Drake upped the ante this week by formally filing a defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group for their promotion of “Not Like Us.” The internet quickly noticed one glaring mistake about Kendrick Lamar written in the lengthy paperwork.
The 38-year-old rapper’s legal team was thorough in citing lines from the hit diss track and how they threatened violence against him, especially given the number of trespassing attempts that occurred at his Toronto home and one of his security guards being shot. In their attempt to suggest that the line “I think that Oakland show gon’ be your last stop ni**a” meant that if Drizzy went to the California city he would be harmed, they falsely claimed that K. Dot grew up in Oakland.
There is much intrigue about Lamar’s lore and the dichotomy he experienced growing up, but one well-known fact is that he was born and raised in Compton, Calif. The purpose of the Oakland line is better understood when citing the line before it, when the Pulitzer Prize winner rapped “You think the Bay gon’ let you disrespect ‘Pac, ni**a?” The GNX artist was referring to the fact that the All Eyez On Me rapper spent a significant part of his life in Oakland, and the 6 God used his vocals on “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Thus, people in the city would not be happy with him if and when he visited for a performance. Check out the false claim below.
Despite this error, Drake’s legal team held nothing back in breaking down Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” and Universal Music Group’s promotional efforts in the new lawsuit. They cited how streamers were permitted to play and react to the song in their content, which has sometimes been hindered due to copyright and licensing issues. He also doubled down on his claim that UMG used bots on streaming platforms, namely Spotify, and Payola to increase the track’s popularity.
“On May 4, 2024, UMG 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,” the paperwork reads. “Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake’s music for years, and knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
This comes just two months after the “Family Matters” rapper submitted pre-action petitions against Spotify and UMG for artificially inflating the popularity of “Not Like Us” and defamation, respectively. He dropped the pre-action petition against Spotify earlier this week, but the fight with UMG continues. Much like they responded in November, the label is holding firm in their position of not doing anything wrong.
“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,” UMG said in a statement. “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.” They cited how Drake utilized UMG’s resources for his previous battles, and now looks to “weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression.”
The label denied engaging in defamation in the past, but specifically in this particular scenario despite the father of one’s belief that they intended to decrease his value so he could get less money when it came time for contract negotiation. “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 than write a song,” they wrote to close their statement.
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