Drake’s Label Fires Back at Rapper in Appeals Court: ‘Astoundingly Hypocritical’

Universal Music Group is firing back at Drake again, arguing in a new appellate brief that the rapper’s attempt to revive his failed defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar ’s “Not Like Us” is illogical and “astoundingly hypocritical.” In its new 83-page filing obtained by Rolling Stone , UMG says the Canadian rapper born Aubrey Drake Graham is making arguments so flawed and “nonsensical” that he’s attempting to “turn the law upside down.” The new brief, filed in the Second Circuit, argues U.S.

District Judge Jeannette A. Vargas ruled correctly last October when she concluded that Lamar’s lyrics calling Drake a pedophile were “nonactionable opinion,” meaning not statements of fact. The label says Drake clearly felt free to use UMG’s platform to attack Lamar “in equally incendiary terms” when it suited him, but now he’s seeking a different standard for the “words he now dislikes” that were directed at him.

“[Drake] seeks to strip words from their context and deem them actionable defamation if anyone, anywhere, might treat them as factual. That is not the law, and Drake’s view would critically...