Lawyers for Universal Music Group (UMG) formally responded to Drake’s federal lawsuit against the major label today (March 17) and asked the court to dismiss the defamation case. The court filing opens with some lyrics from Drake’s memorable So Far Gone song “Successful”: “Yeah, I want it all, that’s why I strive for it/Diss me, you’ll never hear a reply for it.”
After the epigraph, UMG’s lawyers argue: “Plaintiff [Drake], one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
The motion goes on to describe the feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, saying that a public beef is “not unique in the world of rap.” In fact, the lawyers also compliment Drake as “a prolific rap feud combatant, having traded diss tracks with a number of artists including Pusha T and Meek Mill.”
UMG’s lawyers also note that Drake and Lamar’s feud included multiple songs with outlandish lyrics and insinuations. The most popular and successful diss track of the battle, Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” therefore does not differ greatly from the other songs, as it also “consists of hyperbolic insults,” they argue.
“Drake, who had no concerns using UMG’s platform to publish slurs about Lamar during their rap feud, now claims that ‘Not Like Us’ is defamatory,” the lawyers state. “Drake fails to state a claim for defamation because ‘Not Like Us’ conveys nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole, not fact, and because Drake cannot adequately allege that UMG acted with actual malice.”
Lawyers for UMG go on to defend the label against Drake’s claims of harassment and improper promotion of “Not Like Us.”
In a statement shared with Pitchfork, Michael J. Gottlieb, Drake’s lead attorney, said: “UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: A greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence. This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists.”
