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Universal Music Group filed a motion to dismiss Drake’s defamation suit over Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us on March 17, 2025. Lawyers for UMG, defendants in the action, claimed that the Canadian rapper was trying to “lick his wounds” after losing the highly publicized rap battle against Kendrick Lamar.
A section of its court filing read:
“Plaintiff [Drake], one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated.”
It continues:
"Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
More details on UMG’s response to Drake explored as the music label describes the rapper as a "prolific rap feud combatant"
UMG’s lawyers began their response in the suit with lyrics from Drake’s So Far Gone track:
“Yeah, I want it all, that’s why I strive for it/Diss me, you’ll never hear a reply for it.”
Following the quote, Universal Music Group stated that public feuds were not new to rap, and Drake as a “prolific rap feud combatant” had traded diss tracks with artists like Pusha T and Meek Mill.
The group further compared Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us to other tracks released by Drake in the feud, which began in May 2024, and added that the songs shared similar elements as they conveyed assumptions of exaggerations and opinions.
In its filings, UMG recalled a public petition signed by Drake in 2023 that criticized “the trend of prosecutors using artists’ creative expression against them.” The group added that Drake’s defamation claim fails as the Canadian rapper has not been able to establish “harassment in the second degree.”
Drake’s lawyer, Micheal J. Gottlieb in a statement to Pitchfork, described UMG’s motion as an attempt to escape responsibility for endangering its artists;
"UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle to distract its shareholders, artists, and the public from a simple truth: A greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence,"
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Not Like Us was released on May 5, 2024, by Kendrick Lamar, in response to Drake’s Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle. It racked up five awards at the 67th Grammy Awards and ties with Up, Up and Away as the most awarded song at the Grammys.
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