Drake Loses Universal Music Group Defamation Suit

Welp! After months of authorized back-and-forth, Common Music Group has emerged victorious in Drake’s defamation lawsuit.

The Hollywood Reporter studies that U.S. District Decide Jeannette Vargas dominated Thursday that the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” are expressions of opinion fairly than statements of reality.

“An inexpensive listener couldn’t have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying goal info about Drake,” she dominated.

As beforehand reported, Criticism Papi’s authorized battle grew to embody greater than UMG’s alleged defamation.

Most not too long ago, his group demanded inner paperwork tied to allegations of home violence in opposition to Lamar and probing the character of Dave Free’s relationship with Lamar’s youngsters.

In these filings, Drake’s attorneys sought “All Paperwork and Communications … referring to allegations of home violence … dedicated by Kendrick Lamar.” Additionally they requested supplies on “David Isaac Friley (a/okay/a Dave Free) and his relationship with Kendrick Lamar and Kendrick Lamar’s youngsters.”

The requests mirrored lyrics from Lamar’s The Coronary heart Half 6, wherein Drake floated solutions that one among Lamar’s youngsters may not be biologically his, however fathered by Dave Free as a substitute.

Drake additionally accused UMG of orchestrating a “monetary conspiracy” by selling Lamar’s music on the expense of his model, making secret funds, and decreasing licensing affords to 3rd events to suppress Drake’s worth throughout contract talks. His group additionally demanded UMG produce redacted variations of Lamar’s document contract (claiming it was unfairly censored), and documentation involving prior label censorship (citing Pusha T’s “Story of Adidon”) as precedent.

However in her ruling, Decide Vargas refused to deal with rap-battle lyrics as binding statements of reality.

The Hollywood Reporter notes that Vargas emphasised that diss tracks by nature use hyperbolic, provocative language:

“The common listener shouldn’t be underneath the impression {that a} diss observe is the product of a considerate or disinterested investigation,” she wrote. She added that the “rhetorical fashion, tone, and context, stuffed with profanity and rhetorical flourish, clearly mark the track as expressive opinion fairly than factual assertion.”