Drake is suing his own record label over Kendrick Lamar song ‘Not Like Us’, claiming it is defamatory.
In a lawsuit filed today (January 15) in federal court, Drake is taking Universal Music Group (UMG), the record company which has signed both rappers, to court for defamation and harassment.
The 38-year-old believes UMG promoting Kendrick’s song is an example of his record label valuing ‘corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists’.
The two music stars have long been beefing it out, but their feud came to a head last year when both Drake and Kendrick dropped diss tracks about one another.
Kendrick released ‘Not Like Us’ on May 4 after Drake dropped his song ‘Push Ups’ a few weeks prior.
But Kendrick’s track ended up being the winner in terms of streaming numbers and has amassed over a billion Spotify streams, while ‘Push Ups’ has around 170 million.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake have been beefing for well over a year (Arturo Holmes/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)
The lyrics for ‘Not Like Us’ reads: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young/ You better not ever go to cell block one/To any b**** that talk to him and they in love/Just make sure you hide your lil’ sister from him/They tell me Chubbs the only one that get your hand-me-downs.
“And Party at the party playin’ with his nose now/And Baka got a weird case, why is he around?/Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles/Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, Dot, f*** ’em up/Wop, wop, wop, wop, wop, I’ma do my stuff.
“Why you trollin’ like a b****? Ain’t you tired?/Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A minor.”
The lawsuit filed today (January 15), accuses UMG of approving Kendrick’s track 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’.
Drake has taken UMG to court (Amy Sussman/Getty Images)
Drake only signed with UMG in 2022, in a deal Variety estimated to be in the region of $400 million – their ball park figure came on the back of the fact that Drake, who became the first musician to surpass 50 billion streams on Spotify, brings in around $50 million each year through his music.
Drake’s lawyers have previously mentioned taking UMG to court.
“UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” they wrote in November.
“But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
Drake has addressed the ongoing beef that he has with rapper Kendrick Lamar.
The pressure had piled on to the Canadian rapper after Kendrick Lamar released the song Like That, on new album We Don’t Trust You, with Future and Metro Boomin.
Many have taken the song as a reigniting of the beef between Kendrick and Drake, with Kendrick even declaring that he is ‘choosing violence’ at the start of the song.
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The song is also a response to Drake’s song First Person Shooter, featuring mutual friend and rap heavyweight J Cole, and sees Kendrick saying: “Motherf*ck the Big Three, it’s just Big Me.”
Now, Drake has responded to the song with a speech while performing on stage.
Addressing the audience, Drake could be heard to tell everyone that no-one could ‘f*ck with me’, in what many think is a direct reference to Kendrick.
But what exactly did Drake tell the audience?
Speaking to them between songs, he said: “I got my head up high, my back straight, I’m ten f**king toes down… and I know no matter what there’s not another n**** on this Earth that could ever f*ck with me.”
The speech was well received by the audience in front of him, with fans cheering him on.
And online too, many people came out to support Drake after the speech.
One person tweeted: “It’s clear Drake is not backing down. He’s ready to face whatever comes his way…”
Another said: “It’s so good he addressed it.”
A third wrote: “It’s empowering to see Drake embracing self confidence and resilience in the face of challenges.”
Meanwhile another said: “No way he letting Kendrick off after that bombbb he dropped.”
Marcelo Hernandez/Getty Images
But others were less impressed by Drake choosing to respond to Kendrick Lamar’s song in a speech to his audience.
Instead, they called on him to release his own track, in which he responds to Kendrick Lamer properly.
One person wrote: “BOO! TAKE IT TO THE BOOTH CANADIAN!”
A second posted: “Take it to the boot. These young money offsprings can never win a diss battle.”
A third wrote: “He needs to LOCK IN and get his ass into the studio.”
During the Super Bowl, Drake drew attention after placing an enormous bet on the outcome of the game.
The rapper staked an eye-watering $1.15 million that Kansas City Chiefs would beat the San Fransisco 49ers.
Ultimately his stake paid off, as the Chiefs ended up beating the 49ers to win the Super Bowl
Featured Image Credit: Credit: X / DJ Akademiks / Jason Koerner/Getty Images
A huge WWE star has suggested a way for Drake and Kendrick Lamar to squash their beef.
The two rap heavyweights have been at loggerheads of late after Drake featured on J. Cole’s diss track about the ‘m.A.A.d city’ hitmaker.
Titled ‘First Person Shooter’, the link-up between Drake and J.Cole from 2023, Cole refers to himself, Drake and Lamar as the ‘big three’ – singling himself out as boxer Muhammad Ali.
Responding to this, Kendrick went on to release ‘Like That’ and accused Cole and Drake of ‘sneak dissing’.
Addressing the lyrics in ‘First Person Shooter’, Lamar raps: “Motherf**k the big three, it’s just big me.”
Cole has seemingly bowed out of the fallout, however.
After releasing ‘7 Minute Drill’ in response to ‘Like That’, Cole has apologized to his fellow rapper and said he’d be pulling the song from all streaming platforms.
But the feud between Drake and Lamar continues, with both stars having released apparent ‘diss tracks’ about one another of late.
With this in mind, WWE’s Shawn Michaels has weighed in on the matter and suggested how the two rappers could end their fallout once and for all.
Shawn Michaels has weighed in on Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s feud. (Steve Granitz/WireImage)
“A little Sweet Chin Music goes a long way,” he wrote to X. “@kendricklamar, you and @Drake are formally invited to #WWENXT to settle this thing. I’m even offering my services to mediate.”
His remarks comes after Lamar’s recent track ‘Not Like Us’ refers to Michaels’ famous finishing move. The tweet has since been viewed almost nine million times by social media users.
“THIS is the finale we need,” one person replied, as a second person echoed: “We need to settle this on NXT!”
Noting the unlikely crossing of worlds, someone else wrote: “If you told me Shawn Michaels would invite Drake and Kendrick to NXT I would laugh in your face.”
“This is the last person i expected to get involved but i’m here for it,” said a different person.
Elsewhere, WWE fans have gone wild that Michaels has been brought into the mix.
One person raved: “As a 90’s kid. This post made my day.”
“A true legend #HBK,” said another of Michaels, AKA ‘The Heartbreak Kid’ or ‘HBK’ for short.
Drake and Lamar are yet to responds to Michaels’ invitation, but I’m sure it would go down a storm with both rap and WWE fans alike..
The ongoing battle between Drake and Kendrick Lamar seems no closer to a conclusion.
And now, Drake has issued a response after Lamar claims in his latest diss track that he’s harbouring a secret daughter.
The pressure has grown on Drake in recent weeks after Lamar’s verse on Metro Boomin’s song ‘Like That’, from his new album We Don’t Trust You with Future.
It really did ignite a feud between the pair, with Lamar even declaring that he was ‘choosing violence’ at the start of the track.
Drake responded to the song shorty after during an on-stage performance in March.
Addressing the audience at the time, Drake could be heard telling everyone that no-one could ‘f*ck with me’, in what many believed was a direct reference to Lamar.
Speaking between songs, he said: “I got my head up high, my back straight, I’m ten f**king toes down… and I know no matter what there’s not another n***** on this Earth that could ever f*ck with me.”
Lamar quickly responded with a diss track of his own, leading to the feud being in full rage.
A diss track titled ‘Euphoria’ was released on social media platforms on Tuesday (30 April).
In it, Lamar raps: “Somebody had told me that you got a ring/On God, I’m ready to double the wage/I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n***** make ’Pac turn in his grave”
While he later asks: “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?”
“The very first time I shot me a Drac’, the homie had told me to aim it this way/I didn’t point down enough/Today, I show you I learned from those mistakes,” he continued.
And more recently, the two rappers released diss tracks within just minutes of each other.
Drake threw the first punch, as he took aim at Lamar in a track that lasts over seven minutes.
Lamar responded shortly after though, as he took several swipes at Drake’s record label OVO Sound in ‘6:16 in LA’.
“Have you ever thought that OVO was workin’ for me?” Lamar asks in his latest diss track.
He also dubs Drake as a ‘fake bully’ who ‘must be a terrible person’.
“Everyone in your team is whispering that you deserve it,” he raps.
Lamar also accused Drake of having a secret daughter – something the Canadian rapper has now responded to.
Taking to Instagram Stories, he wrote: “Nahhh hold on can someone find my hidden daughter pls and send her to me…these guys are in shambles.”
Featured Image Credit: Amy Sussman/Getty Images / Rick Kern/Getty Images for Samsung
Another day, another diss track. And this time, it’s Kendrick Lamar firing the shots.
The rapper is currently embroiled in a feud with Drake, after the former’s verse on Metro Boomin’s song ‘Like That’, from the new album We Don’t Trust You with Future.
Lamar declared he was ‘choosing violence’, which led to Drake responding to the song shorty after during an on-stage performance in March.
Addressing the audience at the time, Drake could be heard telling everyone that no-one could ‘f**k with me’, in what many believed was a direct reference to Lamar.
Speaking between songs, he said: “I got my head up high, my back straight, I’m ten f**king toes down… and I know no matter what there’s not another n***** on this Earth that could ever f**k with me.”
Lamar then responded with a diss track of his own, leading to the feud reaching new heights.
Kendrick Lamar has released another diss track aimed at Drake. (Arnold Jerocki/Getty Images)
The track titled ‘Euphoria’ was released on social media platforms on Tuesday (April 30).
In it, Lamar raps: “Somebody had told me that you got a ring / On God, I’m ready to double the wage / I’d rather do that than let a Canadian n***** make ’Pac turn in his grave.”
While he later asks: “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?”
“The very first time I shot me a Drac’, the homie had told me to aim it this way/I didn’t point down enough/Today, I show you I learned from those mistakes,” the rapper continues.
On top of that, the two stars released diss tracks within just minutes of each other earlier this week.
Drake threw the first punch, as he took aim at Lamar in a song that lasts over seven minutes.
Lamar responded not long afterwards, taking several swipes at Drake’s record label OVO Sound in ‘6:16 in LA’.
