Universal Music Group (UMG) has sent a swift and alarming warning to Drake following the Canadian rapper’s newly amended defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s Super Bowl performance. The warning is in hotter terms than the unusually heated legal dispute itself. The Toronto-born rapper, embroiled in a heated ongoing feud with his former longtime label partner, filed an updated 107-page complaint earlier this week, a step UMG says is groundless and self-sabotaging.
UMG, one of the world’s largest music companies and Drake’s partner for over 16 years wasn’t pulling punches in its most recent reply. “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 in a statement issued Thursday.
Drake’s ongoing legal battle against UMG is at the heart of the friction, now deepened by new assertions tied to Kendrick Lamar’s critically lauded 2022 Super Bowl halftime show. Though the specifics of amendments are closely guarded, insiders say that Drake’s camp is calling into question the behind-the-scenes machinations that cleared the way for the blockbuster performance, which reportedly featured music and themes that Drake feels infringe upon or undermine his intellectual property and reputation.
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But UMG is pushing back hard. “In Texas last November, his counsel instituted a legal proceeding with much fanfare and bluster. On Monday, they quietly dropped the case,” the statement read, implying that this is the latest example of his camp’s tendency to engage in histrionic legal theatrics. “In New York in January, Drake’s counsel filed a defamation lawsuit,” UMG said of these efforts, which it called “reckless” and “frivolous.” The label went beyond critique, though. It also issued what could only be considered a veiled threat, “That ‘win’ will become a loss if this frivolous and reckless lawsuit is not dropped in its entirety because Drake will personally be subject to discovery as well. As the old saying goes, ‘be careful what you wish for.”
The emphasis on discovery is a significant detail. If the lawsuit goes forward, Drake may be ordered to produce private communications and documents and be subject to depositions, a process that could lead to uncomfortable ground for the notoriously reticent artist. The warning indicates UMG’s readiness to escalate this battle into murkier legal territory, even at the cost of taking one of their most successful artists through a punishing court process.
UMG ended its response by calling the proceedings “Both the Texas and New York proceedings are an affront to all artists and creative expression,” suggesting that the company sees this suit as more than just a personal dispute but a danger to artistic freedom across the industry. “It is shameful that these foolish and frivolous legal theatrics continue,” the statement said. “They are reputationally and financially costly to Drake and have no chance of success.”
This public fallout may be among the most high-profile artist-label clashes in recent memory. With Drake now doubling down on his legal assault and UMG responding with battleground rhetoric, the whole conflict is rapidly turning into a power struggle that could redefine how disputes between major artists and major record labels are handled in the digital era.
