My son loves rap music. As an old dad, it is my responsibility to constantly remind him that today\u2019s music can\u2019t compare to that of my generation. He enjoys talking about clashes between certain artists and the diss tracks, or songs that insult an adversary, that ensue. While he thinks this is a relatively new phenomenon, I had to teach him that rap beefs are as old as hip-hop itself.<\/p>\n
I told him about the dispute over the birthplace of hip-hop, known as the Bridge Wars, between The Juice Crew from Queens and Boogie Down Productions out of the Bronx. I educated him about the battle that arose when Kool Moe Dee felt that up-and-comer LL Cool J stole his style. I explained the most infamous rap beef between Tupac Shakur and the Notorious B.I.G., which ultimately ended in the tragic deaths of both artists.<\/p>\n
But the quarrel he\u2019s most familiar with is the scuffle between two of today\u2019s biggest stars, Drake and Kendrick Lamar.<\/p>\n
The two artists exchanged barbs in various diss tracks, but the fracas came to a head when Lamar released \u201cNot Like Us.\u201d The song calls out the Canadian-born Drake by name and impugns his authenticity, branding him \u201ca colonizer\u201d of rap culture who\u2019s \u201cnot like us\u201d in Lamar\u2019s home of Compton, California, and, more broadly, West Coast rap. Lamar insinuates Drake is a pedophile, rapping, \u201cI hear you like \u2018em young.\u201d<\/p>\n
The song was arguably the biggest hit of 2024, winning Record of the Year and Song of the Year at the Grammys, having the most Apple Music streams worldwide, and making this winter\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show the most watched ever.<\/p>\n
Instead of going back to the studio to try and one-up Lamar, however, Drake broke tradition and made the unprecedented move of going to court.<\/p>\n
Reg Wydeven<\/p>\n
Drake sued Universal Music Group in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, claiming\u00a0the record label published and promoted the song he deemed slanderous. The suit, which seeks unspecified damages and does not name Lamar as a defendant, asserts that the song amounts to \u201cfalsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts\u201d and more, harming his reputation.<\/p>\n
Drake further contends that the track endangered him by inspiring vigilante justice for being an alleged pedophile. He blames Lamar for attempted break-ins and the shooting of a security guard at his Toronto home because his mansion was depicted in an aerial photo in the song\u2019s cover art.<\/p>\n
Michael Gottlieb, Drake\u2019s lawyer, argued that \u201cthis song achieved a cultural ubiquity unlike any other rap song in history.\u201d He suggested that an average listener could be \u201ca 13-year-old who\u2019s dancing to the song at a bar mitzvah.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThat would be a very interesting bar mitzvah,\u201d Judge Jeannette Vargas responded. \u201cWho is the ordinary listener? Is it someone who\u2019s going to catch all those references?\u201d Vargas wondered aloud, addressing the legal standard that concerns how an average, reasonable person would understand a statement. \u201cThere\u2019s so much specialized and nuanced to these lyrics.\u201d<\/p>\n
Universal asked that the case be dismissed, contending that the lyrics are just hyperbole in the tradition of rap beefing. \u201cContext is key,\u201d the company\u2019s lawyer Rollin Ransom argued. \u201cWhat you hear in these rap battles is trash-talking in the extreme, and it is not, and should not be treated as, statements of fact.\u201d<\/p>\n
My son told my wife that he likes Eminem, and she replied saying she preferred Skittles. When he said he meant the rapper, she asked, \u201cWhy would you eat the wrapper?\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s not a fan of hip-hop.<\/p>\n
Reg Wydeven is a partner with the Appleton-based law firm of McCarty Law LLP. He can be reached at pcbusiness@postcrescent.com.<\/p>\n