The rap beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar has officially spilled out of the booth and into the courtroom — and things are getting spicier than a midnight freestyle on Hot 97.
Drake’s legal team just hit Universal Music Group (UMG) with an updated lawsuit, doubling down on claims that the label played a very active role in promoting Kendrick’s scorcher of a diss track “Not Like Us.” You know, the one that had timelines melting and Drake stans doing digital damage control for days. According to Drizzy’s camp, UMG wasn’t just passively letting art fly — they were allegedly fueling the fire.
The lawsuit now claims that “Not Like Us” — a track packed with razor-sharp bars that implied some heavy, potentially defamatory stuff about Drake — was boosted far beyond just the streaming platforms. His lawyers say the track got a prime-time push, including high-profile placements and a nod during the Super Bowl Halftime Show. Their argument? This wasn’t art doing its thing. It was coordinated, calculated, and harmful.
UMG’s response? Not exactly shaking in their boots. They’ve labeled the suit “frivolous and reckless,” claiming it’s all sour grapes from Drake’s side after catching an L in the public eye. According to them, it’s less about justice and more about reputation repair. Oof.
But Drake’s team isn’t backing down. They’re saying they have “nothing to hide” and are fully leaning into the discovery phase — which could mean we’re about to see a lot of receipts on how tracks get pushed behind the scenes. If this lawsuit gains traction, it could change how labels handle diss records and where the line is drawn between “promotion” and “provocation.”
Zooming out, this case hits on something bigger than just two rap titans clashing. It’s about the machinery behind the music — the labels, the marketing muscle, the strategies that turn a diss track into a cultural moment. As hip-hop continues to evolve into a genre of global influence and billion-dollar stakes, questions like these will only get louder.