Drake sues his label over Kendrick Lamar diss track ‘Not Like Us.’ Here’s what’s happening.

Drake is suing his record label for defamation and harassment over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

The Canadian rapper (real name: Aubrey Drake Graham) filed a federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group, the record company he and Lamar are both signed to, on Jan. 15 alleging defamation and harassment. He claims the label put “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists” by releasing a song that conveys “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.”

The filing states that the lawsuit is not against “the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” referring to Lamar, with whom he’s been feuding over the last year. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”

UMG called the allegations “untrue” and vowed to “vigorously defend this litigation” in a statement to Yahoo Entertainment.

“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical,” a spokesperson said in a statement. “We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”

It continued, “Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”

The statement concluded with, “We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more than write a song.”

The filing comes one day after Drake withdrew one of two pre-action complaints against UMG and Spotify in November 2024 alleging that the companies used unfair practices to amplify “Not Like Us.”

Drake’s new lawsuit

In the Jan. 15 lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, Drake accused UMG of spreading a “false and malicious narrative” — that put his reputation and life at risk — by releasing and promoting the song.

On the track, which was released on May 4, 2024, Lamar calls Drake a predator, rapping, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young.” Elsewhere in the song, Lamar calls Drake and his team pedophiles, singing, “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles… Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”

Drake’s lawsuit notes that UMG “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track,” which was a “gold mine” for the company, knowing that Lamar’s lyrics were false and dangerous.

Further, the company OK’d cover art for the song showing Drake’s Toronto home — highlighted as if to represent registered sex offenders — which has led to “real-world consequences” for Drake. On May 7, an armed group of assailants drove to Drake’s home and opened fire, resulting in a security guard being injured. There were two other attempted trespassers in the days that followed, including an intruder trying to dig a hole under the security fence on May 8 and an attempted break-in on May 9. Drake’s son, Adonis, had to be removed from his elementary school due to “safety concerns.”

The lawsuit noted, “In the two decades leading up to May of 2024, although Drake was constantly in the public eye, nothing remotely like these events had ever happened to him or his family. But these events were not coincidental.”

The filing claimed Drake tried to inform UMG about the security fallout from the song and he was told he “would face humiliation if he brought legal action.”

It was noted more than once in the filing that “this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists,” referring to Lamar, but Drake’s issue with UMG.

Drake and Lamar collaborated early in their careers but went on a diss track spree last spring. Lamar also released “Meet the Grahams,” in which he raps about it being “only a matter of time” before Drake’s house was raided like Sean “Diddy” Combs’s was in March 2024. Drake contributed to the musical back-and-forth, including suggesting Lamar was abusive to his fiancée, with “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6.”

Drake’s attorney is Michael J. Gottlieb, who previously represented the owner of a Washington, D.C., pizzeria targeted by “Pizzagate” pedophilia conspiracy theorists in 2016.

Drake withdrew a different legal claim one day earlier

In November, Drake filed prelitigation petitions against UMG and Spotify in New York and Texas accusing the companies of a coordinated effort to artificially boost the success of Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” Drake’s team alleged that UMG gave Spotify reduced licensing fees in exchange for promoting the song to users in search. They also claimed the label paid influencers and had bots artificially inflate the song.

“Not Like Us” has been a huge hit and is nominated for five Grammy Awards at the Feb. 2 ceremony. Lamar is headlining the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans on Feb. 9.

On Tuesday, Drake’s legal team voluntarily withdrew the New York petition ahead of filing this new federal lawsuit there. The second petition, which includes iHeartMedia in addition to UMG and Spotify, has not been withdrawn. A hearing is scheduled for later this month.

Drake’s new lawsuit suggests that a reason why UMG would have colluded with other companies to boost “Not Like Us” was to get Lamar to extend his contract with the label late last year, which he did.

It also claimed that Drake — whose contract expires this year— would get a less favorable deal from UMG because his brand and music had been devalued.

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