Universal Music Group CEO and chairman Lucian Grainge has slammed Drake’s defamation lawsuit, labeling it “farcical” and “nonsensical.”
The Canadian artist, 38, has been locked in a heated legal battle with his record label UMG, to which fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar is also signed, for the release of the latter’s hit diss track, “Not Like Us.”
Released in 2024 as part of the two artists’ bitter feud, the song includes the lyrics: “Say, Drake, I hear you like em’ young,” which Drake has alleged spreads the “false and malicious narrative” that he is a pedophile.
In a recently filed declaration letter, obtained by Variety, Grainge formally weighed in on Drake’s accusations that he was involved in the planning and release of Lamar’s chart-topper.
Calling Drake’s claims “farcical,” “nonsensical,” “groundless and indeed ridiculous,” he noted that the company had spent “hundreds of millions” in furthering the “Passionfruit” rapper’s music career, since he signed with the company’s Republic imprint in 2009.
The “claims that I was behind a scheme to ‘devalue’ [Drake’s] brand through the release and promotion of the Kendrick Lamar recording ‘Not Like Us’ — an allegation that makes no sense due to the fact that the company that I run, Universal Music Group N.V., has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Drake,” Grainge said in the filing, “including longstanding and critical financial support for his recording career, the purchase and ownership of the bulk of his recording catalog, and the purchase of his music publishing rights.”
His remarks come shortly after Drake’s legal team sought to compel Grainge and UMG to turn over an unredacted version of Lamar’s contract with its imprint Interscope, as well as Grainge’s emails and text messages related to the song.
He further added that Drake’s lawsuit “makes no sense whatsoever,” insisting he was “in the weeds as to the release and promotion of any particular sound recording, from the thousands of UMG releases throughout the world” as his job is to lead a “publicly traded, multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation whose operations in over sixty countries covering nearly 200 markets.”
Continuing, he chalked up Drake’s latest motion of discovery as “an attempt to waste my and UMG’s time and resources” — “either in an attempt to gain media attention or in an effort to force some kind of commercial renegotiation or financial concessions.”
“I had never heard the recording ‘Not Like Us,’ nor ever saw the corresponding cover art or music video, until after they were released by Interscope Records,” he concluded. “Whilst, as part of my role, I certainly have financial oversight of and responsibility for UMG’s global businesses, the proposition that I was involved in, much less responsible for, reviewing and approving the content of ‘Not Like Us,’ its cover art or music video, or for determining or directing the promotion of those materials, is groundless and indeed ridiculous.”
UMG filed a separate letter, similarly ridiculing Drake’s claims as “absurd.”
“The premise of Drake’s motion — that he could not have lost a rap battle unless it was the product of some imagined secret conspiracy going to the top of UMG’s corporate structure — is absurd,” the filing read. “Sir Lucian is the CEO of a multinational enterprise; his days are spent determining and implementing global strategy, not vetting individual tracks or album covers or driving the release and promotional plans for any one recording.”
The Independent has contacted Drake’s legal team for comment.
