In the wake of a first action brought against the major, which he accuses of having artificially inflated the listening figures of the song, the Canadian rapper filed a second case against it on November 26, this time accusing it- this is defamation.
Moving from songs to courts, the clash between Drake and Kendrick Lamar intensifies. The Canadian rapper filed a new case in Texas on November 26 against Universal Music Group, in the wake of a first one addressed to a New York court earlier in the day. The latter claimed that the music giant had inflated the audience figures for its rival's song Not Like Us, a song against him. The second procedure accuses the major of defamation for the same title, reveals Billboard. For the moment, no complaint has been filed strictly speaking, only “prerequests” which aim to collect information for subsequent legal actions.
Rivals for years, the two artists have clashed several times during the year 2024 through interposed pieces, a practice strongly anchored in hip-hop culture. In the single Not Like Us released in May 2024, Kendrick Lamar, Californian rapper crowned with a prestigious Pulitzer Prize, accuses Drake of having relationships with underage girls and even calls him a “pedophile”. The song has more than 900 million plays on Spotify, according to the platform's figures. In October, Billboard revealed that the title had remained at first place for 21 weeks in the ranking of the most listened to rap songs in the world, a record.
Enough evidence to bring a “defamation action”
In the two files filed by Drake, it is the major Universal Music which is targeted. Kendrick Lamar is never directly cited. The second procedure denounces the fact that Universal knew that the American rapper's song accused him “wrongly for being a sex offender, for engaging in pedophilic acts.” And Drake criticizes the label for not having prevented the release of the single to protect it. «UMG [Universal Music Group, ndlr] could have refused to broadcast or distribute the song or demanded that the offensive content be edited and/or removed,” denounce the artist and his lawyers. On the contrary, according to them, the major “designed, financed and then executed a plan to transform Not Like Us into a viral mega-hit with the aim of using the spectacle of harm done to Drake and his companies to excite consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenue.”
The Canadian rapper's lawyers nevertheless say they now have enough evidence to file a lawsuit. “defamation action” against Universal. UMG, for its part, reacted to the first request filed in court by ensuring that it adopted “ethical practices” in its marketing and promotional strategies, but has not yet reacted to the second action.
France
Music
