Hip hop celebrity Drake is now complaining about rival rapper Kendrick Lamar’s efficiency of “Not Like Us” at this yr’s Tremendous Bowl, including it to his defamation lawsuit towards Common Music Group over the diss observe and its allegations of pedophilia towards Drake.
“The Recording was carried out throughout the 2025 Tremendous Bowl and broadcast to the biggest viewers for a Tremendous Bowl halftime present ever, over 133 million folks, together with hundreds of thousands of kids, and hundreds of thousands extra who had by no means earlier than heard the tune or any of the songs that preceded it,” says the amended lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal courtroom in Manhattan.
It provides, “It was the primary, and can hopefully be the final, Tremendous Bowl halftime present orchestrated to assassinate the character of one other artist.”
Though Lamar eliminated the phrase “pedophile” that is within the observe throughout the halftime present, the truth that it was omitted confirmed that “nearly everyone understands that it is defamatory,” the swimsuit says. It additionally alleges Common Music used monetary advantages and leveraged enterprise relationships to safe the headliner spot for Lamar on the Tremendous Bowl, and promoted the efficiency.
“Drake’s amended complaint makes an already strong case stronger,” his lawyer, Michael Gottlieb, stated in a press release. “Drake will expose the proof of UMG’s misconduct, and UMG will likely be held accountable for the implications of its ill-conceived choices.”
This yr’s Tremendous Bowl and its halftime present had been the most-watched ever, based on Nielsen.
In a press release responding to the courtroom submitting, Common Music, the mother or father document label of each artists, continued to disclaim Drake’s allegations.
“Drake, unquestionably one of the world’s most accomplished artists and with whom we’ve enjoyed a 16-year successful relationship, is being misled by his legal representatives into taking one absurd legal step after another,” the company said. “It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue.”
The amended lawsuit additionally provides that defamatory parts of “Not Like Us” had been performed on the Grammy Awards in February, when the only received 5 awards, together with tune and document of the yr. The swimsuit claims that Common Music additionally helped safe the Grammy nominations and allowed the tune to be performed on the ceremony.
Drake sued Common Music, however not Lamar, for undisclosed damages in January, saying the corporate printed and promoted “Not Like Us” regardless of its false pedophilia allegations and strategies that listeners ought to resort to vigilante justice.
The end result, the swimsuit says, was intruders taking pictures a safety guard at Drake’s Toronto dwelling and two tried break-ins there, on-line hate and harassment, successful to his fame and a lower in his model’s worth earlier than his contract renegotiation with UMG this yr. The amended lawsuit additionally provides extra on-line feedback indicating folks imagine the pedophilia allegations.
Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner with 22 Grammy wins, have been beefing for years. The feud is among the many greatest in hip hop lately.
The 2 had been occasional collaborators greater than a decade in the past, however Lamar started taking public jabs at Drake beginning in 2013. The combat escalated steeply final yr, as each launched diss tracks at one another, together with Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
“Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young / You better not ever go to cell block one,” Lamar raps.
In its movement to dismiss the lawsuit, Common Music says Drake helped gas the meat along with his personal inflammatory diss tracks aimed toward Lamar.
“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” the motion says. “Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”
