Universal Says Drake Sued After “[Losing] a Rap Battle”

Drake’s parent label Universal Music Group has dissed the rapper in a legal response to his defamation lawsuit, claiming he turned to the courts after “[losing] a rap battle” against Kendrick Lamar.

As reported by Billboard, Universal’s attorneys called Drake’s allegations “meritless” in their motion to dismiss and alleged the lawsuit was a last-ditch effort to save face.

“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” the filing reads. “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.”

In Drake’s lawsuit, he accuses Universal of having “approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of [‘Not Like Us’] that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”

Turning the accusations back on Drake, UMG pointed out he also engaged in “hyperbolic insults” and “vitriolic allegations” during the Kendrick beef. Indeed, Drake brought up allegations of domestic abuse and claimed that someone else had allegedly fathered his rival’s son.

Elsewhere in the filing, UMG said the lyrics of “Not Like Us” are protected by the First Amendment: “Diss tracks are a popular and celebrated artform centered around outrageous insults, and they would be severely chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed. Hyperbolic and metaphorical language is par for the course in diss tracks — indeed, Drake’s own diss tracks employed imagery at least as violent.”

What’s more, UMG brought up Drake’s past support for legislation restricting rap lyrics from being used as evidence in court. “As Drake recognized, when it comes to rap, ‘the final work is a product of the artist’s vision and imagination’,” their lawyers added. “Drake was right then and is wrong now.”