Drake has addressed his record label’s motion to dismiss his lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us.
In January, Drake sued Universal Music Group (UMG) executives, claiming they defamed him by promoting Kendrick’s diss track Not Like Us, in which the rival rapper accuses him of paedophilia.
On Monday, lawyers for UMG filed a motion to dismiss the legal action, arguing that Drake’s defamation lawsuit is “a misguided attempt” to “salve his wounds” after he “lost a rap battle”.
In response, Drake’s lawyer Michael J. Gottlieb said in a statement, “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.”
Early last year, Drake and Lamar, who are both UMG artists, released a series of diss tracks against each other, with Not Like Us proving to be the most successful.
The diss track received renewed attention in February when it won five Grammys, including Record and Song of the Year. A week later, Lamar performed it in front of millions of viewers during the Super Bowl Halftime Show.
In their motion to dismiss, UMG lawyers wrote that Drake “lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated”.
They 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. Plaintiff’s Complaint is utterly without merit and should be dismissed with prejudice.”
The legal team also argued that the One Dance singer failed to make a claim for defamation, and insisted that he relied on UMG to promote his own diss tracks.
Drake denied Lamar’s shocking allegations in his own response song, The Heart Part 6, last year.
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