In January, after taking some preliminary legal measures last fall, Drake officially sued his own record label Universal Music Group, claiming the company illegally schemed to boost the popularity of fellow UMG artist Kendrick Lamar's beef-settling, culture-saturating Drake diss "Not Like Us." It was part of a flurry of courtroom maneuvers from Drake, who has also targeted Spotify and iHeartMedia with legal action. He's since settled with iHeart, and now UMG has filed a motion to dismiss the suit against them.
The day after Drake filed his suit, UMG issued a statement calling the measure "illogical" and denying that they had engaged in defamation. Now, as Variety reports, the label has filed a motion to dismiss, writing that Drake "lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated. Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice."
UMG argues that Drake fails to make a solid defamation case against them, in part because it's unfair to expect the label to promote his diss tracks but not his opponents. The filing notes that less than three years ago Drake signed a petition against "the trend of prosecutors using artists' creative expression against them" by interpreting rap lyrics as fact. "Drake was right then and is wrong now," the motion reads. "Complaint's unjustified claims against UMG are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar."
Drake's attorney Michael J. Gottlieb responded to UMG's motion in a statement to Variety: "UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: a greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence. This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists."
