Drake Seeks Kendrick Lamar’s Contract, Evidence of Domestic Violence In Legal Fight
Drake is looking for ammunition in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
In a discovery bid, Drake, born Aubrey Graham, urged the court to force UMG and chief executive Lucian Grainge to turn over the label’s contract with Lamar, as well as information relating to allegations of domestic violence and other crimes committed by the Compton rapper.
Lamar (Interscope Records) and Drake (Republic Records) are represented by different divisions of UMG. Their rap battle turned to court earlier this year when the Toronto rapper claimed that UMG spread defamatory assertions that he’s a pedophile by making secret payments and offering reduced licensing rates to third parties to promote the song, with the goal of devaluing his music and brand amid contract negotiations.
The feud started with Drake’s 2023 J. Cole collaboration “First Person Shooter,” in which the pair proclaimed itself the “big three” alongside Lamar. In response, the Compton rapper rejected the idea that they’re his equals in “Like That.” Several diss tracks followed, with the musicians hurling increasingly spiteful insults at each other relating to accusations of domestic abuse, exploitation and pedophilia. It culminated with Lamar’s release of the anthemic West Coast banger in May, leading to spectators crowning him the winner of the battle.
Discovery is ongoing. UMG previously gave Drake’s lawyers its contract with Lamar, but the Toronto rapper takes issue with redactions in the 22-page document, “rendering it virtually unreadable and incomprehensible,” his legal team writes in the court filing.
Other requests for documents from UMG include information relating to Interscope’s monthly revenues and profits and the value of Lamar’s recording catalogue for the past five-and-a-half years. Drake says it’s relevant to his theory that the label was motivated by increasing profits derived from the allegedly defamatory statements in “Not Like Us.”
The Toronto rapper suspects that Grainge, who allegedly encouraged competition between UMG labels, played a major role in UMG’s promotion of the song. He seeks communications and documents from him of allegations of domestic violence and other crimes committed by Lamar.
In “Family Matters,” Drake‘s penultimate diss track in his feud with Kendrick Lamar, the Toronto rapper says that his West Coast adversary abuses his wife and isn’t the father to his son. “When you put your hands on your girl, Is it self-defense ‘cause she bigger than you?” Drake sings. “They hired a crisis management team. To clean up the fact that you beat on your queen.”
UMG has maintained that Grainge has “no meaningful involvement in the matters and decisions at issue in this litigation.”
