Judge dismisses Drake's defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group in ongoing feud

An American federal judge threw out Drake’s defamation case against his record label, Universal Music Group (UMG), on Thursday, October 9.

The Canadian rapper filed a lawsuit against UMG in January after the release of Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 hit diss track, "Not Like Us”.

According to legal filings and media reports, in court filings, Drake accused record label Universal Music of conspiring to inflate the Compton rapper’s streaming numbers and of defaming him on the diss song.

The “What Did I Miss” hitmaker alleged that the record label made secret payments and offered discounted licensing deals to boost the song’s reach to harm his brand.

Drake’s legal team said in a statement at the time that the lawsuit was “not brought against Kendrick Lamar”.

“This lawsuit reveals the human and business consequences to UMG’s elevation of profits over the safety and well-being of its artists,” the statement added.

In response, UMG said in January that Drake “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 weaponise the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression.”

Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled that Lamar’s song lyrics, which accused Drake of being a pedophile, were not defamatory because listeners would not think they were statements of fact. 

In a ruling, Vargas described the feud between the rappers as “the most infamous rap battle in the genre’s history”.

“The artists’ seven-track rap battle was a ‘war of words’ that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse,” the judge noted.

“Although the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff.”

The judge explained that the song’s lyrics express non-actionable opinion and fall squarely under the protection of free speech, and that UMG could not be held liable for distributing an artist’s creative work.

“Not Like Us” is replete with profanity, trash-talking, threats of violence, and figurative and hyperbolic language, all of which are indicia of opinion,” Vargas said.

Drake and Lamar engaged in a rap battle in May last year; the rappers dropped various songs aimed at each other. The rap beef took the internet by storm, and for many rap fans, this was the event of a lifetime.

Lamar released the “Not Like Us” diss track on May 4, 2024, which took the feud to new heights. The diss track dominated the charts and the rapper won five Grammy Awards, including “Record of the Year” and “Song of the Year”. 

Lamar took the song all the way to a Super Bowl halftime show performance in February, which sparked further conversation among fanbases.

The song directly targeted Drake, questioning his authenticity and accusing him of cultural appropriation, a coloniser of rap culture who’s “not like us”

UMG welcomed the court ruling, stating that the lawsuit was baseless and an attack on artistic freedom from the start.

“From the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day. We’re pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake’s music and investing in his career,” UMG said in a statement.

However, Drake’s legal team intends to appeal the court’s ruling.

“We intend to appeal today’s ruling, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it,” Drake’s spokesperson said in a statement.

This case ruling has sparked a mixed reaction on social media, with some fans teasing him over the loss and others coming to his defence, pointing out that even top artists face setbacks and that an appeal could be an opportunity to overturn the ruling.

One X user @AnimeGuru100 wrote: “Wasted everyone’s time, Drake ruined his reputation even further, and kept the beef alive for a lot longer than it needed to be. What an idiot lol.”

A Drake fan @Hamza  also wrote: “Oh Aubrey Graham, I promise to you we will not allow this loss to be in vain.”

“When you’re as big as Drake, you can lose a beef and a lawsuit and you’re still #1. Nobody is playing ‘Not Like Us’ anymore anyways,” said another fan @onbrandviews.