According to The New York Times, the rapper alleges that “corporate greed” is prioritized “over the safety and well-being of its artists.” Drake’s legal team clarified in the filing that Lamar isn’t a subject of the lawsuit, and the focus of all claims is solely on UMG not stopping Lamar’s false narratives from reaching the public.

“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us,'” court documents stated, per the New York Times. “It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”

UMG is the parent company of Republic Records, the label Drake is signed to, and Interscope Records, the division that features Lamar on its roster. Documents filed state that the holding company “approved, published and launched a campaign to create a viral hit out of a rap track” that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal pedophile, and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”

In response to Drake’s lawsuit filing, UMG stated in part, “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist — let alone Drake — is illogical.  We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”

The statement continues, “Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”

As Blavity reported, Drake’s previous legal motions accused UMG of using a monetization access deal with iHeartRadio to ensure the success of “Not Like Us” by inflating the number of times it played on radio airwaves. Drake ultimately dropped the disparagement claim earlier this week which paved way for the lawsuit, according to The Hollywood Reporter. However, in the lawsuit, Drake and his team seem to back off the number inflation claims.

Lamar’s song emerged as one of the 2024’s standout tracks, dominating the charts across genres. The song debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and garnered five Grammy nominations, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year.