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\n Photo-Illustration: The Cut; Photos: Cole Burston\/Michael Owens\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
On Thursday, a federal judge dismissed Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar\u2019s \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d ruling that the lyrics \u2014 which call Drake a \u201ccertified pedophile\u201d \u2014 are \u201cnonactionable opinion\u201d and therefore not defamatory.<\/p>\n
The ruling marks the end to Drake\u2019s suit, which he filed in January after filing a similar petition<\/a> in November as an apparent attempt to rehash what Manhattan judge Jeannette A. Vargas called the \u201cmost infamous rap battle in the genre\u2019s history.\u201d \u201cOver the course of 16 days, the two artists released eight so-called \u2018diss tracks,\u2019 with increasingly heated rhetoric<\/a>, loaded accusations, and violent imagery,\u201d Vargas wrote in her opinion.<\/p>\n Legally speaking, she seems to agree with the general perception that Lamar came out on top. \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d which came out in May, \u201cdealt the metaphorical killing blow\u201d with \u201clyrics explicitly accusing Drake of being a pedophile, set to a catchy beat and propulsive bassline,\u201d she wrote, noting that it \u201cwent on to become a cultural sensation\u201d and achieved \u201cimmense commercial success and critical acclaim,\u201d including Grammy awards for Record of the Year and Song of the Year, as well as being performed at the Super Bowl halftime show.<\/p>\n Lamar is not named in the lawsuit, which Drake filed against their shared label, Universal Music Group. Drake had accused UMG of publishing and promoting \u201cNot Like Us\u201d despite \u201cknowing that the song\u2019s insinuations that he has sexual relations with minors were false and defamatory.\u201d He also alleged that UMG had artificially inflated streaming numbers to boost Lamar\u2019s \u201cperceived popularity.\u201d<\/p>\n But on Thursday, the court ruled that the song could not be treated as defamation because a \u201creasonable\u201d listener would not conclude that \u201ca diss track is the product of a thoughtful or disinterested investigation, conveying to the public factchecked verifiable content.\u201d \u201c\u2018Not Like Us\u2019 is replete with profanity, trash-talking, threats of violence, and figurative and hyperbolic language, all of which are indicia of opinion,\u201d the opinion states. Vargas also threw out Drake\u2019s allegation that UMG manipulated \u201cNot Like Us\u201d\u2019 numbers, saying that claim was based on \u201ctweets and other anonymized commentary\u201d and was \u201cinsufficient to meet the plausibility standard.\u201d<\/p>\n In a statement to The Cut, a spokesperson for Drake said that his team plans to appeal the ruling, adding, \u201cWe look forward to the Court of Appeals reviewing it.\u201d Meanwhile, a spokesperson for UMG \u2014 which works with both Drake and Lamar \u2014 applauded the decision. \u201cFrom the outset, this suit was an affront to all artists and their creative expression and never should have seen the light of day,\u201d they said. \u201cWe\u2019re pleased with the court\u2019s dismissal and look forward to continuing our work successfully promoting\u00a0Drake\u2019s music and investing in his career.\u201d<\/p>\n