Drake sues Universal over Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us'
Drake, left, attends an NBA basketball game between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Houston Rockets on March 16, 2024, in Houston. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Drake has filed a defamation and harassment lawsuit against Universal Music Group, alleging that the mega media corporation improperly promoted his rival Kendrick Lamar’s diss track to damage his career and gain leverage over future contract negotiations.
Drake filed his suit Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York under his legal name, Aubrey Graham. He alleges that Universal, his record label, schemed with unnamed third parties to aggressively promote Lamar’s track “Not Like Us,” a chart-topping hit that suggested that Drake was a pedophile. In doing so, the lawsuit says, Universal damaged Drake’s career and put him and his family at risk.
“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,” the lawsuit reads. “Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake’s music for years, and knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.”
Universal did not respond to multiple requests for comment.
The complaint pointed to the digital cover art for “Not Like Us,” which includes a satellite image of Drake’s Toronto residence with multiple red markers meant to represent sex offender locations. The picture, the suit says, may have led to a shooting outside Drake’s residence in May that left a security guard injured.
Drake had to remove his son from a Toronto elementary school over safety concerns, according to the lawsuit, and arranged for his son and mother to leave the city altogether once the school year ended.
The complaint emphasizes that Drake is suing Universal and not Lamar, who wrote and performed the song, and who was widely considered the victor in his weeks-long rap battle with Drake last year. “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,” the lawsuit reads.
Drake’s attorneys argue that UMG wanted to discredit the rapper because his contract with the group (estimated to be worth around $400 million) was nearing its end and he was up for an extension. “By devaluing Drake’s music and brand, UMG would gain leverage to force Drake to sign a new deal on terms more favorable to UMG,” the lawsuit reads.
Drake also alleges that Universal “made significant financial investments and leveraged its professional connections” to arrange for “Not Like Us” to be performed at next month’s Super Bowl halftime show, which will be headlined by Lamar. It’s unclear whether Lamar plans to use that song during his performance, considering he released new material on his November album, “GNX,” and seems to have mostly left the feud behind him.
Michael J. Gottlieb, who represents Drake in the lawsuit, declined to comment.
Wednesday’s lawsuit comes less than 24 hours after Drake withdrew a petition against Universal and Spotify that he filed in November. In the petition, Drake claimed that both Spotify and Universal schemed to boost listens to and streams of “Not Like Us” by using bots, pay-to-play tactics and other business practices to promote “Not Like Us.” The filing, which was not a lawsuit, also accused UMG and Spotify of violating racketeering laws, of false advertising and of deceptive business practices.
Drake filed a similar petition in Texas in November against Universal and radio conglomerate iHeartMedia, alleging they conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of “Not Like Us.” That petition remains pending, with a hearing scheduled for Jan. 28.
The widespread legal action comes about eight months after Drake and Lamar traded diss tracks against each other in a rap feud that dominated pop culture. Drake notably accused Lamar of physically harming women on his track “Family Matters,” while Lamar alleged that Drake had a secret daughter on “Meet the Grahams.”
Lamar’s “Not Like Us”—which had lyrics that suggested Drake was a pedophile and a “colonizer” of Atlanta’s hip-hop scene—was anointed by many as the song that won the feud for the California rapper. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 and was seen across sports events and political campaigns. The song was also a highlight of Lamar’s “Pop Out” show in Los Angeles on Juneteenth.
Since the beef ended, Lamar released his album “GNX” and was named as the headliner of the Feb. 9 Super Bowl halftime show. Meanwhile, Drake has teased new music with frequent collaborator PartyNextDoor and announced a tour in Australia set to begin in February. It’s unclear whether the lawsuit will delay either his tour or any new music.
