Drake sues his own record label for defamation over Kendrick Lamar diss track calling him ‘a pedophile’
Drake has taken his feud with Kendrick Lamar to federal court.
The “One Dance” rapper, 38, filed a defamation lawsuit in Manhattan on Wednesday against Universal Music Group — which reps both stars — for releasing Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”
In the court documents obtained by The Post, Drake accused the record label of spreading the “false and malicious narrative” that he’s “a pedophile.”
The lawsuit states that on May 4, 2024, the day “Not Like Us” came out, “UMG 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.”
“Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake’s music for years, and knew that the salacious allegations against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists,” the suit added.
Drake is signed to UMG subsidiary Republic Records, while Lamar, 37, is signed to UMG’s Interscope Records.
In the court docs, Drake claimed that Lamar’s diss track — which is nominated for five Grammy Awards, including Song of the Year — conveyed the “false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile.”
Lamar isn’t named in the lawsuit.
The docs read: “This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us.’ 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.”
A spokesperson for UMG told The Post, “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. 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.
“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.”
The statement continued, “We have not and do not engage in defamation—against any individual. At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more than write a song.”
In November 2024, Drake filed a pre-action petition in Manhattan against both UMG and Spotify, alleging they created a “scheme” to “artificially inflate” the streams of “Not Like Us.”
Drake’s attorneys said the two companies “deceived consumers” into thinking Lamar’s track was more popular than it was in reality.
However, it was reported on Tuesday that Drake withdrew the legal petition in court.
A UMG spokesperson previously told The Post, “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.”
The feud between the two rappers began in 2013, but it reached new heights last year when Lamar claimed Drake had sex with underage women in “Not Like Us” — which Drake later denied.
The former “Degrassi: The Next Generation” actor then released his own diss track, “The Heart Part 6,” where he alleged that he and his team planted fake stories for Lamar to use in his music amid their drama.
“Not Like Us” achieved huge success upon its release. It broke several records on Spotify and marked Lamar’s fourth No. 1 song on the Billboard Hot 100.
Four months after the song came out, Lamar was announced as the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show headliner.
