Drake had accused iHeartMedia of accepting illegal payola payments from UMG to boost the radio airplay of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” diss.
One of the most unexpected developments in the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle was that it evolved from a question of ‘Who won the battle?’ to ‘Who won the lawsuit?’ However, Drizzy has one less target on his list, as he settled a legal petition against iHeartMedia over the Kendrick diss track “Not Like Us.” Basically, he claimed back in November that Universal Music Group (UMG) made illegal payola payments to iHeart in order to artificially boost radio airplay for the West Coast banger. A court filing in Texas’ Bexar County confirmed this settlement, and an alleged iHeart source reportedly spoke to Rolling Stone on the matter.
“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,” the iHeartMedia source explained. The court documents did not specify this, however. “Petitioner and iHeartMedia, Inc. have reached an amicable resolution of the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides,” they read. “We are pleased that the parties were able to reach a settlement satisfactory to both sides and have no further comment on this matter,” the Toronto superstar’s team stated separately to iHeart’s comments.
Why Is Drake Suing UMG?
Despite this move, Drake is moving forward in his UMG lawsuit, specifically alleging that the label and distributor – which he and Kendrick are both under – engaged in defamatory practices. While K.Dot is not a defendant in this suit, the core of the argument specifically portrays his accusations of pedophilia against the OVO mogul as defamatory. The January filing accuses UMG of artificially boosting the track’s commercial performance and engaging in defamatory campaigns on social media through its promotion.
Furthermore, UMG faces a March 16 deadline if they want to file a motion to dismiss. They already denied any and all of Drake’s claims. Through his since-settled iHeartMedia petition, he sought to orally depose iHeart corporate employees, and filed the petition to secure more factual information to determine whether to move forward with more accusations in addition to defamation. Aubrey Graham’s team is also calling UMG out for attempting to delay the case despite their ample time to prepare.
