It’s already been a busy week for Drake. Only a day after the Toronto rapper withdrew considered one of his authorized actions towards Common Music Group (UMG), he filed a defamation go well with in New York federal court docket towards the music firm.
The 6-God filed the defamation and harassment lawsuit on Wednesday, accusing UMG of approving and launching a marketing campaign to create successful that was meant to wreck the popularity of Drake by making a “false factual allegation” that the Toronto rapper is a “licensed pedophile,” in keeping with the New York Occasions.
That is clearly in reference to Kendrick Lamar’s scathing diss observe “Not Like Us,” which grew to become probably the most profitable diss tracks in hip-hop historical past and arguably the most important track of 2024. The lawsuit provides that UMG valued “company greed over the security and well-being of its artists.”
Extra from the New York Occasions:
Noting that the duvet artwork for “Not Like Us” contains a photograph of Drake’s Toronto residence dotted with markers meant to signify the presence of registered intercourse offenders, the criticism invokes a taking pictures on the residence days after the track’s launch that injured a safety guard — calling it “the 2024 equal of ‘Pizzagate’” — and cites two different tried trespassers within the days that adopted.
Drake and his attorneys say that UMG did all they may to market it as a result of they knew it might harm his model and devalue his music, which might, in flip, give them leverage in future contract negotiations.
In accordance with TMZ, the go well with additionally alleges that the music firm paid a 3rd celebration to make use of bots to extend the streams of the favored diss observe by 30 million and in addition engaged in a payola scheme with a radio promoter.
The information of this lawsuit comes lower than a day after Drake’s Frozen Moments firm dropped its authorized petition towards UMG and Spotify, which accused the businesses of conspiring to inflate the streams of “Not Like Us.”