Universal Music Group doesn’t want Drake’s lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to be revived by a federal appeals court. In a new brief, the company argues that the rapper, in appealing his suit’s 2025 dismissal, is attempting to “critically undermine” hip-hop because he’s mad he was beaten in a rap beef.
Drizzy’s original suit claimed that Lamar’s track is defamatory, and that UMG promoted the song despite knowing its claims to be false, because they thought the track was a “gold mine.”
In a new brief filed on Friday (Mar. 27), UMG said that Drake’s appeal shouldn’t succeed because it aims “to strip words from their context.” Drake, they continue, claims that the lyrics of “Not Like Us” are defamatory because “anyone, anywhere, might treat them as factual.”
“That is not the law, and Drake’s view would critically undermine a highly creative art form built on exaggeration, insult, and wordplay,” UMG’s attorneys wrote.
Universal’s response to Drake comes a couple of months after he filed his appeal over his lawsuit being dismissed. In the appeal, the rapper’s lawyers wrote, “Millions of people understood [‘Not Like Us’] to convey factual information, causing countless individuals around the globe to believe that Drake was a pedophile.”
To dismiss Drake’s case, despite that happening, his lawyers argued that the judge would create an “unprecedented” and “dangerous” precedent: That rap track statements can never be considered to be defamatory.
“It is hard to imagine a statement more damaging to one’s reputation and safety than being labeled a ‘certified pedophile,’ which elicits intense vitriol, and can spur violent retaliation,” wrote Drake’s attorneys in his appeal. “The court’s rule brushes aside the risk of concrete reputational harms that can and here did spill over into violence.”
Last October, Drake’s case was dismissed by Judge Jeannette Vargas, who wrote in her ruling, “The artists’ seven-track rap battle was a ‘war of words’ that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse. Although the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff.”
In a statement to Billboard after the dismissal, UMG said (at the time), “From the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day. We’re pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake’s music and investing in his career.”
Complex has reached out to Drake’s legal team for a response to UMG’s filing. They did not immediately respond.
