Let’s unpack this Drake lawsuit against Universal Music regarding his Kendrick Lamar feud

Drake is signed to Universal, but he’s not happy with the way he was treated by the label during last year’s diss feud with Kenrick Lamar, which reached a crescendo last May. He’s suing for defamation. I quote:

“On May 4, 2024, UMG approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him,” claims the filing, referring to Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’.

“In controversy, UMG saw an opportunity, seized it, and continued to fan the flames even after learning of the incitement to violence on May 7 and 8, along with the unrelenting vitriol towards Drake that has followed.”

Violence? Remember that someone was shot outside of Drake’s Toronto home at the height of the feud. Let’s continue.

“Beginning on May 4, 2024 and every day since, UMG has used its massive resources as the world’s most powerful music company to elevate a dangerous and inflammatory message that was designed to assassinate Drake’s character, and led to actual violence at Drake’s doorstep.”

So is Lamar involved in this legal action? No.

“UMG wants the public to believe that this is a fight between rappers, but this lawsuit is not brought against Kendrick Lamar. This lawsuit reveals the human and business consequences to UMG’s elevation of profits over the safety and well-being of its artists, and shines a light on the manipulation of artists and the public for corporate gain.

“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” the suit says. “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.”

You can read the whole document here.

Universal has, of course, responded.

“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. 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.

“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. We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. 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 than write a song.”

This should be interesting.