Almost one year exactly, Future and Metro Boomin’s album We Don’t Trust You came out. Immediately, everyone gravitated towards the song “Like That,” which contained a surprise feature from Kendrick Lamar. Kendrick’s feature on “Like That” came after years of back-and-forth sneak-disses and not-so-veiled threats and insults between Kendrick and Drake. Before that song, it had mostly been a Cold War between Drake and Kendrick, but “Like That” went off like a bomb, destroying any semblance of peaceful coexistence. What followed was one of the greatest rap beefs of all time, with Kendrick coming out the clear and unquestionable victor: “Not Like Us” is one of the most successful diss records of all time (if not THE most successful); NLU won multiple Grammys, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year; Kendrick then performed NLU (and Euphoria!!) at the Super Bowl.

Making Kendrick’s victory even sweeter is the fact that Drake is a suckbaby loser who started suing everybody BUT Kendrick in the wake of his rap-beef loss. Earlier this month, Drake ended up “settling” with iHeartMedia after he sued them and accused them of participating in a payola system to promote NLU. Drake’s incel bro fans tried to say that iHeartMedia gave him a financial settlement – that is a lie. Drake dropped the lawsuit after iHeart provided their receipts to show that there was no payola needed for “Not Like Us,” that the song was a huge hit organically. Well, now UMG is trying to get Drake’s lawsuit thrown out. UMG distributed both sides of the rap beef – Kendrick’s music is distributed through pgLang then Interscope then UMG. Drake’s music goes through OVO Sound, then Santa Anna Label Group, then UMG. UMG didn’t play favorites as the beef was happening last year, which was the right thing to do – let it play out, let the fans decide who won and who lost. The fans decided, and Drake didn’t like the outcome, so he sued UMG. Now UMG is getting as petty as possible.

Universal Music Group has filed a scathing motion to dismiss Drake‘s New York lawsuit against them for promoting Kendrick Lamar‘s “Not Like Us,” stating that he’s only suing because he “lost a rap battle” and took legal action to “salve his wounds.”

The motion, filed earlier today and reviewed by Variety, took a cutting approach to making the case for dismissal, claiming that Drake “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”

The filing notes that Drake himself signed a public petition less than three years ago criticizing “the trend of prosecutors using artists’ creative expression against them” by interpreting rap lyrics as fact. “Drake was right then and is wrong now,” reads the motion. “Complaint’s unjustified claims against UMG are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar.”

In its motion to dismiss, Universal is arguing that Drake fails to make a claim for defamation in his suit, stating that it’s a double standard to expect them to promote his diss tracks against Lamar and not vice versa. The motion adds that “Not Like Us” “conveys nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole, not fact,” meaning they can’t be accused of acting with malice, and further claims that there’s no basis for the suit since Drake failed to state a claim for “harassment in the second degree” and under New York General Business Law.

In a statement shared with Variety, Drake’s attorney Michael Gottlieb says, “UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: a greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence. This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists.”

[From Variety]

“A greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation” – motherf–ker, you claimed that Kendrick beats his wife! You claimed that Kendrick’s wife/partner, Whitney Alford, had given birth to Dave Free’s child. You were also too stupid to understand Kendrick’s Mr. Morale album and you wrongly claimed that Kendrick was molested as a child. DANGEROUS MISINFORMATION??? Anyway, possibly the best part of UMG’s filing is when they list all of the reasons why Kendrick’s “certified loverboy/certified PDFile” bar didn’t come out of left field. UMG was like “Misinformation, you say? Here are all the receipts on Drake’s extremely questionable relations with minors.”

“When she was, you know, a minor”. 😭😭😭 pic.twitter.com/1XQbdFbRQk

— LOVE (@LoveIsback24) March 17, 2025

UMG presents exhibits M through Q – A deep dive into Drake's questionable history with minors 🍿 pic.twitter.com/GUemUue6zf

— Raven Birdie 💜 (@birdie_raven7) March 17, 2025

Photos courtesy of Avalon Red, Backgrid, Drake’s IG.