime manager and business partner Dave Free and that he’s the real father to one of her children with Dot.
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However, it’s Drake who’s suing Universal Music Group for defamation over Kendrick’s “Not Like Us.”
Earlier this month, Drizzy filed a complaint in New York federal court accusing the music giant — the parent company of his and Kendrick’s respective record labels — of defamation and harassment.
In the suit, which has been viewed by HipHopDX, the Toronto rap star condemns UMG for having “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him.”
He repeats previous claims that the company used “unlawful” methods to turn “Not Like Us” into a global hit, including secretly paying for fake streams and radio play.
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The motive for this, he says, was financial. Not only would the song generate massive amounts of money through streams and sales, but UMG knew its “dangerous” content would “devalue Drake’s music and brand” and give them an advantage when it came time to renegotiate his contract.
“UMG anticipated that extending Drake’s contract would be costly,” the lawsuit reads. “By devaluing Drake’s music and brand, UMG would gain leverage to force Drake to sign a new deal on terms more favorable to UMG.”
Supporting his claim of defamation, the complaint includes numerous examples of the “avalanche of online hate speech” that has “branded Drake a sex offender and pedophile.”
It also cites a shooting at the rapper’s Toronto home shortly after the release of “Not Like Us” which injured a security guard, as well as multiple trespassing incidents. According to Drake, UMG is to blame.
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While the 6 God has faced backlash within the Hip Hop community for taking legal action in a rap beef, the lawsuit makes clear that his dispute is solely with UMG and not Kendrick Lamar.
The suit demands a jury trial.
