Welp! After months of authorized back-and-forth, Common Music Group has emerged victorious in Drake’s defamation lawsuit.
The Hollywood Reporter studies that U.S. District Choose Jeannette Vargas dominated Thursday that the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” are expressions of opinion somewhat than statements of truth.
“An inexpensive listener couldn’t have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying goal info about Drake,” she dominated.
As beforehand reported, Criticism Papi’s authorized battle grew to embody greater than UMG’s alleged defamation.
Most not too long ago, his workforce demanded inner paperwork tied to allegations of home violence in opposition to Lamar and probing the character of Dave Free’s relationship with Lamar’s youngsters.
In these filings, Drake’s attorneys sought “All Paperwork and Communications … regarding allegations of home violence … dedicated by Kendrick Lamar.” In addition they requested supplies on “David Isaac Friley (a/okay/a Dave Free) and his relationship with Kendrick Lamar and Kendrick Lamar’s youngsters.”
The requests mirrored lyrics from Lamar’s The Coronary heart Half 6, wherein Drake floated strategies that one in every of Lamar’s youngsters may not be biologically his, however fathered by Dave Free as an alternative.
Drake additionally accused UMG of orchestrating a “monetary conspiracy” by selling Lamar’s music on the expense of his model, making secret funds, and lowering licensing presents to 3rd events to suppress Drake’s worth throughout contract talks. His workforce additionally demanded UMG produce redacted variations of Lamar’s file contract (claiming it was unfairly censored), and documentation involving prior label censorship (citing Pusha T’s “Story of Adidon”) as precedent.
However in her ruling, Choose Vargas refused to deal with rap-battle lyrics as binding statements of truth.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Vargas emphasised that diss tracks by nature use hyperbolic, provocative language:
“The common listener isn’t below the impression {that a} diss observe is the product of a considerate or disinterested investigation,” she wrote. She added that the “rhetorical type, tone, and context, filled with profanity and rhetorical flourish, clearly mark the tune as expressive opinion somewhat than factual assertion.”
Bloop!
Drake Filed His Defamation Swimsuit In January
As beforehand reported, Drake initially filed his lawsuit in opposition to UMG in January 2025, accusing the music big of knowingly defaming him. His criticism centered on Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss observe, “Not Like Us,” which famously referred to Drake as a “baby predator.” Drake alleged that UMG not solely distributed this tune but in addition promoted it by means of “unlawful means.”
UMG, for its half, vehemently denied the claims, asserting that the notion they’d “search to hurt the repute of any artist —not to mention Drake—is illogical.”
“Plaintiff, probably the most profitable recording artists of all time, misplaced a rap battle that he provoked and wherein he willingly participated,” UMG’s attorneys wrote in a submitting asking for a dismissal. “As a substitute of accepting the loss just like the unbothered rap artist he usually claims to be, he has sued his personal file label in a misguided try to salve his wounds.”
The defamation go well with got here after Drake alleged in November 2024 that UMG and Spotify deployed bots to “artificially inflate” the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” violating the RICO Act.
What do YOU take into consideration Drake shedding his UMG defamation go well with?
