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The federal judge contemplates the nature of rap fights and cutword play in Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
Drake accused Universal Music Group, both him and Lamar’s record label, “not like us,” and said he released and promoted songs he deemed slander. Universal says the lyrics are merely an exaggeration in the rap beef tradition, and the label is trying to dismiss the case.
Judge Janet Vargas didn’t immediately decide after a lively hearing Monday when hip-hop’s raw creativity hanged into the stable range of federal courts.
“Who is the average listener? Who is the one catching all those references?” Vargas wondered out loud, working on legal standards related to how the average and reasonable person understands a statement. “There’s a lot of specialized and subtle things in these lyrics.”
Neither artist attended the hearing.
This case stems from an epic feud between two of the biggest stars of hip-hop, one of the biggest songs of 2024. This is the record and song of this year, winning the Apple Music Streams of the World, and the most I’ve ever seen this winter’s Super Bowl Halftime Show.
Released as the two artists trade gusts of insults tracks, Lamar’s song called out the Canadian-born Drake by name, fugn his credibility, branding the “colony” of rap culture in Compton, California’s “We Don’t Like” rap, and branded him more widely West Coast rap.
“Not like us” hints at Drake’s sex life, such as “I sound you young.” The meaning he rejects.
Drake’s suit states that the song “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender and engages in pedophile behaviour.” The lawsuit not only violates Drake’s image “not like us,” claiming that the truck puts him at risk by instigating the vigilantes’ notion of justice, but also denies attempts to break in and the shooting of security guards at his Toronto home. The mansion was depicted in aerial photographs of the song’s cover art.
“The song achieved cultural ubiquity, unlike other rap songs in history,” said Drake’s lawyer Michael Gottlieb. He claimed that Universal campaigned and made it a “de facto national anthem.”
The average listener could be “13 years old dancing to songs at Bar Mitsuba.”
“It’s a very interesting bar mitzvah,” the judge said. (This song was certainly played at such a celebration.)
Meanwhile, Universal emphasizes that “Not Like Us” is part of the Barb exchange between Drake and Lamar.
“Context matters,” label lawyer Rollin Ransom apologized Monday for having to use blasphemy while reciting some of the lyrics that targeted Lamar on the track “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
“What we heard in these rap battles was about talking about trash to the extreme and not a statement of fact and should not be treated,” the lawyer said.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Drake also went after IheartMedia and claimed in a Texas legal petition that the radio giant had gotten illegal payments from Universal and boosted airplay because “not like us.” iheartmedia denied any fraud. The dispute was resolved in March.
Drake has not sued Lamar himself.
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