As we discussed this week, Drake decided to withdraw his legal petitions against UMG (Universal Music Group) and Spotify. He sent the notices last fall, basically accusing UMG and Spotify of artificially inflating Kendrick Lamar’s numbers for Kendrick’s diss songs against Drake in the spring of 2024. Drake’s argument was convoluted – he basically argued that UMG and Spotify “helped” Kendrick game the system, and “Not Like Us” wouldn’t have been an organic song of the year on its own, it needed UMG and Spotify to push the song down people’s throats. Which wasn’t the way it actually went down, at all. In any case, Drake and Spotify walked away from that, but UMG was basically like… let’s see what this dumbass does next. They didn’t have to wait very long – Drake has now sued UMG for defamation for ALLOWING Kendrick to talk sh-t in “Not Like Us.”

Drake is not backing down in the war against his own label, in fact he’s now upped the ante by suing Universal Music Group for spreading the “false and malicious narrative” he’s a pedophile … TMZ Hip Hop has learned.

Drake filed the defamation case Wednesday morning in federal court in NYC … ripping UMG for releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar’s vicious diss track, “Not Like Us.” In the docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, Drake says UMG knew full well Kendrick’s lyrics, and images in the music video, referring to Drake as a pedophile were false and dangerous. In the suit he calls Kendrick’s hit — filled with “inflammatory and shocking allegations”– was a “gold mine” for UMG … and he says they had an ulterior financial motive in promoting it.

Drake claims his label was doing everything it could to pump up “Not Like Us” because it knew it would devalue his music and brand … and, therefore, give UMG leverage in future contract negotiations with Drake. Keep in mind, Drake’s last UMG contract, signed in 2022, was a blockbuster deal worth a reported $400 million!

Drake says he’s got bot receipts to show just how far the label went to turn Kendrick’s song into an anthem. According to the suit, UMG paid a third party to use bots to increase the song’s streams by at least 30 million — and engaged in a “pay for play” scheme with at least one radio promoter. He claims UMG attached the label “chart-topper” to “Not Like Us,” despite knowing that title was based on fraudulent data.

It’s also clear Drake’s very mindful of what’s going down in New Orleans next month — in the suit, he claims UMG was in on getting Kendrick the Super Bowl Halftime gig … so, the song could be performed on that massive stage, which he calls “one of the most significant (and viewed) cultural events of the year.” Ya gotta wonder — will the NFL and FOX, which is airing the Super Bowl, allow Kendrick to use the pedophile lyrics when he performs??

Interestingly, Drake isn’t going directly after Kendrick in the suit — in fact, he says, “This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us.’ It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize” the song which it knew contained false claims.

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group tells TMZ … “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical. We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success. Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.

“We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song.”

[From TMZ]

If I’m being honest, I think there’s a small sliver of truth to the idea that UMG wasn’t mad that Drake was being taken down a few pegs because that meant Drake couldn’t negotiate another hugely lucrative deal. But that’s the only part of Drake’s lawsuit which has any grounding in reality – the rest of it is Drake’s delusional cope. This is one of the most important parts of UMG’s response: “Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’… He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.” That’s it in a nutshell – Drake wants to play victim and act like UMG should have been judicious in how they disseminated Kendrick’s songs, and yet UMG did the right thing by simply letting the beef play out without censoring anyone.

As for defamation… Drake said that Kendrick’s partner Whitney was cheating on him and that Kendrick’s son Enoch wasn’t biologically his. Drake said that Kendrick physically abused Whitney. Drake also said that Kendrick was molested. All of those lyrics were lies, and UMG “allowed” Drake to release that music too. Kendrick hasn’t gone around, suing people over it. Kendrick just churned out some of the best disses ever in response to Drake’s lies.

There’s so much stuff in Drake’s lawsuit, but something which is getting a lot of attention is that he name-checked a lot of YouTube reactor channels. Before last year, I never watched music reactors, but I got into several YouTubers because of the Drake-Kendrick beef. Those people are just doing it because they love the music, the gossip and the drama. They weren’t being PAID to promote Kendrick. Most of those people were Drake fans! I wanted to post No Life Shaq’s reaction to being name-checked in Drake’s lawsuit because I was laughing my ass off, especially when he brought his son out to call Drake a snitch. NSFW for language. Everything he says here is the truth. I think I’ll also include a reaction compilation for “Not Like Us.”

Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Drake’s IG.