Drake Sues Label For Defamation Over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’

On By Littum

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Drake filed a lawsuit Wednesday against Universal Music Group, the label that represents both himself and rapper Kendrick Lamar, accusing the label of defamation for releasing and promoting Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” which Drake says promotes the “false and malicious tale”. ” that he is a pedophile, which he denies.

Key facts

Drake filed the suit in federal court in New York, accusing the record label — not Lamar — of falsely promoting the ideas that Drake has committed pedophilia and sex trafficking, and is engaging in acts that would require him to register as a sex offender. which the rapper denies.

Drake says the label knew those allegations were false and released and promoted “Not Like Us” — a chart-topping, Grammy-nominated hit in May at the height of Drake’s feud with Lamar — because “it would serve to damage Drake’s reputation.”

In the lawsuit, Drake says the cover art and video for “Not Like Us” include “imagery associated with sex trafficking,” including a photo of his Toronto home edited with icons used by law enforcement to note the presence of sex offenders.

The lawsuit also points to various lyrics in “Not Like Us” that appear to accuse Drake of pedophilia, including: “‘Certified Lover Boy’? Certified pedophiles,” “Tryna hits a chord and it’s probably A minor, ” and “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young.”

Drake previously filed legal notices before the trial in Texas and New York courts in November, claiming he would have cause to file a lawsuit, in response to which UMG called it “offensive and untrue” that the label would “do whatever preferably to undermine some of its artists.”

Forbes has contacted UMG for comment.

Why isn’t Drake suing Kendrick Lamar?

Lamar, who wrote, raps and stars in the video for “Not Like Us,” is not named as a defendant in Drake’s suit. Drake’s complaint says the lawsuit is “not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us'” and is instead “entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit and monetize claims that it understood not only were fake, but dangerous.” In Drake’s November lawsuit, the rapper says he tried to have discussions with UMG before taking his claims to court, but alleged the label refused to negotiate and instead “insisted that Drake initiate legal action against (Lamar) instead of UMG.”

What did Drake claim about Umg’s promotion of “not like us?”

The rapper accused the label of planning to “make a viral hit” out of “Not Like Us.” Drake alleges that UMG “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots'” to artificially inflate streams of the song on Spotify. Drake accused the label of “paying social media influencers to promote and endorse the recording and video,” including the popular NFR Podcast, and of “awarding financial benefits” to Apple, which he alleges used its digital voice assistant Siri to mislead users. who requested other songs to stream “Not Like Us” instead. Drake also accuses UMG of removing copyright restrictions on “Not Like Us” on YouTube and Twitch, a move the lawsuit calls “unprecedented” that allowed the song to spread “as widely as possible and as quickly as possible “, referring to popular streamers, including Kai Cenat, who posted videos of himself reacting to “Not Like Us”. The suit also alleges that UMG paid radio stations to increase spins of the song. He accused UMG of exploiting it effort in Complex Networks to promote the song, citing at least 50 articles written about “Not Like Us” on Complex’s website since May.

What else did Drake claim?

Drake’s complaint begins with an anecdote about a break-in incident at his Toronto home by an “armed group of assailants” days after “Not Like Us” was released. The complaint says Drake was at home during the alleged incident, that someone yelled “Fuck Drake” and someone “started opening fire,” hitting Drake’s front door and his security guard (The police confirmed at the time a security guard was shot). Drake claimed that the song caused him “substantial harm” because “members of the public have taken the allegations in the defamatory material to be facts,” citing several alleged instances of intrusion and social media posts. The lawsuit accuses UMG of harassment, saying its release and promotion of “Not Like Us” caused Drake “reasonable fear of physical harm.”