It's not OV-er after all. Pretty much immediately after the news broke that Drake had withdrawn his legal petition accusing Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify of falsely inflating streaming numbers for Kendrick Lamar's "inflammatory and shocking" diss track "Not Like Us," the Torontonian has now filed a federal lawsuit for defamation and harassment against his label, alleging that the company's release and promotion of the song is an example of valuing "corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists."
As The New York Times reports, the lawsuit — filed today in the US District Court for the Southern District of New York — accuses UMG of having "approved, published, and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track" that was "intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response."
That last part is, of course, referring to the violent targeting of Drake's Bridle Path mansion in the wake of his feud with Lamar, which resulted in the drive-by shooting of his security guard last spring. Days later, police apprehended another intruder and the authorities' helicopter presence remained heavy.
The lawsuit notes that the cover art for "Not Like Us" features a photo of Drake's home dotted with markers intended to represent registered sex offenders, and cites the shooting and break-ins, calling the targeted harassment "the 2024 equivalent of 'Pizzagate.'"
According to the filing, Drake attempted to inform Universal about the harm the song was causing after the incidents at his home, including the removal of his young son from elementary school "due to safety concerns." The rapper claims that he was told he "would face humiliation if he brought legal action."
Notably, Lamar himself is once again not listed as a defendant. "This lawsuit is not about the artist who created 'Not Like Us,'" the document, brought forth on Drake's behalf by attorney Michael J. Gottlieb, clarifies. "It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous."
According to TMZ's sources, Drake dropping the legal action against the label and Spotify was merely to clear the way for this lawsuit, which further lays out the argument that Universal had ulterior financial motives for releasing and promoting "Not Like Us," calling it a "gold mine."
The filing claims that the label threw so much support behind Lamar's song to devalue Drake's reputation by spreading the "false and malicious narrative" that he's a pedophile, which would give UMG leverage in future contract negotiations. It further argues that if the company had any reason to believe that the rapper was a sex offender, it would not have been in business with him since 2009.