Drake has filed go well with towards Common Music Group for defamation, alleging the music big put its earnings over his security by releasing Kendrick Lamar’s “false and malicious” diss monitor, “Not Like Us.”
In a Wednesday submitting to with the U.S. District Court docket for the Southern District of New York, legal professionals for the rapper, actual identify Aubrey Drake Graham, accused the artist’s longtime label of intentionally permitting Lamar to make “inflammatory and shocking allegations” calling Drake a “certified pedophile,” regardless of realizing how the claims would threaten his status and security.
The go well with asserts that UMG was totally conscious that there isn’t any factual foundation for claims made within the track and its music video, however the firm proceeded to publish and distribute “Not Like Us,” as a result of it “understood” that the salacious nature of the accusations could be a monetary “gold mine.”
Prince Williams by way of Getty Pictures
“The recording was intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response,” Drake’s attorneys declare.
Citing a listing of “palpable threat[s] to Drake’s safety” prompted by the discharge of “Not Like Us” and its music video, the court docket filings declare UMG put “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists” by distributing and selling the track.
Among the many incidents referenced within the lawsuit are a drive-by taking pictures at Drake’s Toronto space house and several other tried break-ins which came about simply days after the diss monitor’s launch.
“UMG’s greed yielded real world consequences,” the lawsuit contends.
Whereas it’s Lamar who aired the allegations, the go well with contends that UMG’s determination to knowingly publish the falsehoods in “Not Like Us” make the corporate answerable for the injury brought on by the discharge of the track and its accompanying video.
“UMG may spin this complaint as a rap beef gone legal, but this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists,” it claims.
“It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
Drake despatched shockwaves via the music trade final November when he filed a pair of “pre-action” petitions designed to safe information and data previous to an official lawsuit being filed.
On Wednesday, his authorized workforce withdrew one of many petitions, which accused UMG and Spotify of a “scheme” to artificially enhance streaming numbers for “Not Like Us.”
Drake’s transfer towards the multinational music conglomerate is notable, as UMG has distributed the rapper’s music for his complete profession.
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UMG didn’t instantly reply to HuffPost’s request for remark.
