Drake files federal lawsuit accusing UMG of defamation over promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’

Drake is transferring ahead along with his authorized battle in opposition to his personal file label, submitting a federal lawsuit in opposition to Common Music Group alleging it defamed him by spreading a “false and malicious narrative” when it promoted Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor “Not Like Us.”

Drake, the Canadian rapper whose actual title is Aubrey Drake Graham, filed the 81-page lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York.

Each Drake and Lamar are signed to UMG however below completely different divisions — Drake below Republic Information and Lamar below Interscope.

The lawsuit repeats among the claims Drake made in opposition to UMG in a petition filed in November, when he accused it of conspiring to “artificially inflate” Lamar’s “Not Like Us” on Spotify by utilizing pay-to-play schemes, bots and different ways.

Lamar launched the tune over the summer time amid a monthslong feud with Drake.

“UMG’s marketing campaign went properly past the normal music firm playbook — certainly, UMG has unleashed each weapon in its arsenal, together with, on info and perception, sure practices which are illegal,” Wednesday’s lawsuit says.

It alleges that UMG provided “monetary incentives” to 3rd events to stream the tune and market it with out disclosing the funds to the general public. The label additionally eliminated copyright restrictions, which allowed content material creators to play the tune of their movies, based on the lawsuit.

It additional alleges that UMG used “bots” to play the tune and enhance its recognition.

A spokesperson for UMG stated that the allegations are “unfaithful” and that Drake’s claims that it might attempt to harm his fame are “illogical.”

“We’ve invested massively in his music and our staff world wide have labored tirelessly for a few years to assist him obtain historic industrial and private monetary success,” the assertion learn.

(UMG, a Dutch American-owned firm, has no relation to NBCUniversal, the mother or father firm of NBC Information.)

The go well with says the false allegations within the tune and UMG’s resolution to market it led to “actual world penalties” for Drake. On Could 7, an armed group drove to Drake’s Toronto residence, and a minimum of one gunman opened hearth, wounding a safety guard, the go well with alleges.

The following day, a special intruder used his naked palms to dig a gap below the house’s safety fence, it alleges. Guards on the property caught the trespasser, the go well with says. One other break-in try occurred on the residence on Could 9, based on the lawsuit.

“Within the twenty years main as much as Could of 2024, though Drake was consistently within the public eye, nothing remotely like these occasions had ever occurred to him or his household. However these occasions weren’t coincidental,” the go well with says. “They instantly adopted, and had been proximately attributable to, UMG’s actions main as much as and on Could 4, 2024.”

Drake tried to resolve issues with UMG privately, the go well with says, however it “refused to do something to assist” and stated he would “face humiliation” if he sought authorized motion.

The go well with says UMG promoted the tune as a result of the label knew that the extra it was streamed and performed, the extra money UMG and its executives would make. The corporate additionally knew that Drake’s contract was nearing the tip and that extending it might be expensive, the go well with says.

“By devaluing Drake’s music and model, UMG would achieve leverage to drive Drake to signal a brand new deal on phrases extra favorable to UMG,” it says.

UMG’s spokesperson stated in its assertion that Drake has “deliberately and efficiently” used the label to “distribute his music and poetry to interact in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to specific his emotions about different artists.”

The label accused Drake of weaponizing “the authorized course of to silence an artist’s artistic expression and to hunt damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”

“We’ve not and don’t interact in defamation—in opposition to any particular person,” UMG’s spokesperson stated. “On the identical time, we are going to vigorously defend this litigation to guard our folks and our fame, in addition to any artist who would possibly straight or not directly develop into a frivolous litigation goal for having executed nothing extra that write a tune.”

In response to the lawsuit, Drake fears for the protection of himself and his household and needed to pull his son out of his elementary college due to security considerations. He has additionally suffered monetary hurt, the go well with says.

Drake makes it clear within the lawsuit that he’s not going after Lamar. His authorized crew at Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP stated the go well with is meant “to carry UMG accountable for knowingly selling false and defamatory allegations in opposition to him.”

“Starting on Could 4, 2024 and each day since, UMG has used its large sources because the world’s strongest music firm to raise a harmful and inflammatory message that was designed to assassinate Drake’s character, and led to precise violence at Drake’s doorstep,” his attorneys stated.

“UMG desires the general public to imagine that it is a struggle between rappers, however this lawsuit is just not introduced in opposition to Kendrick Lamar,” they stated. “This lawsuit reveals the human and enterprise penalties to UMG’s elevation of income over the protection and well-being of its artists, and shines a lightweight on the manipulation of artists and the general public for company achieve.”