Drake sues Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s paedophilia claims
Drake has sued his own record label, Universal Music Group, for defamation and harassment over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ diss track. The Toronto rapper filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York on January 15th, accusing the company of valuing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
‘Not Like Us‘ was released by Lamar on May 4th at the height of his feud with Drake, less than 24 hours after dropping ‘Meet the Grahams’. The song, which peaked at number one on the Hot 100, accuses Drake of paedophilia and sexual misconduct, which the Canadian strongly denies.
According to The New York Times, Drizzy’s suit claims Universal “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”
Drake and Kendrick are both signed to Universal through different subsidiary companies. Kendrick has a deal with Universal through Interscope Records, while Drake is signed through Republic Records.
The lawsuit references the artwork for ‘Not Like Us’, which uses a photo of Drake’s home in Toronto with markers to show the presence of a registered sex offender. Days after the song was released, a shooting took place at the residence, resulting in the injury of a security guard. Two others allegedly attempted to trespass following ‘Not Like Us’.
However, Drake assures that the lawsuit has nothing to do with Kendrick himself. “This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us’,” the documents state. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetise allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
The news comes shortly after it was announced that Drake had dropped his legal action against Universal and Spotify on January 14th, where he accused them of boosting Kendrick’s ‘Not Like Us’ streams.
Drizzy’s filing by Frozen Moments LLC claimed that bots, undisclosed payments and biased recommendations were at play in the alleged practice. Now, it’s clear that it was scrapped in place of the lawsuit filed on January 15th.
Universal previously denied Drake’s claims, stating, “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”