Call An Amberlamps! Lawbrey Loses Universal Music…
Welp! After months of legal back-and-forth, Universal Music Group has emerged victorious in Drake’s defamation lawsuit.
Source: Prince Williams/Wireimage/
The Hollywood Reporter studies that U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled Thursday that the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” are expressions of opinion somewhat than statements of fact.
“A reasonable listener could not have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying objective facts about Drake,” she ruled.
As beforehand reported, Complaint Papi’s legal battle grew to embody more than UMG’s alleged defamation.
Most not too long ago, his group demanded inner paperwork tied to allegations of home violence against Lamar and probing the character of Dave Free’s relationship with Lamar’s youngsters.
In those filings, Drake’s attorneys sought “All Documents and Communications … relating to allegations of domestic violence … committed by Kendrick Lamar.” They also requested supplies on “David Isaac Friley (a/k/a Dave Free) and his relationship with Kendrick Lamar and Kendrick Lamar’s children.”
The requests mirrored lyrics from Lamar’s The Heart Part 6, in which Drake floated solutions that one of Lamar’s youngsters may not be biologically his, but fathered by Dave Free instead.
Drake also accused UMG of orchestrating a “financial conspiracy” by selling Lamar’s music at the expense of his model, making secret funds, and decreasing licensing provides to third events to suppress Drake’s worth during contract talks. His group also demanded UMG produce redacted variations of Lamar’s document contract (claiming it was unfairly censored), and documentation involving prior label censorship (citing Pusha T’s “Story of Adidon”) as precedent.
But in her ruling, Judge Vargas refused to deal with rap-battle lyrics as binding statements of fact.
The Hollywood Reporter notes that Vargas emphasised that diss tracks by nature use hyperbolic, provocative language:
“The average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation,” she wrote. She added that the “rhetorical style, tone, and context, full of profanity and rhetorical flourish, clearly mark the song as expressive opinion rather than factual assertion.”
Bloop!
Drake Filed His Defamation Suit In January
As beforehand reported, Drake initially filed his lawsuit against UMG in January 2025, accusing the music giant of knowingly defaming him. His criticism centered on Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss observe, “Not Like Us,” which famously referred to Drake as a “child predator.” Drake alleged that UMG not only distributed this music but also promoted it through “illegal means.”
UMG, for its half, vehemently denied the claims, asserting that the notion they might “seek to harm the reputation of any artist —let alone Drake—is illogical.”
“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” UMG’s attorneys wrote in a submitting asking for a dismissal. “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.”
The defamation swimsuit got here after Drake alleged in November 2024 that UMG and Spotify deployed bots to “artificially inflate” the success of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” violating the RICO Act.
What do YOU assume about Drake shedding his UMG defamation swimsuit?
The post Call An Amberlamps! Lawbrey Loses Universal Music Group Defamation Suit, Judge Succinctly Says ‘Not Like Us’ Was Kendrick’s ‘Opinion’ appeared first on GWN.
