After he sued the Texas-based radio company based on his ongoing claims that his record label Universal Music Group (UMG) made “covert payments” to promote airplay of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” Drake has reached a private settlement with iHeartMedia.
In a court filing in Bexar County, Texas, the settlement confirmed that “Petitioner and iHeartMedia, Inc. have reached an amicable resolution of the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides.”.
According to his underlying petition, the superstar rapper/writer (born Aubrey Drake Graham) sought oral depositions of iHeartMedia corporate representatives.
A source at iHeartMedia stated “In exchange for documents that showed iHeart did nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition. No payments were made – by either one of us.” And in a separate statement, Drake’s legal team said, “We are pleased that the parties were able to reach a settlement satisfactory to both sides and have no further comment on this matter.”
In an adjunct case, Drake separately sued UMG for defamation in January, alleging the record company launched a campaign to make “Not Like Us” a viral hit while knowing the song contained the “false” allegation that Drake is a “criminal pedophile.”
While UMG, the parent company for both Drake and Lamar did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the record label has until March 17 to file a possible motion to dismiss the defamation claim.
In court filings, the multi-Grammy award winner has alleged that UMG Recordings “funneled payments to iHeartRadio and its radio stations as part of a pay-to-play scheme.” Drake stated that he already had “sufficient” evidence to pursue a defamation claim but lacked the “factual support necessary to determine whether he may bring claims of civil fraud and racketeering against UMG.” His filing in Texas alleged that UMG and unidentified co-conspirators “violated payola laws.”
“Before it approved the release of the song, UMG knew that the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts,”
Drake’s petition seeking the depositions reads “Specifically, the song calls Drake a ‘certified pedophile,’ a ‘predator,’ and someone whose name should ‘be registered and placed on neighborhood watch.’”
The battle between Drake and Lamar has become one of the hip-hop industry’s biggest feuds. On February 9, Lamar performed “Not Like Us” at the Super Bowl halftime show and the conflict was the subject of a joke at the Academy Awards on Sunday night (3.02.)
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Author: Al Denté
Photo: iHeartMedia