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Lucian Grainge is the chief executive of Universal Music Group. (Christina House \/ Los Angeles Times)<\/span><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n Universal Music Group Chief Executive Lucian Grainge called Drake’s lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss track “Not Like Us” a \u201cfarcical\u201d effort that’s \u201cgroundless and indeed ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n In a declaration letter filed Thursday night in the Southern District of New York, Grainge said that Drake’s accusation that UMG (the parent label firm to both Drake and Lamar) defamed him and damaged his career \u201cmakes no sense due to the fact that the company that I run, Universal Music Group N.V., has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Drake, including longstanding and critical financial support for his recording career, the purchase and ownership of the bulk of his recording catalog, and the purchase of his music publishing rights.\u201d<\/p>\n Drake signed a new deal with UMG label Republic in 2022 for a reported $400 million, and he’s one of the bestselling artists of the last 20 years. Yet Interscope artist Lamar’s scathing “Not Like Us” famously capped a venomous battle between the two artists, which resulted in a pair of Grammy wins for Lamar, who performed the song at the Super Bowl halftime show.<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> If Kendrick Lamar calls Drake a pedophile at the Super Bowl, is that defamation?<\/a><\/p>\n Drake’s attorneys, in discovery, have recently tried to obtain UMG’s contract with Lamar and information about his personal life (Drake accused Lamar of beating his partner in the song “Family Matters”). Drake has accused UMG of both defamation and running a clandestine campaign to boost “Not Like Us” at the expense of his own reputation and career.<\/p>\n A notably exasperated Grainge wrote to the court that \u201cGiven my role, I am accustomed (and unfortunately largely resigned) to personal attacks, and I further recognize that a frequent strategy of UMG\u2019s litigation opponents is to attempt to waste my and UMG\u2019s time and resources with discovery of the sort that Drake is seeking here \u2014 either in an attempt to gain media attention or in an effort to force some kind of commercial renegotiation or financial concessions.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more:<\/b> Drake amends UMG defamation suit to reference “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl<\/a><\/p>\n Grainge also denied having any personal involvement in the rollout or marketing for “Not Like Us.”<\/p>\n “Whilst, as part of my role, I certainly have financial oversight of and responsibility for UMG\u2019s global businesses,” he said, “the proposition that I was involved in, much less responsible for, reviewing and approving the content of \u2018Not Like Us,\u2019 its cover art or music video, or for determining or directing the promotion of those materials, is groundless and indeed ridiculous.\u201d<\/p>\n In a separate letter to the court, UMG said that “The premise of Drake\u2019s motion \u2014 that he could not have lost a rap battle unless it was the product of some imagined secret conspiracy going to the top of UMG\u2019s corporate structure \u2014 is absurd.”<\/p>\n