Drake vs Kendrick Lamar UMG lawsuit: Why has it been dropped & what’s the outcome?

10 October 2025, 13:33

Drake and Kendrick Lamar's beef defined 2024, with the diss track ‘Not Like Us’ the peak of the drama, being performed at the Super Bowl halftime show. But why exactly did Drake sue Universal Music Group? And what was the result? Here are all the details.

Drake and Kendrick Lamar have had an ongoing feud since 2013, peaking in 2024 with the release of ‘Not Like Us’, a scathing diss track that won five Grammys and played out at the Super Bowl halftime show, but why did Drake sue UMG for its release? And did he win?

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Back in January 2025, Drizzy filed a petition against Universal Music Group claiming that the label had allowed the release of ‘Not Like Us’ despite the false and sensationalised claims in the song.

Famously, Kendrick came for his cultural identity, lack of street credibility, and other wild claims.

Both Drake and the LA rapper are part of the entertainment group UMG, which is why the 6 God felt he was deserving of some care and protection against the backlash that came from the hate produced by the track.

The ‘Nokia’ rapper also tried to sue Spotify and UMG for manipulating streams of the song to make it seem bigger than it was, as well as accusing the company of paying a radio station in the US for radio plays, despite knowing the accusations in the song were false.

However, the result of the suit has been determined – but what was the result?

Here is everything there is to know.

What is the result of Drake’s UMG suit against Kendrick Lamar?

As of October 9th, a judge ruled to dismiss the defamation lawsuit.

Despite his team citing instances of real-life threats to his life, including a shooting outside of his home that left a security guard in a critical condition.

Lots of fans were not too impressed with the decision to sue in the first place, worried that it would have an impact on the future of rap beef, meaning rappers would be scared to diss out of fear of facing legal action.

The result has left some fans pleased and others disappointed.

One fan commented: “When you’re as big as Drake, you can lose a beef and a lawsuit and you’re still #1. Nobody's playing ‘Not Like Us’ anymore anyways.”

Another said: “Drake been losing nonstop since this battle started lol.”

But what was the reasoning behind the decision?

Why was Drake’s lawsuit against UMG, amid Kendrick Lamar beef, dismissed?

The judge ruled against the 6 God in this instance, despite the inflammatory allegations in the song being untrue.

As always with legal cases, it comes down to the semantics.

In this instance, the defining factor was the fact that the claims were made during a rap battle.

The judge said: “The allegedly defamatory statements in ‘Not Like Us’ are non-actionable opinion. A reasonable listener could not have concluded that ‘Not Like Us’ was conveying objective facts about Drake.”

They concluded: “The fact that the recording was made in the midst of a rap battle is essential to assessing its impact on a reasonable listener.”

So, this suit upholds the integrity of rap battles, keeping them out of the courts and in fixing them in a bar-for-bar format.

Whilst neither Drake nor Kendrick has commented on the result, it is assumed that this has put a final end to their beef.

However, Kendrick’s long-time collaborator and producer of “Not Like Us”, DJ Mustard, tweeted a series of laughing emojis, no caption needed to know what he was referring to.

Drake’s upcoming ‘Iceman’ album has more pressure on it now than ever; however, we are sure he will deliver, and there will be a sneak diss to Kendrick, somewhere!

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