Drake has filed a defamation lawsuit towards Common Music Group, the dad or mum report label he and Kendrick Lamar are signed to.
Drake filed a lawsuit in federal courtroom on Wednesday and known as the discharge of Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” which is aimed on the Canadian rapper, an instance of valuing “company greed over the security and well-being of its artists.” On the tune Lamar calls Drake a pedophile and accuses him of appropriating Black tradition.
Drake is signed to UMG subsidiary Republic Data, whereas Lamar is signed to UMG’s Interscope Data. The brand new lawsuit claims UMG “permitted, printed and launched a marketing campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap observe” that was “supposed to convey the precise, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a felony pedophile, and to counsel that the general public ought to resort to vigilante justice in response.”
“UMG deliberately sought to show Drake right into a pariah, a goal for harassment, or worse,” the criticism reads. “UMG did so not as a result of it believes any of those false claims to be true, however as a substitute as a result of it might revenue from damaging Drake’s fame.”
Drake’s newest go well with comes two months after he claimed UMG and Spotify inflated the streams of “Not Like Us.” But it surely was reported late Tuesday that he dropped the authorized motion in that case.
“This lawsuit is not in regards to the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” the brand new go well with claims. “It’s, as a substitute, totally about UMG, the music firm that determined to publish, promote, exploit and monetize allegations that it understood weren’t solely false, however harmful.”
Lamar’s “Not Like Us” was one among 2024’s largest hits. It spent two weeks on prime of the all-genre Billboard Scorching 100 chart; it spent 20 weeks at No. 1 on the Scorching rap songs chart. The tune is nominated for 5 Grammy Awards, together with tune and report of the 12 months, and it has turn into a world, cultural anthem and greater than a dis observe.
Days after Lamar launched the tune, Drake’s safety guard was shot exterior his Toronto dwelling. “With the palpable bodily menace to Drake’s security and the bombardment of on-line harassment, Drake fears for the security and safety of himself, his household, and his buddies,” in line with the brand new go well with. “After the assaults on his dwelling, Drake pulled his son out of the elementary college he attended in Toronto as a consequence of security issues, and as soon as college ended for the summer time, Drake organized for his son and mom to go away Toronto totally. Daily, Drake continues to take steps to handle persistent threats to his safety.”
UMG responded to the lawsuit on Wednesday, saying: “Not solely are these claims unfaithful, however the notion that we’d search to hurt the fame of any artist — not to mention Drake — is illogical. We’ve got invested massively in his music and our staff all over the world have labored tirelessly for a few years to assist him obtain historic industrial and private monetary success.
“All through his profession, Drake has deliberately and efficiently used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to interact in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to specific his emotions about different artists. He now seeks to weaponize the authorized course of to silence an artist’s artistic expression and to hunt damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music,” the assertion continued.
Lamar launched the anthemic West Coast banger in Could after the rappers’ feud resurfaced in March. After going forwards and backwards with dis songs, Lamar dropped “Not Like Us,” calling Drake a pedophile and accusing him of appropriating Black tradition. The upbeat DJ Mustard-produced observe set streaming information and spectators topped Lamar the winner of the battle because of this. The meat originated in 2013 when Lamar — who previously collaborated with Drake and opened for him on tour — despatched jabs to 11 of his contemporaries via his visitor verse on Massive Sean’s “Management.”
