{"id":369084,"date":"2026-03-28T02:33:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:33:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/369084\/"},"modified":"2026-03-28T02:33:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-28T02:33:10","slug":"umg-responds-to-drake-appeal-in-suit-over-kendrick-lamar-not-like-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/369084\/","title":{"rendered":"UMG Responds to Drake Appeal in Suit Over Kendrick Lamar \u2018Not Like\u00a0Us’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tUniversal Music Group (UMG) is firing back at Drake<\/a>\u2019s appeal seeking to revive his lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar<\/a>\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d arguing the superstar is trying to \u201ccritically undermine\u201d the art of hip-hop because he\u2019s upset he lost a rap beef.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake\u2019s case accused UMG of defaming him by releasing Lamar\u2019s Grammy-winning diss track, which blasted the rival rapper as a \u201ccertified pedophile.\u201d But a judge dismissed it in October<\/a> by ruling fans wouldn\u2019t think insults in a rap battle were statements of fact.<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\tRelated\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\"TORONTO,<\/p>\n

\t\t\t<\/a><\/p>\n

\n\tLast month, the superstar appealed that ruling<\/a> in an effort to overturn it. But in its brief on Friday, UMG said that appeal was a non-starter because it aimed to \u201cstrip words from their context.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cThat is not the law, and Drake\u2019s view would critically undermine a highly creative art form built on exaggeration, insult, and wordplay,\u201d UMG\u2019s attorneys write.<\/p>\n

\n\tLamar released \u201cNot Like Us\u201d in May 2024 as the knock-out punch in a series of bruising diss tracks between the two stars. The song was not only seen as a final rhetorical victory, but also went on to become a chart-topping hit in its own right, cleaning up at the Grammy Awards and forming the centerpiece of Lamar\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake sued UMG in January 2025<\/a>, stunning the music industry. Few expected a rapper to respond to a diss track with a lawsuit \u2014 a move that drew ridicule in the hip-hop world. Fewer still expected him to file it against UMG, his longtime label and the biggest music company in the world.<\/p>\n

\n\tMaking matters worse for Drake, Judge Jeannette Vargas dismissed the case in October. She said Kendrick\u2019s insulting lyrics were the kind of \u201chyperbolic\u201d opinions that cannot be considered defamatory because reasonable listeners would not think they were \u201csober\u201d statements of fact that could be proven true or false.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn his appeal in January, Drake\u2019s lawyers argued that \u201cmillions of people\u201d took the lyric literally, causing \u201ccountless individuals around the globe to believe that Drake was a pedophile.\u201d They said the ruling \u201cbrushes aside the risk of concrete reputational harms\u201d simply because allegedly defamatory statements came in a rap track.<\/p>\n

\n\tBut in their response on Friday (May 27), UMG said that such context was all-important. The \u201cpedophile\u201d statement came after Drake himself had accused Kendrick of \u201cbeating his fianc\u00e9e and not fathering one of his children,\u201d in a genre that is built on such bombastic insults.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201c\u2019Not Like Us\u2019 falls within a genre typified by inflammatory putdowns, epithets, fiery rhetoric, vulgarity, and hyperbole,\u201d UMG\u2019s lawyers write. \u201cDrake\u2019s attempt to rip the words he now dislikes from their immediate and broader context has no support in governing law.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe case will be argued before the appeals court in the months ahead, with a ruling expected at some point in the next year. An attorney for Drake did not immediately return a request for comment.<\/p>\n


\"Billboard
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