The Truth About Drake vs. UMG (& Kendrick Lemar): Separating Fact From Fiction

On November 25, 2024, Drake made a legal complaint that Kendrick Lamar’s record label, Universal Music Group (UMG) conspired to boost the popularity of Lamar’s hit song and the song that virtually ended their public rap beef, “Not Like Us.” Drake and his team alleged in the Drake vs UMG lawsuit that UMG paid for bot traffic to boost the song and make it appear as though the song was way more popular than it was.  Since the complaint was filed the internet has been going crazy with rumors of what’s taking place and what it all means for Drake, and Hip-Hop.  Here’s the Truth about Drake vs UMG–separating the fact from fiction.

Despite the two rappers being under the same label, the Grammy-winning song “Not Like Us” debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in May 2024. However, the rap beef started to ramp up back in October 2023 with J. Cole’s feature on Drake’s album For All The Dogs, specifically with the lines “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K.Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.”

Trading Diss Tracks

Five months later, Lamar responded to J. Cole’s verse on his mind-blowing feature for “Like That,” on Future and Metro Boomin’s album We Don’t Trust You, making it clear that he was the only big rapper. Two days later, the “Passionfruit” rapper told a Florida crowd that he’s keeping his head up high and that no one can mess with him.

When Future and Metro released their collaborative album We Still Don’t Trust You on April 12, 2024, Drake clapped back by leaking his song “Push Ups,” the next day, which took a dig at Lamar’s height, referring to him as a “pipsqueak.” The second dig was his “Taylor Made Freestyle,” a song released on April 19, 2024 mocking the West coast rapper’s  connection to Taylor Swift (as the two collaborated on her 2014 song “Bad Blood”). “Taylor Made Freestyle” was taken off from streaming services due to AI-generated sample of the late Tupac Shakur.

Lamar decided to release multiple diss tracks against the Canadian artist. Released on April 30, the song “Euphoria” was a nod to the HBO drama that Drake produces. The six-minute song is known for the line “I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress.” On May 3, 2024, both artists dropped diss tracks – Lamar with “6:16 in LA” and Drake with “Family Matters.”

On “6:16 in LA,” Lamar claims there is a mole in OVO (Drake’s brand) sharing information on Drake. Meanwhile, Drake accuses Lamar on cheating on his wife, Whitney Alford.

The battle ended with a flurry of blows coming from both rappers in rapid succession.  “Meet the Grahams” came first where Lamar accuses Drake of having a secret daughter that he has never publicly claimed.   Drake responded relatively quickly with his response “The Heart Part 6” (May 5) – a play on Lamar’s “The Heart” series. On the song, Drake claimed that he tricked Lamar into receiving fake intel about the alleged secret daughter. While the revelation stung, the response from Kendrick Lamar came so quickly that the impact of “The Heart Part 6” almost disappeared completely.

The Kendrick response?

“Not Like Us.”  A catchy song that makes the accusation of Drake being a pedophile!

“Not Like Us” Drama

Lamar performed “Not Like Us” at his 2024 Juneteenth Pop Out Concert five times. NBA stars LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden were in attendance as well as actors Ayo Edebiri and LaKeith Stanfield.

On July 4, the “Not Like Us” music video was released, which showcased a scene of the artist beating up an owl puppet – a nod to Drake’s brand, as the logo for OVO is an owl.

Fans were shocked when Lamar surprised them with his sixth studio album, GNX, on November 22, 2024.  On the opening song, “Wacced Out Morals” he addressed the controversy surrounding his upcoming Super Bowl performance and hinted that he and Drake will never be on good terms: “I never peaced it up, that s— don’t sit well with me / Before I take a truce, I’ll take ’em to hell with me.”

Drake Legal Action

Within Drake’s legal complaint, he accused Universal Music Group of paying influencers to boost “Not Like Us,” charging Spotify reduced licensing rates in exchange for recommending the song to users searching for “unrelated songs and artists.” The document also accused UMG of paying Apple to have Siri “purposely misdirect” users to Lamar’s track. UMG has denied the rapper’s claims, telling Billboard, “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.”

A day after Drake filed a second motion against UMG in Texas, accusing the label of using payola to promote “Not Like Us” with iHeartRadio. He also accused UMG of defamation, claiming they could have prevented the song’s release because they knew the lyrics to be untrue and they were essentially complicit in “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.”

Drake celebrated the new year with a freestyle song calling “Fighting Irish” (January 3) shared on YouTube by producer Conductor Williams but was quickly deleted — Drake addressed friends who attended Lamar’s Pop Out concert in June 2024. “The world fell in love with the gimmicks, even my brothers got tickets / Seemed like they loved every minute/Just know this s— is personal to us, and it wasn’t just business.” The Grammy winner hinted at his legal quarrel with UMG in the line, “I’d hate to see the empire crumble on judge’s convictions.”

Drake withdrew his legal petition against UMG on January 14. However a day later, the rapper filed a federal lawsuit accusing UMG of defamation and harassment, claiming that the label “chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists.” In an 81-page legal document, Drake’s attorneys alleged that protecting Lamar’s safety led to numerous break-in attempts at his Toronto home as well as a shooting that left one of his security guards injured.

In a statement, UMG stated: “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. 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.”

UMG fighting back with public statements seems like this entire thing is very personal, which may lend to some truth to the idea that this may all have stemmed from a contract dispute with Drake, who at one point was there biggest selling artist… and may still be.

It should also be noted that Drake is still signed to, and releasing music under the UMG label imprint.

UMG’s Response

On March 17, UMG filed to dismiss Drake’s lawsuit, claiming the rapper only sued them because he “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated.” The filing continued, “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. [Drake’s] complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”

The lawsuit was not dismissed.

Drake’s Clapback

On July 5, Drake puts out the song “What Did I Miss?,”, reflecting on the feud. The single is the first from his upcoming Iceman album. He decided to call out Lamar and other friends/colleagues: “I don’t give a f*** if you love me, I don’t give a f*** if you like me / Askin’ me, ‘How did it feel?’ Can’t say it didn’t surprise me,”  Later in the song, he rapped, “It’s love for my brothers and death to a traitor, let’s go.”

A week later, Drake headlined the Wireless Festival in London where he acknowledges anti-Lamar chants saying “Grab me a shot, I’ll drink to that!” He also challenged any artist to face him if they think they could put on a better performance: “You name another artist who can do it, and we can bring them up here. We can clash right now. Nobody,” Drake said. “That’s what I’m here for. I’m here for yall tonight!”

Drake vs. UMG Turning Point?

On August 7, Drake’s lawyers provided a key witness, Kojo Menne Asamoah, who is accused of using bots to enlarge the popularity of “Not Like Us.” According to XXL, Asamoah’s subpoena requires him to “produce documents, information, or objects or to permit inspection of premises” in connection to the case against UMG. According to court documents, Drake believes Asamoah conspired in “directing payments and/or financial incentives from UMG to third parties involved in online botting for the purpose of artificially inflating the streaming numbers of [‘Not Like Us’].”

Also in August, Drake and UMG made lists of people and entities that they would like to be subpoenaed as potential witnesses to testify in the case. Drake’s list of potential witnesses includes himself, UMG CEO Lucian Grange, Interscope marketing president Steve Berman, Republic Records CEO Monte Lipman, pgLang, Roc Nation, Tidal, TikTok, YouTube, etc. UMG’s list includes Drake and Lamar among seven others.

It remains to be seen what the implications of this case will be for Drake and the Universal Music Group if they are in fact found liable.  Drake continues to put out music and sell out shows, so his standing in the music industry appears to be generally in tact, but once his deal with UMG is over, will he go independent?  Who will own his masters?  So many questions.

Comment below what you think will happen next in this legal battle!