[KENNEDY FELTON]

Rap beef has officially entered the courtroom. Drake is suing his own record label – Universal Music Group – in a defamation case stemming from Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

The lawsuit follows Drake’s withdrawal of a separate petition accusing UMG and Spotify of artificially boosting the track’s streams. Now, he’s taking direct aim at UMG, claiming the label supported a “false and malicious” narrative that he’s a pedophile.

While Drake and Kendrick both operate under their own labels, they function as subsidiaries of UMG.

In “Not Like Us,” Kendrick makes several allegations against Drake, with lyrics like: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one” and “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles”

According to the 81-page suit, UMG allegedly paid a third-party bot to increase the song’s streams by at least 30 million and engaged in a “pay for play” scheme with at least one radio promoter.

Drake says the song’s popularity led to real-world consequences, including a gunman opening fire outside his Toronto home last spring, injuring a security guard. The next day, another intruder reportedly dug a hole under his home’s security fence.

UMG has denied all claims. According to TMZ, a spokesperson says, “Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists. He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”

Despite the controversy, “Not Like Us” became a pop culture staple last year, earning five Grammy nominations and winning “Top Rap Song” at last year’s Billboard Music Awards. Kendrick is set to perform at this year’s Super Bowl – another move Drake claims UMG helped orchestrate.