Kendrick Lamar won the battle, but Drake is attempting to win the war by expanding his legal battle with Universal Music Group over K-Dots “Not Like Us,” claiming the rival rapper’s Grammys success and Super Bowl performance further damaged his star reputation.
Drake Still Sour About Kendrick Lamar Diss & Super Bowl Performance
Most people feel Drake has had unforeseen and legendary success in his rap hustle. Selling every stereotype rap music has to offer, while appearing to be a superior lyricist and song maker. The record sales, awards and longevity cements his status.
But the black eye that Lamar served Drake wasn’t something that hurt his marketability or mainstream success. In trying to duplicate the great hip-hop rivalries of the past, Drake fell miserably short and his reputation as a superior lyricist and song maker took a blow. The content of the song also proved problematic for Drake as he was referenced as a “pedophile” in the song. The Canadian-born rapper has been trying to recover ever since.
Civil War Brewing At UMG
So it’s a civil war that’s still brewing.
Both Drake and Lamar are signed to UMG, under different divisions. (UMG has no relationship to NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
Drake, whose government name is Aubrey Drake Graham, sued UMG in January, alleging that it defamed him by spreading a “false and malicious narrative” when it promoted Lamar’s diss track.
UMG filed a motion to dismiss the lawsuit last month, arguing the claims are “no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle” with Lamar.
K-Dot Super Bowl Performance Sent Drake Off The Edge
When Jay-Z tapped Kendrick to do the Super Bowl that’s when things got out of hand.
According to reports, in an amended complaint, filed Wednesday in federal court in New York City, Drake’s lawyers claim that the Super Bowl and the Grammys were “prestigious and high-exposure events” that “introduced new listeners” to the allegedly defamatory song.
“Not only did streams of the Recording increase significantly following these two mega-cultural events, but threats against Drake and his family did as well,” according to the amended lawsuit.
“With discovery now moving forward, Drake will expose the evidence of UMG’s misconduct, and UMG will be held accountable for the consequences of its ill-conceived decisions,” Drake’s attorney Michael Gottlieb said in
A spokesperson for UMG shot back, warning that “Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.
While Drake has been lamenting and strategizing. Kendrick has been enjoying the peak of his career, winning five Grammy awards in February before headlining the halftime show a week later and putting Drake on blast in front of 133.5 million viewers, according to The Associated Press.
“Even though UMG enriched itself and its shareholders by exploiting Drake’s music for years, and knew that the salacious lies against Drake were false, UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists,” the complaint says, adding that the label “continued to fan the flames even after learning of the incitement to violence on May 7and 8, along with the unrelenting vitriol towards Drake that has followed.”
Drake is trying to get back at K-Dot for an L he took. The money is unlikely to make up for the hit his hip hop credibility took in the battle. The way he has attempted to save face doesn’t garner him much street credibility either.
