<\/p>\n
Drake\u2019s risk of converting a diss song into a defamation lawsuit has blown up in spectacular fashion. On Thursday, Judge Jeannette Vargas supported the motion by Universal Music Group for dismissal of the case, finding that Kendrick Lamar\u2019s fiery \u201cNot Like Us<\/em>\u201d was exaggerative art, not a true statement.<\/p>\n \u201cThe artists\u2019 seven-track rap battle was a \u2018war of words\u2019 that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse,\u201d Vargas penned. She accepted the gravity of leveling pedophilia charges against another but pronounced that no reasonable ear would believe Lamar spoke literally. To the court, diss tracks remain lyric battlefields, not notarized affidavits.<\/p>\n The music community was in shock when Drake, instead of retorting with another song, sued in January his own label UMG. He claimed that the corporation had \u201cwaged a campaign\u201d against him by promoting \u201cNot Like Us<\/em>\u201d with bots and sleazy promotion, all while knowing that charges that were lodged by Lamar were false. Perhaps most egregiously, Lamar himself was not sued as a defendant.<\/p>\n The action was described as desperate by critics, and in hip-hop circles, the suit was the subject of most of the ridicule. \u201cFew expected a rapper to respond to a diss track with a lawsuit,\u201d one insider noted. \u201cEven fewer expected him to sue the biggest label in the world.\u201d<\/p>\n UMG counterpunched with some vigor, calling Drake\u2019s accusations unfounded and pointing out that the Canadian legend had hurled some verbal explosives of his own. Judge Vargas agreed, citing Drake\u2019s insults in \u201cFamily Matters<\/em>,\u201d where he referred to Lamar as a domestic abuser and cast doubts about the paternity of his sons.<\/p>\n \u201cNot Like Us\u201d was a cultural earthquake even prior to the lawsuit. Released in May of last year, the song tore through charts, collected five Grammys including record and song of the year, and became a stadium song. The drama reached full spectacle when it happened at the Super Bowl and Lamar directly addressed the camera in singing the lyric, \u201cSay, Drake, I hear you like \u2019em young.\u201d<\/p>\n The lawyers for Drake said that publication of the slur in a song that collected three Grammys and a Super Bowl highlight put it in actionable defamation. No such reprieve, said Judge Vargas. \u201cWhether publications constitute actionable fact or protected opinion cannot vary based upon the popularity they achieve,\u201d she ruled.<\/p>\n UMG boasted in a statement to Billboard: \u201cFrom the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day. We\u2019re pleased with the court\u2019s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting Drake\u2019s music and investing in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n Drake\u2019s people have not commented, but his attorneys still can appeal the verdict. Until such time, the decision consolidates Lamar\u2019s diss track as more than a chart hit but as a legally certified rap warfare.<\/p>\n The post Judge Dismisses Drake\u2019s Lawsuit Against UMG Over Kendrick\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us\u201d<\/a> appeared first on Where Is The Buzz | Breaking News, Entertainment, Exclusive Interviews & More<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yahoo.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Drake\u2019s risk of converting a diss song into a defamation lawsuit has blown up in spectacular fashion. On Thursday, Judge Jeannette Vargas supported the motion by Universal Music Group for dismissal of the case, finding that Kendrick Lamar\u2019s fiery \u201cNot Like Us\u201d was exaggerative art, not a true statement. \u201cThe artists\u2019 seven-track rap battle was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2080420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[321648,391026,25844,391024,391025,37703,46171],"class_list":["post-2080419","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-defamation-lawsuit","tag-diss-song","tag-drake","tag-jeannette-vargas","tag-judge-vargas","tag-kendrick-lamar","tag-universal-music-group"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/10\/Judge-Dismisses-Drakes-Lawsuit-Against-UMG-Over-Kendricks-Not-Like.jpeg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080419","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2080419"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080419\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2080421,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2080419\/revisions\/2080421"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2080420"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2080419"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2080419"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2080419"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}When Rap Feuds Turn into Courtroom Laughter<\/h2>\n
Kendrick\u2019s Diss Is a Cultural Earthquake<\/h2>\n
UMG Pops Champagne As Drake Weighs His Options<\/h2>\n