Drake claims Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ is defamatory, in second action against Universal Music Group

Drake has filed a second legal petition against Universal Music Group (UMG), claiming the company should have stopped the release of Kendrick Lamar’s track ‘Not Like Us’, stating that the diss track is defamatory. The news comes following Drake’s first petition against Spotify and UMG, accusing the companies of conspiring to inflate the streaming and radio numbers of Lamar’s track.

Drake claims that UMG paid influencers and radio stations to promote the song and increase its popularity. He now alleges, through lawyers, that the track damages his reputation by “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts”. The Bexar County, Texas, filing also accuses UMG of funneling payments to iHeartRadio in a pay-to-play promotional scheme.

Neither petition constitutes a lawsuit, they are “pre-action filings”, which are designed to obtain information to support Drake’s claims for a future lawsuit.

In response to the first filing, a UMG spokesperson denied Drake’s claims. They wrote: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”

Kendrick’s track, ‘Not Like Us’, debuted at No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100, helping the artist to receive several nominations at the Grammy Awards.