Drake has received a fast and forceful response from Universal Music Group after suing them for defamation over Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us.”
Filed in New York federal court on Wednesday (January 15), the lawsuit claims the music giant — the parent company of both Drake and Kendrick’s longtime record labels — knew the allegations in the hit diss song were false but released and promoted the song anyway, choosing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
In a statement to HipHopDX, a UMG spokesperson hit back at the bombshell suit — the first of its kind in a rap beef — by calling Drizzy’s claims “untrue” and “illogical.”
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical,” they said.
“We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists.
“He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”
The statement continued: “We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song.”
In his lawsuit, which came shortly after Drake withdrew his initial pre-action petition against UMG, the 6 God argues that “Not Like Us” has not only damaged his reputation but opened him up to real-life violence.
The complaint cites a shooting at his Toronto home shortly after the song’s release that injured a security guard, as well as multiple trespassing incidents, blaming UMG for inciting such reactions with the diss track.
As a result, “Drake fears for the safety and security of himself, his family, and his friends” and “pulled his son out of the elementary school he attended in Toronto due to safety concerns.”
The suit also repeats previous claims that the music conglomerate artificially boosted the popularity of “Not Like Us” through streaming bots and payola, which was motivated by money and the desire to “devalue Drake’s music and brand in order to gain leverage” in renegotiating his contract.
Drake reiterates in the filing that he is not taking action against Kendrick Lamar, even though he is the one who wrote and rapped the allegedly defaming lyrics.
“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,” it emphasizes. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
Kendrick Lamar has yet to comment on the legal drama.
While Drake’s pre-action petition against UMG and Spotify has been withdrawn, a similar filing in Texas against the company, as well as iHeartMedia, remains active and is set to be heard in court on January 28.
It remains to be seen whether a formal lawsuit will be filed in that case as well.
Drake is gay and still a pedophile supporting sore loser
Hebrew what was going to happen when he died K.Dot and did it anyways now since he lost he’s Womaning up by lashing out like a jealous housewife on her period. Just take the L and move on, he’s just making it worse.
Instead of dealing with his L like the man he isn’t, Lawbrey Graham took his ball and went home 🤡
More like took his ball and ran to a referee to bitch
Drake is the greatest entertainer on the planet. He didn’t take his balls and run, he took them and placed them in my mouth👄🤤😋
those creepy owls eh
Drake’s state of mind about Kendrick: 🙈🙉🙊
Drake is truly afraid of Kendrick lol. Sue Kendrick instead.
Drake suing over a diss track will go down as the lamest, softest move in the history of rap. He should be embarrassed of himself
Keep crying cocksuckers. Drake won the beef. LA burnt down. When they rebuild rap f8ggots will be long gone from there
No one agrees with you Greg. Like your own comments 15 plus times while you cry and cut yourself in the shower.
Lol “no one agrees” that LA burned down. You f8ggots make me laugh. No one told Benderick to put it all on LA down to DeMar. He did. City burnt down. Goofy homos on here think its a movie. Probably have to move the Olympics once they realize they can’t rebuild in time.
👁️❤️🐓🍭👄😋🤤👨❤️👨👨❤️💋👨
Kendrick is not Pac ! Drake is not Pac . This little rappers are stvpyd
He’s actually suing content creators for doing their jobs and being non bias. What little respect I had for him just went out the window.
You’re an idiot if you think some trash song gives you the right to slander and defame someone with lies. But we already know who won and who lost. LA burned down. All the nice parts are gone outside city limits. Just Hollywood and the ghetto is left.
You definitely don’t know how to read and definitely a Qu33r Bot if your still obsessed with Kendrick like this. Kindly Ctrl Alt Delete Yourself.
Drake🟰🚼😭😿
Mndem took the bag off Bendrick head. Living the full humiliation of seeing his city burn down in front of him knowing people blame him for this disaster is a far worse fate than making him a martyr for f8ggot rap.
Dude, go for a walk. Stop supporting a pedo.
Mandem took the bag off Bendrick head. Living the full humiliation of seeing his city burn down in front of him knowing people blame him for this disaster is a far worse fate than making him a martyr for f8ggot rap.
Go fuck yourself, great greg aka🤔. Drake sucks 🫏@$$. Just accept it.
How about go grab a bucket little guy. LA is still burning down to the ground. They need all hands on deck. Maybe those tears can help
Hi, I’m BBQ at Bendrick’s and I’m a big 👬 who constantly needs self validation through 🧌ing and love the taste of semen. I’m such a f8ggot.
I’m a butt pirate like every OvHoe groupie is and I absolutely ❤️ getting destroyed by gangs of men.
These gutter people lost everything for LA. Going to be fun to see the city turn on Benderick in TBE coming months. They lost everything. F8ggot rap died in the fire
These gutter people lost everything for LA. Going to be fun to see the city turn on Benderick in the coming months. They lost everything. F8ggot rap died in the fire
These gutter people lost everything for LA. Going to be fun to see the city turn on Benderick in the coming months. They lost everything. F8ggot rap died in the fire. You followed homos and lost it all.
Drake is a gay cornball.
Drake has lil baby balls