Drake launched a defamation lawsuit in opposition to Universal Music Group (UMG), the report firm he shares with rival Kendrick Lamar, after his diss hit Not Like Us was launched.
The lawsuit, which was submitted to a federal courtroom in New York on Wednesday, is the newest growth within the two rappers’ ongoing battle.
This motion follows the Canadian rapper Aubrey Drake Graham’s withdrawal of a lawsuit he filed in opposition to Spotify and UMG.
The two companies have been accused of exaggerating the recognition of Lamar’s music within the prior submitting, which was a plea for paperwork reasonably than a lawsuit.
Drake’s authorized workforce alleged in that doc that UMG had paid radio stations and influencers to fictitiously enhance the music’s presence on streaming providers.
Drake claims that the promoting of Not Like Us was meant to break his repute, and he accuses UMG of harassment and defamation in his newest grievance. The lyrics of the music, which peaked at primary on the US charts, name Drake a “licensed paedophile.”
According to the lawsuit, UMG’s function in releasing and selling the music resulted in a marketing campaign that inaccurately depicted Drake as a felony.
Despite the contentious and offensive nature of the music, Drake’s authorized workforce contends that UMG not solely allowed it but in addition actively tried to make it go viral.
The motion attracts consideration to the art work for the music, which featured a photograph of Drake’s residence with markers pointing to the residences of intercourse offenders who’ve been registered.
It additionally alludes to a capturing exterior Drake’s home that wounded a safety guard a couple of days after the music was launched.
The lawsuit compares this incidence to the infamous 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy, which accused a pizza of being a centre for youngster trafficking, and hyperlinks it to the destructive public response sparked by the libellous lyrics. It additionally cites many trespassing makes an attempt.
Following the publication of Lamar’s music Not Like Us, which referred to as Drake a “coloniser” who was making the most of the hip-hop business along with being a paedophile, the stress between Drake and Lamar grew in 2023.
The music’s reputation on streaming providers, notably Spotify, which noticed record-breaking streams, fuelled the animosity, which had already seen the 2 musicians commerce a variety of diss tunes.
Drake filed a second case in Texas in November, claiming that UMG supported Not Like Us by paying radio station iHeartRadio to advertise the music and that the enterprise permitted its distribution regardless of its offensive lyrics.
