UMG Blasts Drake Defamation Lawsuit, Calls Action ‘Legal Blather’

Universal Music Group has motioned to dismiss Drake’s amended defamation lawsuit. The label calls the action ‘legal blather’ and insists the nature of rap battles would forever be changed should the lawsuit proceed.

UMG says Drake’s claims in the amended complaint are “astonishing” and that Drake’s lawsuit is an attack on the commercial and creative success of the artist who defeated him in a rap battle, “rather than the content of Lamar’s lyrics.” Drake argues that the company promoted, published, exploited, and monetized allegations that were false and dangerous.

“UMG did so not because it believes any of these false claims to be true, but instead because it would profit from damaging Drake’s reputation,” the complaint reads. UMG’s motion to dismiss directly addresses this claim, stating: “Drake was pleased to use UMG’s platform to promote tracks leveling similarly incendiary attacks at Lamar, including that Lamar engaged in domestic abuse and that one of Lamar’s managers is the true father of Lamar’s son.”

UMG says Drake only took issue with the content of the lyrics after he lost the famous rap battle. Speaking on the history of rap battles, UMG writes “Like all of the recordings in the feud, and like the many notorious diss tracks throughout rap’s history, ‘Not Like Us’ consists of a series of hyperbolic insults. But now, after losing the rap battle, Drake claims that ‘Not Like Us’ is defamatory. It is not. While the complaint focuses almost entirely on ‘Not Like Us,’ it disregards the other diss tracks that surrounded ‘Not Like Us’ as well as the diss track genre, and thus, critically ignores the context of the dispute.”

“Assessed in context, as it must be, ‘Not Like Us’ conveys non-actionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole. Indeed, diss tracks are a popular and celebrated art form centered around outrageous insults, and they would be chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed.”

UMG argues that “nowhere in the 100+ page ‘legal blather’ written by Drake’s lawyers do they bother to acknowledge that Drake himself has written and performed massively successful songs containing equally provocative taunts against other artists.” UMG alleges that Drake’s legal team is looking for evidence of “wild conspiracies as to why one song that upset Drake had massive global appeal.”

“Despite his lawyer’s attempts to silence other artists and threaten the companies that work with them, we remain committed to propelling Drake’s career while maintaining our unwavering support of all our artists’ creative expression—Drake’s included.”