A United States federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit that Drake brought against Universal Music Group (UMG), accusing the record company of defamation over its distribution and promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, Not Like Us.
District Judge Jeannette Vargas dismissed the suit after she said Lamar’s Not Like Us was a “nonactionable opinion” that is not considered defamatory. The feud between two of hip-hop’s biggest stars erupted in the spring of 2024, with the pair trading a series of tracks that culminated in Lamar landing the “metaphorical killing blow” with his megahit that May, Vargas said in her written opinion Thursday.
Recapping “perhaps the most infamous rap battle in the genre’s history,” Vargas noted that before Not Like Us, Drake mocked Lamar’s height and shoe size and questioned his success in an April 2024 track called Push Ups, while Lamar insulted Drake’s fashion sense that same month in Euphoria. The judge said she considered the forum in which the insults occurred and concluded that the average listener does not think a diss track “is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public factchecked verifiable content.”