Rapper’s ‘Not Like Us’ defamation claims

On January 16, 2025By Littum

Drake has officially ramped up his battle over Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topper “Not Like Us,” with a new lawsuit accusing his and Lamar’s music distributor of profiting from his defamation by releasing the diss track.

In the lawsuit, filed in New York federal court on Wednesday and obtained by USA TODAY, Drake’s legal team claimed that despite a decade-long relationship, Universal Music Group “deliberately tried to make Drake a pariah, a target for harassment or worse.” They also wrote that the company sought to “profit from damaging Drake’s reputation.”

Drake sued for defamation, second-degree harassment via promotion of violence against him and deceptive business practices. “Not Like Us,” he alleged, spreads defamatory allegations about Drake, including that he engages in sexual relations with minors and sex trafficking and also harbors sex offenders.

In a statement to USA TODAY, UMG called Drake’s claims “false” and denied ever engaging in defamation. The spokesperson said, in part, that Drake is trying 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 Grammy winner previously issued a warning that he would take legal action back in November when he filed petitions in New York and Texas accusing Universal Music Group, Spotify and iHeartRadio of being part of a “scheme to secure” Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” “broke through” on multiple streaming platforms. The “God’s Plan” rapper asked the court to order the companies to turn over evidence related to his claims, otherwise known as pre-action discovery so he could file a lawsuit.

Here are some of the biggest revelations from Drake’s 80-page lawsuit on Jan. 15.

Security guard suffered ‘serious’ injuries after men shoot at Drake’s house in Toronto

“Within days” of the release of “Not Like Us,” Drake says, “several strangers, including at least one armed with a deadly weapon, targeted” him.

According to the lawsuit, at 2 a.m. on May 7, “a group of men” allegedly fired at least two shots that went through the security fence of his Toronto home, with one bullet hitting the door and another “seriously” wounding a security guard.

“Drake and others in the house rushed to the man’s aid and tried to stop him from bleeding out while the ambulance arrived,” the lawsuit states. “The injuries he sustained were severe and for two days the doctors were not sure if he would live.”

Drake pulled son Adonis out of school ‘due to safety concerns’

This shooting incident was reportedly followed by an attempted burglary at Drake’s home in Toronto the next day, as well as two burglaries by an intruder who entered the property on May 9 and 11. Toronto police said at the time that burglary suspects were apprehended under the Ontario Mental Health Act and were not being investigated as a criminal matter.

“These acts of violence against his residence, where Drake lives with his son, and against his business, are not normal. In all the years he has been a celebrity, nothing like the events of early May has ever happened to Drake before .” said his lawsuit. “Drake has increased his security team in Toronto and everywhere he goes.”

He had also pulled his son, 7-year-old Adonis, out of his Toronto elementary school “due to safety concerns” and over the summer “arranged for his son and mother to leave Toronto entirely.”

Universal Music tried to ‘devalue’ Drake’s music to gain leverage in a new deal, the rapper claimed

Drake, who has had record deals controlled by UMG since 2009, also claimed that the label used “Not Like Us” as leverage when Drake’s contract with the label ended.

“UMG’s contract with Drake was nearing completion and, based on information and belief, UMG expected that extending Drake’s contract would be costly,” the suit states. “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.”

In comparison, Interscope Records — which is under UMG and owns Lamar’s music catalog — reportedly entered into an exclusive direct licensing deal with Lamar’s independent label through 2024, according to Drake’s team. Universal Music Publishing Group controls music publishing rights for both Drake and Lamar.

Interscope “had every incentive to prove it could maximize Lamar’s sales after only recently persuading him to enter into his own direct license for a limited recording commitment of new music,” the lawsuit alleges.