Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor Not Like Us has been dismissed by a federal decide.
Decide Jeannette A Vargas stated Lamar’s lyrics accusing Drake of being a paedophile weren’t defamatory as a result of they had been “nonactionable opinion”.
The Canadian rapper had sued Common Music Group (UMG) – which releases each artists’ music – and Lamar was not named within the lawsuit.
In a written opinion revealed on Thursday, the decide described “the vitriolic war of words” that erupted in spring 2024 as “perhaps the most infamous rap battle in the genre’s history”.
The feud led to 9 tracks forwards and backwards between the 2 hip-hop stars, with the insults escalating because the tracks progressed, changing into “vicious, personal”.
Different insults included shoe dimension, style sense and cuckolding.
The battle concluded with Lamar’s Not Like Us, which the decide described as “the metaphorical killing blow”.
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Not Like Us received Lamar 5 Grammys. Pic: Reuters
One in all 2024’s largest songs, it received file of the 12 months and music of the 12 months on the Grammys, achieved most Apple Music streams worldwide, and helped make the 2025 Tremendous Bowl half-time present the most-watched ever.
Nonetheless, the decide stated an affordable listener couldn’t have concluded that the monitor was conveying goal info about Drake.
She wrote: “Although the accusation that Plaintiff is a paedophile is certainly a serious one, 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 Plaintiff.”
The decide stated she thought-about the discussion board during which the insults occurred and concluded that the common listener doesn’t suppose a diss monitor “is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public fact-checked verifiable content”.
She wrote Not Like Us was “replete with profanity, trash-talking, threats of violence, and figurative and hyperbolic language, all of which are indicia of opinion”.
An inexpensive listener, she added, “would conclude that Lamar is rapping hyperbolic vituperations”.
The lawsuit, which was filed in January, alleged that UMG deliberately revealed and promoted the monitor regardless of understanding that it contained false and defamatory paedophilia allegations in opposition to Drake and urged listeners ought to resort to vigilante justice.
The music’s cowl artwork included an aerial picture of Drake’s Toronto mansion, which he stated led to tried break-ins and the capturing of a safety guard.
The lawsuit additionally alleged the monitor tarnished Drake’s repute and decreased the worth of his model.
UMG had denied the allegations, calling the lawsuit “an affront to all artists and their creative expression” and one which it stated “never should have seen the light of day”.
It stated it was “pleased with the court’s dismissal” and regarded ahead to persevering with its work with Drake sooner or later.
Drake is but to remark.
