Universal Music Group (UMG) has issued a response to Drake's lawsuit involving Kendrick Lamar's scathing 2024 diss track, "Not Like Us."
On Wednesday (Jan. 15), the five-time Grammy winner filed a defamation lawsuit against UMG after revoking his initial petition, alleging that "Not Like Us" spread a "false and malicious narrative" about him being a pedophile. It's important to note that while Drake is suing UMG, he is not suing Kendrick.
"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," a spokesperson said on behalf of UMG, according to Variety. "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."
The statement continues: “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 spokesperson added that during Drake's career, the rapper "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." The label now believes he "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."
"We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual," the statement reads. "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, Drizzy points blame towards UMG for the distribution and promotion of "Not Like Us," which seemingly concluded his diss track exchange with Kendrick last year. Along with alleging that UMG has disregarded the prioritizing of its artists and "continued to fan the flames," it was also denied that the lawsuit was about Kendrick.
"This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,'" the document continues. "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."
A legal petition was filed against UMG, which distributes both Drake and Kendrick's music, last November, in which Spotify and iHeartRadio were also named in the alleged streaming inflation of "Not Like Us." The accusations have been denied by all the companies.
Although he hasn't responded, predictions have been raised on whether Kendrick will perform "Not Like Us" when he takes the Apple Music Halftime Show stage during the Super Bowl LIX next month.
