Drake thinks the decrease court docket has created an “unprecedented” rule that rap diss tracks can by no means be actionable with their dismissal of his lawsuit.
The Canadian rapper has formally moved to attraction the dismissal of his lawsuit towards Common Music Group (UMG) tied to Kendrick Lamar’s diss monitor “Not Like Us.”
He initially sued UMG final yr, alleging the corporate defamed him by distributing Lamar’s viral diss monitor, which branded him a “licensed pedophile.” Nonetheless, a federal decide dominated in October that listeners wouldn’t interpret jabs exchanged in a rap feud as literal, factual claims.
In his long-anticipated attraction filed Wednesday, Drake’s authorized group argues the other is true: That audiences completely took the lyrics at face worth: “Tens of millions of individuals understood [Not Like Us] to convey factual data, inflicting numerous people across the globe to consider that Drake was a pedophile.”
In keeping with the rapper’s attorneys, dismissing the case regardless of that public response amounted to the court docket establishing an “unprecedented” and “harmful” authorized doctrine, one that means statements in rap songs can by no means be defamatory.
“It’s onerous to think about a press release extra damaging to 1’s popularity and security than being labeled a ‘licensed pedophile,’ which elicits intense vitriol, and might spur violent retaliation,” Drake’s legal professional Michael J. Gottlieb writes within the attraction, obtained by Billboard. “The court docket’s rule brushes apart the chance of concrete reputational harms that may and right here, did spill over into violence.”
This attraction serves as the most recent flip in a authorized saga that caught a lot of the music world off guard. Only a few anticipated {that a} rap beef would escalate right into a lawsuit, resulting in some corners of hip-hop tradition taunting Drake for taking it there.
Lamar dropped “Not Like Us” in Might 2024 as the ultimate blow in a fierce back-and-forth between the 2 artists. Past being considered as Lamar’s lyrical knockout, the track additionally dominated the charts. It went on to win 5 Grammy Awards, together with document and track of the yr, and have become a centerpiece of Lamar’s Tremendous Bowl halftime efficiency.
By January, Drake answered not with one other monitor, however with authorized motion, claiming UMG had defamed him by aggressively amplifying the track’s attain, allegedly via bots and different questionable promotional ways. Whereas Lamar himself was not named within the go well with, Drake accused UMG of getting “waged a marketing campaign” towards its personal star to unfold a “malicious narrative.”
That case was thrown out in October by Choose Jeannette Vargas, who decided that Lamar’s lyrics amounted to “hyperbolic” opinion reasonably than actionable defamation, since an affordable listener wouldn’t view them as “sober” factual claims able to being confirmed true or false.
“Though the accusation that plaintiff is a pedophile is actually a severe one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by each contributors, wouldn’t incline the cheap listener to consider that ‘Not Like Us’ imparts verifiable details about plaintiff.”
Within the newly filed attraction, Drake’s attorneys sharply criticize that call, calling it “indefensible” and arguing it ignored proof that followers perceived the track as a “factual indictment of Drake.” They are saying the ruling as an alternative created a “harmful” new rule shielding rappers from defamation lawsuits altogether.
“If rap diss tracks can’t include statements of reality, then they’re inoculated from any legal responsibility for defamation regardless of how direct and damaging the defamatory statements they include,” his attorneys say. “This case illustrates that.”
UMG’s attorneys are anticipated to submit a response within the coming weeks. An organization spokesperson declined to remark Thursday.
When UMG does reply, it would doubtless keep that Choose Vargas merely adopted established rules surrounding defamation and free expression — rules that authorized specialists advised Billboard typically defend inventive works like music, whereas nonetheless permitting penalties for outright falsehoods. The label can be anticipated to reference authorized students who warned the case may have a “chilling impact” on hip-hop and encourage prosecutors to proceed utilizing rap lyrics as legal proof.
Drake’s authorized group addressed that problem head-on in Wednesday’s submitting, stating that “rap lyrics are repeatedly used as proof in legal case” to bolster their argument that listeners may have fairly taken Lamar’s lyrics severely.
“If rap lyrics will be understood to include statements of reality within the legal context, then it should comply with that cheap listeners may perceive them equally for functions of defamation,” Drake’s attorneys write.
