Universal Music Group has filed its first court response to Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” and it’s filled with not subtle shade towards Complain Papi.

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In a motion filed Monday, March 17, the company is seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, calling the case “no more than Drake’s attempt to save face” after losing a rap beef.

According to reports from Billboard, attorneys for the music company insisted that Drake’s allegations against UMG were “meritless,” claiming that he took the issue to court because he had been publicly embarrassed.

“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” UMG’s lawyers write in the filing. “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.”

Universal also noted in the filing that the Canadian rapper leveled his own “hyperbolic insults” and “vitriolic allegations” during the same exchange of songs, accusing Kendrick of domestic abuse and even questioning whether he was really the father of his son.

“Drake has been pleased to use UMG’s platform to promote tracks leveling similarly incendiary attacks at Lamar,” the company’s attorneys pointed out in the filing. “But now, after losing the rap battle, Drake claims that ‘Not Like Us’ is defamatory. It is not.”

Drake’s attorney Michael J. Gottlieb issued a statement to Billboard on Monday, in which he called the company’s filiing an attempt to distract from the truth.

“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,” Gottlieb said in his statement. “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.”

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In May 2024, Lamar dropped his diss track “Not Like Us,” calling Drake as a “certified pedophile,” among other claims. Much to Drake’s dismay, the song became a chart-topping hit, won multiple Grammy awards, and served as the main event of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show in February.

Before that, though, Drake filed a lawsuit against UMG over the song, claiming the label artificially boosting the track’s popularity. The lawsuit also alleges that the label “waged a campaign” against its Drake to spread a “malicious narrative” about him that the company knew to be false.

In its response on Monday, UMG argues that the lyrics to the Compton rapper’s song are very obviously the kind of free speech that are shielded from defamation lawsuits by the First Amendment.

“Diss tracks are a popular and celebrated art form centered around outrageous insults, and they would be severely chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed,” the company wrote. “Hyperbolic and metaphorical language is par for the course in diss tracks — indeed, Drake’s own diss tracks employed imagery at least as violent.”

UMG cites Drake’s public support for a 2022 petition criticizing prosecutors for using rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases. That letter criticized prosecutors for treating lyrics as literal statements of fact, which is what Drake seems to be doing in his lawsuit against the company.

“As Drake recognized, when it comes to rap, ‘the final work is a product of the artist’s vision and imagination’,” UMG’s lawyers write. “Drake was right then and is wrong now. The complaint’s unjustified claims against UMG are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar. The court should grant UMG’s motion and dismiss the complaint with prejudice.”

The post Corporate Clap Back: Universal Music Group Says Drake ‘Lost A Rap Battle That He Provoked’ In First Response To His Defamation Lawsuit appeared first on Bossip.