A hip-hop superstar beef was cranked up another notch Wednesday when Drake sued Universal Music Group for defamation over rival Kendrick Lamar's diss track “Not Like Us.”
The lawsuit, filed in federal court in New York City, alleges UMG — the parent record label for Drake and Lamar — published and promoted the track even though it included false pedophilia allegations against Drake and suggested listeners should resort to vigilante justice. Lamar is not named in the suit.
The result, the suit says, was intruders shooting a security guard and two attempted break-ins at Drake’s Toronto home, online hate and harassment, a hit to his reputation and a decrease in his brand's value before his contract renegotiation with UMG this year.
“The lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’" the lawsuit says, referring to Lamar. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
The suit later alleges, “UMG did so because it understood that the Recording's inflammatory and shocking allegations were a gold mine.”
And, the suit claims, the music company has made large investments and used its connections to arrange for “Not Like Us” to be performed at next month's Super Bowl, where Lamar will be the halftime entertainment.
The lawsuit, which is seeking a trial and an undisclosed amount of money for damages, also repeated allegations in other legal filings that UMG falsely pumped up the popularity of “Not Like Us” on streaming services.
The track is nominated for five Grammys, including record of the year and song of the year.
UMG disputed the lawsuit's allegations in a statement Wednesday afternoon.
“Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical," the company said. “We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”
The company added: “Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music. ”
Representatives for Lamar did not respond to emails seeking comment.
The feud between Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and five-time Grammy winner whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner, is among the biggest in hip-hop in recent years, with two of the genre’s biggest stars at its center.
The two were occasional collaborators more than a decade ago, but Lamar began taking public jabs at Drake starting in 2013. The fight escalated steeply last year.
Drake's lawyers, from New York-based Willkie Farr & Gallagher, said the lawsuit seeks to hold UMG accountable for knowingly promoting false and defamatory allegations against him. They said the shooting and break-in attempts at Drake's home, and the online vitriol, prompted him to move his family out of the house, and that he fears for his and their safety.
“Beginning on May 4, 2024 and every day since, UMG has used its massive resources as the world’s most powerful music company to elevate a dangerous and inflammatory message that was designed to assassinate Drake’s character, and led to actual violence at Drake’s doorstep,” the law firm said in a statement.
“This lawsuit reveals the human and business consequences to UMG’s elevation of profits over the safety and well-being of its artists, and shines a light on the manipulation of artists and the public for corporate gain,” it said.
FILE - Rapper Kendrick Lamar appears at the MTV Video Music Awards, on Aug. 27, 2017, in Inglewood, Calif., left, and Canadian rapper Drake appears at the premiere of the series "Euphoria," in Los Angeles on June 4, 2019. (AP Photo, File)
BERLIN (AP) — Tens of thousands of Germans on Saturday protested in Berlin and other cities against the rise of the far-right, anti-immigrant Alternative for Germany (AfD) party ahead of the Feb. 23 general election.
At Berlin's Brandenburg Gate, a huge crowd blew whistles, sang anti-fascist songs and carried banners denouncing AfD. Activists said they hoped the rally also would draw attention to other far-right parties in Europe and the new administration of U.S. President Donald Trump.
“Those who fuel racism and attack climate protection are not just campaigning, they are endangering lives,” Luisa Neubauer with the Fridays for Future climate group told the crowd, which police estimated at 35,000. Police estimated the crowd at the Cologne rally at 40,000.
Europe's largest economy has been shaken after Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-party governing coalition collapsed late last year in a dispute over how to revitalize amid stagnation.
Saturday's protests took place while AfD opened its election campaign in the central city of Halle, where party leader Alice Weidel, AfD’s candidate for chancellor, spoke to about 4,500 people.
Weidel has the backing of Elon Musk, who addressed the rally remotely. His open support has caused an uproar in Germany.
Mainstream parties have declared they will not work with the AfD. The opposition center-right Union bloc and its candidate for chancellor, Friedrich Merz, top pre-election polls, followed by the far-right party.
Merz said Friday his party next week will bring motions to Parliament to toughen migration policy, one of the main election issues. That potentially leaves Merz open to accusations of breaking longstanding pledges not to work directly or indirectly with the AfD, if the motions go to a vote and pass with the party's help.
Merz earlier vowed to bar people from entering the country without proper papers, and to step up deportations if he is elected chancellor. His comments came after a knife attack in Aschaffenburg by a rejected asylum-seeker left a man and a 2-year-old boy dead.
People gather to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People gather to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People gather to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People gather to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People gather to protest against the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People hold up their cell phones as they protest the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People hold up their cell phones as they protest the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People gather to protest against the Far Right, in Cologne, Germany, Saturday Jan. 25, 2025. Banner reads: "Immediate lessons for Merz in democracy and decency". (Christoph Driessen/dpa via AP)
People gather to take part in the "5 before 12 - Loud for Democracy" protest in Cologne, Germany, Saturday Jan. 25, 2025. (Christoph Reichwein/dpa via AP)
Participants hold lights, and a banner reading 'human rights instead of right people' during a rally, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, in Berlin, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (Christophe Gateau/dpa via AP)
People hold up their cell phones as they protest the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)
People hold up their cell phones as they protest the far-right Alternative for Germany, or AfD party, and right-wing extremism in front of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, Germany, Saturday, Jan. 25, 2025. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi)