One of the biggest battles in Hip Hop has spiraled into a frenzy of lawsuits and allegations.
Hip-hop beefs are supposed to stay on wax. But Drake just took the fight to court, and the fallout is bigger than a diss track.
When Kendrick Lamar dropped Not Like Us in May 2024, it instantly became one of the most viral diss tracks in hip-hop history. The record accused Drake of predatory behavior, painted his home with sex-offender markers in the artwork, and fueled a culture war across rap fans online.
Drake clapped back with The Heart Part 6, but that wasn’t enough—he also sued Universal Music Group (UMG), Kendrick’s label home, accusing them of boosting the track with bots, playlist payola, and a smear campaign that went way beyond normal competition.
Drake’s lawyers are now demanding internal documents from UMG and even calling out CEO Lucian Grainge by name, arguing he personally oversaw promotion of Not Like Us. They claim UMG cashed in by pitting Kendrick (signed to Interscope) against Drake (signed to Republic). UMG calls the whole lawsuit “ridiculous” and insists Grainge had nothing to do with it. But the damage escalated when Kendrick performed the song at the Super Bowl—minus the most controversial lyric—cementing its place in pop culture and, according to Drake, multiplying the harm to his reputation.
Enter Pusha T. Though not named in the case itself, he was name dropped in Kendrick’s diss track “Euphoria” referencing his past beef with Drake. Push didn’t hold back in interviews, saying Drake’s legal strategy “cheapens the art form.” He also revealed that Clipse got dropped after refusing to censor Kendrick on Let God Sort Em Out, pointing to deeper issues with how UMG handles censorship and controversy.
The lawsuit against UMG sparks conversations about the future of Hip Hop beefs and rap battles, blurring the line between expression and defamation. The scale of the Drake vs Kendrick battle reached audiences around the world, becoming more amplified when Kendrick performed his hit record “Not Like Us” at Super Bowl LIX. Not to mention, the beef spilled over into a East Coast vs West Coast feud with Joey Bada$$ battling members of TDE nearly a year later.
Drake’s lawsuit might be unprecedented, but it’s a reflection of how massive rap has become. When diss tracks headline the Super Bowl and trigger multimillion-dollar lawsuits, the culture is bigger than the music. One thing’s for sure: this battle isn’t just for the charts anymore. It’s for the history books.