Drake’s Legal Team Issued UMG Lawsuit Statement Hours Before Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl LIX Performance
Drake & Kendrick Lamar
Mark Blinch/Getty Images; Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
In preparation for Super Bowl LIX, many people stocked up on watch party essentials like wings, drinks, and snacks. Drake and his legal team, however, doubled down on their lawsuit by issuing a statement targeted at Universal Music Group just hours before Kendrick Lamar took the stage for his highly anticipated halftime show.
“UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment’, but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world,” they told Joe Coscarelli from The New York Times. “We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”
The 38-year-old rapper officially sued his label in the middle of January for defamation, citing their promotional efforts of K. Dot’s smash hit diss song “Not Like Us.” He previously filed two pre-action suits in November 2024 for claims that they artificially inflated the popularity of the track via bots, playlisting, and more. Drizzy was dubbed the loser of his beef back in May 2024 and watched as Lamar went on a victory lap including The Pop Out in June, the “Not Like Us” music video in July, five Grammy victories last week, and now, a Super Bowl halftime performance where he smirked into the camera while rapping, “Say Drake, I hear you like ’em young.”
At an earlier point in the performance, Kendrick Lamar teased performing “Not Like Us” while speaking to his women backup dancers. He claimed he wanted to perform everyone’s favorite song, but he was hesitant because “They love to sue.” This was the first time the Compton rapper acknowledged the lawsuits, which are about his song but do not actually involve him.
Universal Music Group has remained steadfast in their claims that there was no foul play involved with the record and its popularity was simply, organically due to the quality of the song. They also cited how Drake himself has utilized their resources to push his music that has included disses at other rappers, but never saw an issue with UMG backing it then.
It will be interesting to see what comes of this lawsuit and how it could affect his upcoming collaborative album with PARTYNEXTDOOR titled $ome $exy $ongs 4 U, set to release this upcoming Friday (Feb. 14). This time is significant for the Toronto superstar, as he released his breakthrough mixtape So Far Gone on Feb. 13 in 2009 and, six years later, shared his surprise mixtape If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late on Feb. 13, 2015. Listen below.
