Drake isn’t backing down from his defamation claims against Universal Music Group.
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The Canadian rapper has filed a notice of appeal in his case against UMG and their promotion of Kendrick Lamar‘s highly lauded diss track, “Not Like Us.”
Representatives for Drake filed the appeal on Wednesday morning (Oct. 29), writing that the rapper was providing notice of appeal to the District Court’s opinion and order from earlier this month, reports Variety. As for his legal team’s arguments over the basis of the appeal, those are expected to be made at a later date.
“This confirms our intent to appeal, and we look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing that filing in the coming weeks,” a rep for Drake said in a statement to Variety.
As previously reported, U.S. District Judge Jeannette Vargas ruled earlier this month that the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” are expressions of opinion rather than statements of fact.
“A reasonable listener could not have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying objective facts about Drake,” she ruled.
Aubrey’s legal battle came to encompass more than just UMG’s alleged defamation, with his team demanding internal documents tied to allegations of domestic violence against Lamar and probing the nature of Dave Free’s relationship with Lamar’s children. Drake’s lawyers sought “All Documents and Communications…relating to allegations of domestic violence…committed by Kendrick Lamar” in those filings, also requesting materials on “David Isaac Friley (a/k/a Dave Free) and his relationship with Kendrick Lamar and Kendrick Lamar’s children.”
The Toronto native also accused UMG of orchestrating a “financial conspiracy” by promoting Lamar’s music at the expense of his brand, making secret payments and reducing licensing offers to third parties to suppress Drake’s value during contract talks. His team went on to demand UMG produce redacted versions of Lamar’s record contract (claiming it was unfairly censored), and documentation involving prior label censorship (citing Pusha T’s “Story of Adidon”) as precedent.
However, in her ruling, Judge Vargas refused to treat rap-battle lyrics as binding statements of fact, emphasizing that diss tracks use hyperbolic, provocative language by nature.
“The average listener is not under the impression that a diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation,” Judge Vargas wrote, according to The Hollywood Reporter. She added that the “rhetorical style, tone, and context, full of profanity and rhetorical flourish, clearly mark the song as expressive opinion rather than factual assertion.”
