Drake sues Universal Music over Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’

During a venomous back-and-forth of diss tracks last year, rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar accused each other of falsity, hypocrisy and abuse. But while fans pointed to Lamar’s single, “Not Like Us,” as the killing blow of the battle, Drake saw the song’s punchlines invoking pedophilia as something far more insidious — and with real-world consequences. .

In a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court, the artist born Aubrey Drake Graham sued Universal Music Group, the record label behind the two rappers, for defamation and harassment, calling the release and promotion of “Not Like Us” a example of valorizing “corporate greed”. on the safety and well-being of its artists.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, accuses Universal of “approving, releasing, and launching a campaign to create a viral hit from a rap song” that was “intended to to convey the specific message, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.

Noting that the cover art for “Not Like Us” features a photo of Drake’s Toronto home dotted with markers intended to represent the presence of registered sex offenders, the complaint alleges a shooting at the residence days after the song’s release that injured a security guard: calling it “the 2024 equivalent of ‘Pizzagate’” – and cited two other attempted intrusions in the days that followed.

The lawsuit was filed on Drake’s behalf by Michael J. Gottlieb, a partner at the firm Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who previously represented the Washington pizzeria owner targeted by “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorists and falsely accused election workers. by Rudolph. W. Giuliani for contributing to a false plot to steal the 2020 presidential election.