A US federal courtroom has dismissed Drake’s defamation lawsuit in opposition to Common Music Group, ruling that Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor Not Like Us constitutes protected opinion somewhat than actionable defamation.
Choose Jeannette Vargas of the Southern District of New York granted UMG’s movement to dismiss all claims on Thursday (October 9), discovering that accusations made about Drake within the tune’s lyrics can’t fairly be interpreted as statements of reality, given the context of the artists’ heated rap battle.
A spokesperson for Common Music Group advised MBW: “From the outset, this go well with was an affront to all artists and their artistic expression and by no means ought to have seen the sunshine of day.
“We’re happy with the courtroom’s dismissal and stay up for persevering with our work efficiently selling Drake’s music and investing in his profession.”
Not Like Us, launched Might 4, 2024, was the penultimate monitor in what the courtroom known as “maybe essentially the most notorious rap battle within the style’s historical past.” Over 16 days, Drake and Lamar launched eight diss tracks with more and more inflammatory rhetoric.
“From the outset, this go well with was an affront to all artists and their artistic expression and by no means ought to have seen the sunshine of day.”
Common Music Group
The tune achieved huge business success, with over 1.4 billion streams on Spotify, profitable Report of the 12 months on the Grammys, and being carried out through the 2025 Tremendous Bowl Halftime Present to 133.5 million viewers.
Drake’s lawsuit, filed in January 2025, alleged that UMG “deliberately revealed and promoted” the tune “whereas understanding that the tune’s insinuations that he has sexual relations with minors had been false and defamatory.”
Each Drake and Lamar launch their information by way of UMG and its Republic Data and Interscope, respectively.
In her 38-page opinion, which you’ll learn in full right here, Choose Vargas emphasised that the broader context of the rap battle was important to understanding how an affordable listener would interpret the lyrics.
The courtroom rejected Drake’s arguments that the tune ought to be assessed in isolation from the opposite diss tracks, discovering that “the songs launched throughout this rap battle are in dialogue with each other” and “should be learn collectively to completely assess how the final viewers would understand the statements.”
Drake additionally introduced claims for harassment and violations of New York Normal Enterprise Regulation Part 349, alleging UMG engaged in misleading practices together with utilizing bots and payola to artificially inflate the tune’s recognition.
The courtroom dismissed these claims as properly, discovering no personal proper of motion for harassment and inadequate proof of client hurt.
MBW has reached out to UMG for remark and can replace this story after we obtain an announcement.Music Enterprise Worldwide
