A federal judge has thrown out Drake’s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”
Drake sued his own label UMG earlier this year, accusing it of having “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.” The lawsuit was filed on January 15th after Drake dropped a pre-file claim against Universal and Spotify, alleging that the two companies worked together to artificially boost the song’s streams.
“Not Like Us” was released on May 4th, 2024, through Kendrick’s own PGLang and distributed via Universal Music Group subsidiary Interscope Records. It was the penultimate song in a series of back-and-forth diss tracks between Kendrick and Drake. Throughout the song, Lamar describes Drake and some of his associates as “certified pedophiles” who should be “registered and placed on neighborhood watch.”
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In her opinion issued Thursday, Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled that a “war of words” during a “heated rap battle” did not violate the law. Vargas wrote that “even statements that are offensive or insulting are not defamatory when a reasonable listener would understand them as opinion, parody, or artistic expression rather than fact.” She added that “within the cultural context of a rap battle — especially one of this magnitude — the average listener does not reasonably believe the lyrics to be literal accusations of criminal conduct.”
In doing so, Vargas agreed with Universal’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit filed back in March, in which the label argued Drake turned to the courts after “[losing] a rap battle that he provoked.” UMG also contended that the “Not Like Us” lyrics are protected by the First Amendment.
Drake’s lawyers rejected UMG’s argument, alleging the song led “millions of people” to believe their client is a pedophile. “UMG also ignores [the lawsuit’s claim] that the statements in question (and surrounding context) implied that the allegations were based on undisclosed evidence and the audience understood as much,” they added.
In an amended complaint filed in April, Drake further claimed that Lamar’s Super Bowl Halftime Show performance of “Not Like Us” was “orchestrated to assassinate” his character and “duped” millions of new listeners into believing the allegations.
More recently, it was revealed in August that Drake sought documents related to “allegations of domestic violence” against Kendrick. Drake’s team also requested communications between the rapper and TDE label boss Dave Free regarding Lamar’s children, to confirm Drake’s own allegations from the 2024 song “Family Matters.”
