Drake has taken the rare step of suing his own record label, claiming defamation over the release of Kendrick Lamar's diss track Not Like Us.
On Wednesday, January 15, the God’s Plan rapper took the matter to court by lodging a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.
The lawsuit was filed after Drake and Lamar released diss tracks about each other.
Drake took the legal action Universal Music Group, his own record label, for releasing and promoting Kendrick Lamar's diss track Not Like Us.
As per PEOPLE, in a court documents, the 38-year-old singer (whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham), claimed that Universal Music Group "approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track that falsely accuses Drake of being a pedophile and calls for violent retribution against him."
In a lawsuit Drake alleged that in the May 2024 song, Not Like Us, Lamar, 37, "cloaks cleverly dangerous lyrics behind a catchy beat and inviting hook.”
The claims suggested that "Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young," which Lamar raps in the song, and claims that Lamar calls Drake a "certified pedophile" that should be "placed on neighborhood watch."
As per the complaint, the Universal Music Group, Drake's record label since 2009, has allegedly "repeatedly defamed Drake while 'exploiting' and 'monetizing' his work" by releasing Lamar’s song.
The lawsuit claimed that Not Like Us was "intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response."
However, on the same day the Universal Music Group refuted all the claims presented by Drake in the court.
Previously, in November, Drake accused Universal Music Group of launching a "campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves" with Lamar's song in a complaint filed in a Manhattan court by Drake's Frozen Moments LLC.
