A U.S. federal judge has dismissed the defamation lawsuit rapper Drake filed against his own record label, Universal Music Group (UMG), over the publication and promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss track “Not Like Us.”
The ruling, issued Thursday by District Judge Jeannette Vargas, found that the Grammy-winning song’s lyrics, in which Lamar accused Drake of being a “certified pedophile”, were protected expressions of opinion, not statements of fact.
In her 38-page decision, Judge Vargas wrote that “the average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation conveying fact-checked verifiable content.”
She added that the “broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable facts about Drake.”
The dismissal ends Drake’s case against UMG, though the rapper’s legal team said he plans to appeal. “We intend to appeal today’s ruling, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it,” a Drake spokesperson told CNN Thursday night.
Drake did not sue Lamar directly, and the court noted that Lamar was not accused of any wrongdoing.
UMG, which had called the lawsuit “frivolous” and “illogical,” welcomed the decision.
“From the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day,” a UMG spokesperson said. “We’re pleased with the court’s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake’s music and investing in his career.”
Drake filed the lawsuit in January, arguing that UMG should not have distributed or promoted “Not Like Us” through its subsidiaries. Lamar is signed to Interscope Records, a division of UMG, while Drake is signed to Republic Records, also under UMG’s umbrella.
The song, released amid a fiery back-and-forth between the two rap superstars last year, became a cultural phenomenon, dominating charts and fueling debates about the limits of artistic expression. “Not Like Us” later won multiple Grammy Awards and featured in Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show performance in February.
With the court’s ruling, Judge Vargas reaffirmed the long-standing legal precedent that rap battles and diss tracks are forms of artistic opinion, not factual assertions, effectively closing one of the music industry’s most unusual lawsuits of the year.
Source: CNN
Written By Rodney Mbua
