A federal choose on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit through which Drake had accused the world’s greatest report firm of defaming him with the discharge and promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s Grammy-winning diss monitor “Not Like Us.”
In her dismissal of the case, U.S. District Choose Jeannette Vargas dominated that Lamar’s criticisms of Drake in “Not Like Us” — together with his declare that “I hear you want ’em younger” — didn’t quantity to defamation as a result of a “affordable listener couldn’t have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying goal info about Drake.”
The lawsuit put Drake at odds with Common Music Group, the sprawling report firm that releases music by each him and Lamar. Drake alleged that UMG had endangered his life by placing out a track that depicted him as a pedophile and “name[ed] for violent retribution towards him.”
He additionally framed UMG’s promotion of “Not Like Us,” which he claimed concerned bots on streaming providers and payola-like practices, as a method of devaluing Drake’s music as he and the corporate ready to renegotiate a deal.
In an announcement Thursday, a UMG spokesperson mentioned, “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 look ahead to persevering with our work efficiently selling Drake’s music and investing in his profession.”
A spokesperson for Drake mentioned the rapper deliberate to attraction the choice.
“Not Like Us” got here out final yr on the climax of a extremely publicized beef between Drake and Lamar; the track, which was extensively thought to be the feud’s knockout blow, topped Billboard’s Scorching 100 and went on to win Grammys for report of the yr and track of the yr. In February, Lamar carried out the track throughout his halftime efficiency at Tremendous Bowl LIX.
Vargas wrote in her dismissal that the track’s creation “within the midst of a rap battle is crucial to assessing its influence on an inexpensive listener” and that such a listener “shouldn’t be beneath the impression {that a} diss monitor is the product of a considerate or disinterested investigation.”
