Complain Papi can celebrate a small win in his defamation battle against Universal Music Group, as a judge ruled that his legal team can move forward in obtaining key documents, including Kendrick Lamar’s contracts.

Source: Prince Williams/Wireimage / Prince Williams/Wireimage

Variety reports that at a recent pre-trial conference in New York, Judge Jeanette Vargas ruled that Drake’s attorneys can begin deposing UMG executives and requesting records. According to the outlet, Universal had sought to put discovery on hold, arguing that gathering the requested materials, ranging from Kendrick’s contracts to compensation details for Interscope CEO John Janick and other execs, would be overly “burdensome.” The judge apparently disagreed. 
According to Drake’s lead attorney Michael Gottlieb, this victory is pivotal.

“Now it’s time to see what UMG was so desperately trying to hide,” he told Variety and Law & Crime reporter Meghann Cuniff.

As previously reported, Universal Music Group filed its first court response to Drake’s defamation lawsuit last month, and it was littered with not-so-subtle shade about Drake losing his battle with Kendrick. In a motion filed Monday, March 17, the company said it was seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, calling the case “no more than Drake’s attempt to save face” after losing a rap beef.

“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 wrote 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.”

With discovery now moving forward in New York, Drake’s team will soon gain access to documents that could further shape the high-profile case.

A hearing on Universal’s motion to dismiss is set for June 30.

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