In an attempt to revive his dismissed defamation case over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us,’ Drake filed an appeal on Wednesday.
Court documents confirm the superstar rapper/writer and his legal team’s desire to overturn the dismissal of his lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) concerning Lamar’s 2024 song, in which he calls Drake a “certified pedophile”.
According to Rolling Stone, the Canadian-born musician argued that his rap rival sang those lyrics as an “unambiguous matter of fact” and that UMG executives “relentlessly” marketed the song, misleading consumers and causing him serious harm.
Born Aubrey Graham, the artist also claimed that the dismissal of his case could have major impact on future diss tracks by creating a “dangerous categorical rule” that allegations contained therein are non-actionable opinion, therefore protecting artists from any defamation claims.
“The court effectively created an unprecedented and overbroad categorical rule that statements in rap diss tracks can never constitute statements of fact,” his brief claims.
In October of last year, U.S. District Court Judge Jeannette A. Vargas dismissed the lawsuit ruling that the inflammatory lyrics were “non-actionable opinion” and “would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that Not Like Us imparts verifiable facts”. Drake subsequewntly filed his notice of appeal on November 12, 2025.
In January of 2025, the 39-year old sued his and Lamar’s shared record label, and UMG’s lawyers ultimately prevailed with their motion to dismiss the case.
In his new filing, Drake’s attorneys called for the court to send the case back and decide his defamation claims at trial.
In 2024 ‘Not Like Us’ was released as part of a rap battle between Drake and Lamar and is widely considered to be the most successful of the diss tracks, winning Record and Song of the Year Grammys last year, with Lamar performing the song during the 2025 Super Bowl Halftime Show.
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Author: Saul Goode
Photo: The Come Up Show