Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s beef was easily one of the juiciest topics in the hip-hop world last year. By the time May came around, fans had pretty much handed over the crown to Lamar, declaring him the winner in the war, and calling it a day—or so we thought. But while their rap beef may have wrapped up last year, the deeper feud between the two rappers is still very much alive, and it is only getting messier. What started out as just a battle of words and beats has now turned into a full-on legal fight in the last few months.

After Drake’s multiple legal skirmishes with Universal Music Group, the record label is now trying to sweep the whole mess under the rug.

UMG recently filed a motion to defend itself against Drake's petition. The motion was 144 pages long, and in it, the label denied all the accusations Drake made about them. As per Billboard, UMG, to reject the claims, stated, “We have not and do not engage in defamation — against any individual.” They even called Drake’s moves “retaliatory” and insisted that the petition should be thrown out altogether.

Last year, Drake filed a second lawsuit against UMG. He claimed in a court filing in Texas that the label had paid iHeartRadio to push Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us.’ However, just this month, it briefly seemed like Drake was backing off from his petition. And sure enough, he did—but only for one day. The very next day, though, he hit back with a full-blown defamation lawsuit against UMG. 

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The lawsuit addressed what Drake called a “false and malicious narrative” about him. But his lawsuit cleared his rap rival of any blame.

Drake’s lawsuit, while it involves Kendrick Lamar and his record-breaking track, is not really about going after the Pulitzer winner. While Lamar wrote and produced the song, Drake has made it clear that he is only suing UMG for defamation. The 'God’s Plan' rapper claimed that UMG used ‘Not Like Us’ only for profit. Even the legal documents stated, “This lawsuit is not about the artist who created ‘Not Like Us.’”

It went on to clarify that the lawsuit is “entirely about UMG,” the label that chose to “publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations” they knew were not only false but also harmful to the Grammy-winning rapper's reputation. Drake also alleged that UMG arranged for Lamar to perform the controversial track at the Super Bowl halftime show. Now, how far this whole 2024 rap beef will keep spiraling is yet to be seen

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What do you think about UMG's defence? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below!