Today, a lawsuit was filed in a New York federal court by Drake, who is suing over a track released by Kendrick Lamar. The song suggests that Drake “likes ’em young,” which the lawsuit claims prioritizes “corporate greed over the safety and wellbeing of its artists.”
According to The Guardian, the lawsuit accuses Universal Music Group (UMG) of approving and promoting the track as part of a campaign to make it a viral hit. It argues that the song falsely labels Drake as a criminal pedophile and incites the public to take vigilante action... Continue reading here ▶
The lawsuit also highlights the cover art for the song ‘Not Like Us’, which displays an image of Drake’s Toronto home marked similarly to how homes of registered sex offenders are identified.
It links this to a shooting outside Drake’s house two days after the song’s release, describing the incident as “the 2024 equivalent of ‘Pizzagate’”.
Drake’s lawyer, Michael J Gottlieb, is handling the case. Gottlieb has experience with high-profile defamation cases, having previously represented a Washington DC pizzeria owner targeted by “Pizzagate” conspiracy theorists in 2016, and election workers falsely accused during the 2020 US presidential election.
As of now, Universal has not responded to the lawsuit, as reported by the BBC.
Earlier today, Drake withdrew a separate legal case against music labels, which he filed last November. In that case, he had accused UMG and Spotify of artificially inflating the number of streams for ‘Not Like Us’.
Recent reports indicate that Drake met with representatives from Spotify and Universal yesterday to discuss the matter. According to the BBC, Spotify, which had filed an opposition to the lawsuit, now has no objections, and Universal, which had not filed an opposition, is reserving its position.
