Drake's label says lawsuit over Lamar's 'Not Like Us' should be dismissed

Drake's longtime label Universal Music Group on Monday sought a dismissal of his defamation lawsuit over its promotion of Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning single "Not Like Us," the biggest hit of a barrage of diss tracks between the two rappers. In a filing in Manhattan federal court, UMG said the lyrics to "Not Like Us," which according to Drake brand him a pedophile, are merely "rhetorical hyperbole" and opinion safeguarded by the U.S. Constitution's First Amendment. It also accused Drake of hypocrisy for having signed a June 2022 petition that criticized prosecutors using artists' works against them in criminal cases, and declared such works the product of artists' "vision and imagination" -- only to now brand Lamar's lyrics as literal fact.