Rapper Drake has altered his course of assault in opposition to Common Music Group, now going after the media conglomerate for defamation lower than 12 hours after pulling a previous petition.
The Canadian celebrity simply filed a brand new go well with in New York Metropolis, claiming that UMG’s promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s mega-hit “Not Like Us” helped to push a “false and malicious narrative” that labels the “Greatest I Ever Had” performer as a pedophile.
Drake and Lamar are presently signed to the mum or dad label by way of subsidiaries Republic Data (Drake) and Interscope Data (Lamar).
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Drake Sues UMG For Defamation, Fears ‘Vigilante Justice’ From Accusations Made In ‘Not Like Us’
Within the go well with, filed Wednesday morning, Drake calls out UMG for being extra involved with “company greed over the protection and well-being of its artists” by permitting Lamar’s “Not Like Us” to be launched.
Through courtroom paperwork, the performer, born Aubrey Drake Graham, alleges UMG “authorised, printed, and launched a marketing campaign to create a viral hit out of ‘Not Like Us’” that was “supposed to convey the particular, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a felony pedophile, and to counsel that the general public ought to resort to vigilante justice in response.”
Because the music’s launch, there was a bevy of shootings close to and round Drake’s Toronto residence, together with one which noticed a bodyguard of Drake’s turn into injured.
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Drake Omits Lamar From His ‘Not Like Us’ Defamation Swimsuit, Solely Focusing on UMG
Lamar launched “Not Like Us” in Might 2024 because the final of 5 responses to Drake in a drawn-out feud that was reignited that March.
In his music, the “Humble” rapper alludes to previous allegations in opposition to Drake relating to his shut friendships with a number of younger ladies, together with “Stranger Issues” star Millie Bobbie Brown.
Lamar additionally questions the Canadian entertainer’s place in Black tradition, referring to Drake in “Not Like Us” as a “f-cking colonizer,” amongst different issues.
Inside days, the music turned one of many largest hits of 2024. It hit No. 1 on the Billboard Sizzling 100, the place it stayed for 2 weeks, and the highest spot on Billboard’s Sizzling Rap Songs Chart, the place it remained for 20 weeks.
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Per The Hollywood Reporter, Lamar is just not among the many claimants being sued by Drake, regardless of being the only lyricist of “Not Like Us.”
“[This suit is] fully about UMG,” the courtroom docs proceed, “the music firm that determined to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood weren’t solely false, however harmful.”
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Drake’s Earlier Submitting Blamed UMG and Spotify For ‘Boosting’ Lamar’s Track
Drake’s new submitting comes lower than a day after he withdrew a earlier petition in opposition to UMG and streaming app Spotify for participating in unlawful ways to “increase” numbers for “Not Like Us.”
First filed in November, the petition, thought-about a “pre-action” transfer and never a full go well with, purported that UMG and Spotify “engaged in conduct designed to artificially inflate the recognition of “Not Like Us.’”
This included, “licensing the music at drastically decreased charges to Spotify, and utilizing ‘bots’ to generate the misunderstanding that the music was extra fashionable than it was in actuality.”
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UMG Responds To Drake’s Preliminary Submitting, Saying They Would By no means ‘Undermine’ Their Artists
UMG fired again in an announcement to Variety, calling Drake’s accusations meritless.
“The suggestion that UMG would do something to undermine any of its artists is offensive and unfaithful,” it reads. “We make use of the best moral practices in our advertising and promotional campaigns. No quantity of contrived and absurd authorized arguments on this pre-action submission can masks the truth that followers select the music they wish to hear.”
Spotify would reply to Drake’s claims by way of a counterclaim in December, noting that they’d “no financial incentive” to power customers to stream “Not Like Us” greater than they selected to, and “have by no means had any association through which UMG ‘charged Spotify licensing charges 30 % decrease than its normal licensing charges for ‘Not Like Us.’”
In response, Drake’s authorized group accused Spotify of making an attempt to “distance themselves” from UMG.
“If Spotify and UMG don’t have anything to cover, then they need to be completely high-quality complying with this primary discovery request,” they’d add.
Drake and his firm, Frozen Moments, would voluntarily withdraw their petition late Tuesday “with out prices to any celebration.”
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Many Neglect Drake Fired The First ‘Shot’ That Led To Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’
Although Drake and Lamar’s feud had been brewing for a while, it was Drake who triggered the matter to accentuate.
On Might 3, 2024, he launched the controversial observe, “Household Issues,” which featured accusations of Lamar bodily assaulting and dishonest on his spouse, and rumors of certainly one of Lamar’s kids being fathered by one other man.
It will be these darkish allegations that pushed Lamar to file three songs in retaliation – “6:16 In LA,” “Meet the Grahams,” and his remaining response, “Not Like Us.”
