Top Dawg Entertainment‘s President, Punch, appears to endorse online speculation suggesting Drake may fall short in the defamation case he’s reportedly weighing against UMG, tied to Kendrick Lamar‘s track “Not Like Us.”
According to reports, Drake contends that UMG knowingly released K.Dot’s now-Grammy-nominated track, which he asserts falsely labels him as a sex offender. The rapper argues he has gathered sufficient evidence to pursue a defamation case against the label. On a recent episode of the Rap Latte Podcast, co-host Curtis King dismissed Drake’s assertions, noting that Kendrick avoids directly labeling the OVO star a pedophile. Instead, King argued, the plural phrasing appears aimed at figures within Drake’s inner circle.
Punch then took to X to share his reaction, stating, “You cooking Curtis. I was wondering when would ppl pick up on that.”
Nonetheless, Drake’s legal clash with UMG is advancing, with hearings scheduled for December and January in Bexar County court. Documents revealed that on December 20, a judge will consider his request to question figures from iHeartRadio and UMG over alleged misconduct tied to Kendrick’s acclaimed diss.
Drake Targets Alleged Industry Manipulation in Legal Crossfire
Additionally, Drake is entangled in another legal battle over “Not Like Us,” this one unfolding in New York. A January 16, 2025, court decision will determine whether Spotify and UMG must retain correspondence tied to the track’s marketing efforts.
In Manhattan’s courts on November 25, Drake’s attorneys initiated a “pre-action” petition, accusing UMG of employing bots, payola schemes, and other tactics to artificially boost the chart-topping hit. His legal team wrote, “UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices.” “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
The lawsuit accuses the label of orchestrating a scheme to manipulate search results, reportedly paying Spotify to highlight “Not Like Us” when users looked for entirely different songs. It further alleges that UMG influenced Siri to steer listeners away from Drake’s catalog, instead promoting the track in its place. The filing also asserts that fake accounts were deployed to inflate the song’s streaming statistics.
The Texas lawsuit expands its focus by implicating iHeartRadio, suggesting the media giant might have benefited from alleged payola tied to Universal Music Group in pushing “Not Like Us” onto the airwaves. Universal, meanwhile, has firmly rejected the accusations leveled by Drake.
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