Drake is not backing down in the war against his own label, in fact he's now upped the ante by suing Universal Music Group for spreading the "false and malicious narrative" he's a pedophile ... TMZ Hip Hop has learned.
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00:00It's Not Like Us is still really getting under Drake's skin, so much so he has now filed
00:06a defamation lawsuit, not against Kendrick Lamar.
00:10Huh?
00:11It's not against Kendrick Lamar.
00:12Not against Kendrick Lamar.
00:13He has filed it against Universal Music Group, his label, Kendrick's label, and Drake's label.
00:19Suing for defamation.
00:21And it's all over the song, Not Like Us.
00:23And particularly, let's just put it out there.
00:26The line.
00:27It's about him being, according to the song, a pedophile.
00:31Certified pedophile.
00:32Certified pedophile.
00:33And he is saying that is defamatory, it has hurt him, and he is suing Universal.
00:38And he says that Universal knew that that was not true when they published the song,
00:43and therefore they ought to pay up.
00:45So here's the gaping hole in this lawsuit, and it feels weak to me in this sense.
00:51The person who wrote this, the person who performed it, the person who did a music video
00:58about it, the person who is going to perform it at the Super Bowl, is not being sued.
01:06And that, to me, just shows Drake not only lost that rap war, but he's scared.
01:12It's very clear to me why you wouldn't sue Kendrick Lamar, Harvey.
01:15He doesn't want to look so weak that he's suing another artist.
01:19Suing your record label is something that artists do from time to time.
01:21But the artist is the one who defamed him, according to him.
01:23Oh, but he doesn't want that look.
01:25He didn't say that.
01:26He's the weakest source to drag Kendrick Lamar into court.
01:28Yeah, he does not want that.
01:30By definition, if Universal defamed him according to Drake, the origin of the comment comes
01:38from Kendrick Lamar.
01:40Yet, he's not suing Kendrick Lamar.
01:42So I get the artist thing and everything else, but if you're in for a penny, you're in for
01:46a pound.
01:47Universal distributed a defamatory song what about the guy that wrote the song?
01:52What about the guy that performed the song? You're right about that there's an
01:55even weaker part of this whole thing he thinks that UMG was trying to bloody him
02:00up and sort of soften him up for their next round of negotiations to get a
02:04better to get a better deal with Drake while he's sort of beat up in the public
02:08by this. Which is the craziest thing I've ever heard. That's not that that part
02:13isn't crazy at least for him to think that I'm not saying that Universal did
02:18it but his point remember his last deal with the Universal they paid him
02:22reportedly about four hundred million dollars. Charles what he's saying is
02:28Universal tried to destroy me as an artist to bring me down here. So they
02:35would have more leverage so instead of paying me four hundred million the next
02:38contract they only pay me two hundred. Well but guess what they get a percentage
02:42of what Drake does. If Drake is up here their percentage just. No no no they pay
02:47him to to make projects. I know. And then they're gonna make whatever they make
02:50off of it. But if he is. So they're still gonna make. If he's not selling anything.
02:54So if they pay him less they're still gonna make. No they're not. A lot of money. It's
02:57it's not they're not gonna pay him. Yes. If his album tanks. No. They're not gonna pay him if his album tanks.
03:03Yes they do. They're not gonna pay him. That's how it works. They say. No they're not
03:06gonna pay him the same amount. Oh my god. Yes they do. They're not gonna pay him the
03:10same amount as if it were a huge hit. They pay him to put out an album and then whatever the album makes they get
03:15they make the money off of that. You don't think there's profit participation in this? Are you
03:18kidding me? Of course there is. It's so absurd to think that they would want to beat up
03:22their own artists and ruin his popularity. They want to make the pie
03:25bigger so that they can get a portion of a bigger pie. Yes. That's the whole game. That's the
03:29basic anyway. Back to the hole in the lawsuit. He can't you know look and I
03:36know what you're saying. You're already taking some street cred hit by suing your
03:41label over the song. Yes. So you're saying as long as you're gonna take the hit. Go
03:45full bore. Go full bore get even more money. I mean Universal has deeper
03:50pockets than Kendrick. You tell me if I'm wrong here. One of the things you do
03:56in a rap war is you don't want to look weak. He looks weak by not. But that ship
04:00has sailed right? It's doing more damage. I'm afraid to sue Kendrick so
04:06I'll sue a record company. I mean that's what he's saying. It's like it's weak
04:10sauce. It's Nadja from New Rochelle New York and honestly I feel like Drake's
04:16just being a sore loser. If he were the one that won the battle we would not be
04:20having this conversation. Like he needs to get over himself and just accept this
04:24L. He'll be fine. Just take a step back and calm down. Okay well I don't know.
04:29In Drake's defense there is taking the L which I think he has that he had no
04:34choice to take the L. But if someone's calling you a pedophile. I'm sorry.
04:38And millions of people around the world are singing it every night in in clubs
04:42and by the way the entire Superdome is gonna be singing it. That's what I was
04:46gonna ask. During the Super Bowl. What are they gonna do when he sings that and he's
04:50not gonna back down from that word I don't think. He's not gonna say you know
04:53you know pediatrics or something. Yet another reason why the NFL is going oh
04:58yes we're gonna our ratings are gonna be. That's getting bleeped dude. It's getting
05:03bleeped. I would imagine so.