The explosive rap feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar may be in the rearview mirror, but the legal battle between the Toronto rapper and his record label is only heating up.
On Wednesday, Drake’s legal team filed an amended complaint in the rapper’s blockbuster defamation case against Universal Music Group, which centres on the release and promotion of Lamar’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us.” The song accuses Drake and his associates of pedophilia.
The amended complaint expands on the original January lawsuit to incorporate recent events, including Lamar’s performance of “Not Like Us” at the 2025 Super Bowl, and his appearance at the 2025 Grammys, where the song swept all five of its nominated categories, including song of the year.
The statement shared with the Star by Drake’s legal team said, “UMG made significant financial investments and leveraged its professional connections, via sophisticated and highly-organized publicity campaigns to arrange for the massive amplification of defamatory claims to over 133 million viewers at the Super Bowl and more than 15 million viewers at the Grammys.”
The amended complaint alleges that Lamar intentionally omitted saying the word “pedophile” during his Super Bowl performance: “that is because nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory to falsely brand someone a ‘certified pedophile.’”
The complaint also said that the Super Bowl performance exposed “millions of children” to “Not Like Us,” adding that “it was the first, and will hopefully the last, Super Bowl halftime show orchestrated to assassinate the character of another artist.”
The amendment arrives just over two weeks after a judge denied UMG’s motion to delay discovery, setting the stage for the formal legal process of gathering evidence. Drake’s team celebrated the decision, and said the process is likely to include deposing key executives at UMG.
“UMG’s PR ‘spin’ and failed efforts to avoid discovery cannot suppress the facts and the truth,” said Michael Gottlieb, Drake’s lead attorney, in a new statement. “With discovery now moving forward, Drake will expose the evidence of UMG’s misconduct, and UMG will be held accountable for the consequences of its ill-conceived decisions.”
In response to the amended complaint, UMG shared a scorching statement with the Star.
“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed at 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” the statement reads. “Fearful of being sanctioned by the court for asserting false allegations, tonight they amended the complaint to withdraw them only to add more baseless allegations.”
UMG’s statement also described the recent judgment to grant discovery as “routine.”
“That ‘win’ will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.’”
“It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue,” the statement concludes. “They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.”
Drake’s explosive lawsuit against UMG was filed in a U.S. federal court in January. The suit alleges that the record label’s release and promotion of “Not Like Us” was not only defamatory, but also put Drake’s life at risk. In May 2024, days after the song was released, a security guard was shot during an incident at Drake’s mansion in Toronto.
Released on May 4, 2024, “Not Like Us” was widely considered a knockout punch in the months-long rap feud between Drake and Lamar. The song reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts and broke several streaming records on Spotify.
Drake’s legal team alleges that the song is defamatory, citing the song’s lyrics and the single’s cover art, which features a photo of Drake’s Toronto mansion covered with several red markers representing the presence of registered sex offenders.
In March, UMG filed a blistering motion.
”(Drake), one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” the motion read. “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.”
The motion also referenced Drake’s own diss tracks, which contained attacks on Lamar’s character, including accusations that Lamar abused his fiancée.
“Assessed in context, as it must be, ‘Not Like Us’ clearly conveys nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole — diss tracks are a popular and celebrated art form centred around outrageous insults, and they would be severely chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed.”
UMG, a multinational music company, is the distributor for the record labels of both Drake and Lamar. In 2022, Drake signed a multi-faceted deal with UMG that was reported to be worth as much as $400 million, making it one of the largest recording contracts ever.
