Drake’s legal battle with Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar’s hit Not Like Us has intensified. On August 12, 2025, Drake’s lawyers filed a motion to make UMG CEO Lucian Grainge a key witness. They are seeking his emails and text messages about the song’s release and promotion.
The lawsuit claims Grainge approved the track, which calls Drake a “certified pedophile,” and that UMG used it to damage his reputation before contract talks. Drake’s team also wants an unredacted copy of Lamar’s UMG contract, arguing the label could have blocked the song but did not. They cite a 2018 case where UMG stopped Pusha T’s diss track Story of Adidon against Drake as proof of selective action.
Drake’s lawyers also allege UMG told employees to stream Not Like Us on Spotify using personal accounts, reimbursing them to boost its numbers. Released in May 2024, the track has over one billion Spotify streams. Its cover art showed Drake’s Toronto home, raising safety concerns after a shooting injured a security guard and led Drake to pull his son Adonis from school.
The feud began in 2023 when Drake and J. Cole called themselves the “big three” alongside Lamar in First Person Shooter. Lamar rejected the claim in Like That, sparking a series of diss tracks that ended with Not Like Us.
UMG denies wrongdoing, saying Grainge had “no meaningful involvement” and calling the lawsuit an attempt by Drake to “save face” after losing the rap battle. A judge in New York is reviewing UMG’s motion to dismiss the case.
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