Universal Music Group slams ‘wild conspiracies’ from Drake lawyers, moves to dismiss lawsuit – Music Business Worldwide

Universal Music Group has filed a motion to dismiss Drake’s amended defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s hit track Not Like Us, arguing that the lyrics are “nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole” rather than assertions of fact.
Drake filed an amended complaint last month that added new allegations regarding Lamar‘s performance during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February.
In a legal memorandum filed on May 7, and obtained by MBW, UMG asks the court to dismiss Drake’s amended complaint with prejudice.
The memorandum characterizes the lawsuit as “Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar” and describes the “new allegations” as “astonishing.”
In a statement issued to MBW on Wednesday night (May 7), a UMG spokesperson slammed “the hundred-plus page ‘legal’ blather written by Drake’s lawyers”.
They added, however, that UMG “remain[s] committed to propelling Drake’s career while maintaining our unwavering support of all our artists’ creative expression. Drake’s included.”
You can read the full statement from UMG below:
“Nowhere in the hundred-plus page ‘legal’ blather written by Drake’s lawyers do they bother to acknowledge that Drake himself has written and performed massively successful songs containing equally provocative taunts against other artists.
“Nor do they mention that it was Drake who started this particular exchange. Apparently, Drake’s lawyers believe that when Drake willingly participates in a performative rap-battle of music and poetry, he can be ‘defamed’ even though he engages in the exact same form of creative expression.
“Drake’s lawyers can also keep seeking to ‘uncover’ evidence of wild conspiracies as to why one song that upset Drake had massive global appeal, but there is nothing to “uncover.”  Except for this: by working tirelessly in partnership with our artists, we achieve global success for them and their music.
“Our continuing partnership with Drake and his enduring success is a shining example.  Despite his lawyers’ attempts to silence other artists and threaten the companies that work with them, we remain committed to propelling Drake’s career while maintaining our unwavering support of all our artists’ creative expression. Drake’s included.”
Drake’s lawsuit, filed in January, accused UMG of promoting a “false and malicious narrative” about him through the content, artwork, and music video for Not Like Us. The track was part of a highly publicized rap feud between the two artists that dominated headlines throughout 2024.
The rapper claimed that certain lyrics in the song were defamatory. He also alleged the release resulted in “physical threat to Drake’s safety” as well as “the bombardment of online harassment.”
UMG’s motion describes Not Like Us as “Lamar’s culminating track in one of the nastiest lyrical warfare rap feuds in recent history,” which followed “the release of seven preceding tracks in which Drake and Lamar hurled increasingly vitriolic allegations” at each other.
You can read the latest filing in full here.
The motion argues that the lyrics must be considered in their proper context, a rap diss track, which is “hardly a forum that a reasonable person would expect to convey rigorous, factual content.”
Notably, UMG highlights that Drake himself initiated some of the inflammatory content, pointing out that he had “goaded Lamar to ‘Talk about [Drake] likin’ young girls‘” in his own track Taylor Made Freestyle, released during the feud.
The motion also notes that Drake signed a petition less than three years ago criticizing “the trend of prosecutors using artists’ creative expression against them” by treating rap lyrics as literal fact, stating that when it comes to rap, “[t]he final work is a product of the artist’s vision and imagination.”
The legal filing also seeks dismissal of Drake’s additional claims for “Second Degree Harassment” and violation of New York General Business Law § 349, arguing that the harassment statute does not create a “private right of action”, and that Drake failed to properly allege the elements required for his consumer protection claim.
UMG’s attorneys highlight the commercial and artistic success of Not Like Us, noting it was “the bestselling rap song of 2024” and that Rolling Stone deemed it “the biggest moment in music this year.”
The song received five Grammy Awards and Lamar performed a version of it at the February 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.
Drake’s amended filing arrived two weeks after Judge Jeanette Vargas in New York ruled that the discovery process in the defamation case could begin.
In March, UMG asked the judge for a stay of discovery in the lawsuit, a day after the company filed a motion to dismiss the case. Drake had previously opposed UMG’s attempt to halt the evidence-gathering process.
Music Business Worldwide
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