[Photo courtesy of Republic Records]

By Eileen Fortner, Contributor

Today, Drake took his beef with Kendrick Lamar to a federal level, filing a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Lamar’s Grammy-nominated song, “Not Like Us,” which was released last May. 

It’s certainly no secret to the public that Lamar and Drake have had a strained relationship for several years. Throughout 2024, the two engaged in a diss track war, with the most recent diss track being Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

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This track pushed Drake over the edge, and even drove him to take legal action against his label UMG for harassment and defamation, claiming that the track falsely accuses Drake of both pedophilia and sex trafficking. 

Rather than suing Lamar, Drake is after the bigger power UMG, going as far as to say within the filed complaint to the United States District Court Southern District of New York that they “launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” and published a track that had allegations that were both false and dangerous. Drake also adds that not only has his image been damaged but also that his family has been affected, causing him to take his son out of elementary school. 

Furthermore, Drake claims that he attempted to communicate with UMG over his concerns before taking to the courtroom. However, UMG refused to negotiate and left Drake to take the next step. No further updates have been revealed as of now.