Universal Music Group Rejects Drake’s ‘Absurd’ Claim CEO Lucian Grainge Was Involved In Kendrick Lamar’s Diss Track

Universal Music Group Rejects Drake’s ‘Absurd’ Claim CEO Lucian Grainge Was Involved In Kendrick Lamar’s Diss Track

Universal Music Group is pushing back against Drake’s latest legal move, denying that chairman and CEO Lucian Grainge played any part in Kendrick Lamar’s 2024 diss track “Not Like Us.” Drake’s team claims Grainge had a “role in and knowledge of the scheme to defame and harass” him and should turn over communications. UMG calls that argument “so strained” it “def[ies] credulity.”

Drake’s lawsuit accuses UMG of approving and promoting the hit track — which included the lyric, “Certified Lover Boy? Certified p*dophiles” and artwork showing his home marked like a s*x offender’s residence to spread “false factual allegation[s]” about him.

Grainge, in a sworn statement, said he never heard the song before release.

UMG’s lawyer, Rollin A Ransom, called Drake’s theory “absurd,” arguing Grainge, as CEO, doesn’t vet “individual tracks or album covers.”

The label says Drake previously agreed not to seek Grainge’s documents and that his request is a “transparent attempt to… harass UMG.”

UMG wants the case dismissed, saying Drake “lost a rap battle… diss tracks are a popular… art form.”

Who do you think will win this case?