Drake’s lawsuit was filed at the US District Court for the Southern District of New York on Wednesday, and marks the latest chapter in his long-running feud with Lamar.
The pair butted heads on a series of rap tracks last year. In one, Drake accused Lamar of domestic abuse. Lamar responded with Not Like Us, in which he characterised Drake and his entourage as “certified paedophiles” who should “be registered and placed on neighbourhood watch”.
In court documents, Drake claimed that Universal knew that Lamar’s lyrics were false but “continued to fan the flames” of the controversy for profit.
He claimed the label launched “a campaign to create a viral hit” out of the song, and suggested that a shooting at his Toronto mansion last May was directly linked to those actions.
Universal, he said, “chose corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artists”.
However, the legal case did not take aim at Lamar himself.
“This lawsuit is not about the artist who created Not Like Us,” the court documents said.
“It is, instead, entirely about UMG, the music company that decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetize allegations that it understood were not only false, but dangerous.”
