The long-simmering tension between Drake and Lamar, who had collaborated early in their careers, exploded into full-on musical beef last spring across eight rapidly released songs that included escalating personal attacks.
On one track, “Family Matters,” Drake questioned whether Lamar’s manager had secretly fathered one of his children and alleged that Lamar had “beat on” his romantic partner and covered it up. Soon after, on “Meet the Grahams,” Lamar equated Drake with Harvey Weinstein, calling him a “pervert” and a “sick man” who “should die” to make the world safer for women.
The following day, Lamar released “Not Like Us,” which includes lyrics like “say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young,” calling the rapper and his crew “certified pedophiles” who should “be registered and placed on neighborhood watch.”
The track — which, according to Drake’s lawsuit, “cloaks cleverly dangerous lyrics behind a catchy beat and inviting hook” — went on to top the Billboard singles chart and has since been streamed more than one billion times on Spotify alone. At the Grammy Awards next month, “Not Like Us” is nominated for five awards, including record and song of the year. The following week, Lamar will headline the Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans.
“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,’” the suit says. “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.”
To prove defamation, a public figure must not only show that false information was published, broadcast or spoken, harming their reputation, but that the publisher did so while knowing that the information was false or with substantial doubts about its accuracy.
