The record label UMG has responded to Drake’s legal action over Kendrick Lamar’s hard-hitting 2024 track, “Not Like Us.”
The mega-star, who’s won five Grammys, took UMG to court on Jan. 15 after pulling back his first filing. He claims “Not Like Us” pushed a “false and malicious narrative” painting him as a pedophile. Notably, Drake’s beef is with UMG, not Kendrick.
A UMG rep told Variety: “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.” They added, “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.”
They didn’t stop there: “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.”
