Drake has seen a breakthrough in his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), sparked by Kendrick Lamar's track "Not Like Us," after a judge rejected UMG's bid to halt the discovery process and cleared the way for Drake to pursue access to crucial documents, notably Lamar's contracts with the label.
In a pretrial conference held today in New York, Judge Jeanette Vargas sided with Drake's legal team, granting them permission to commence depositions of executives and to request pertinent documents.Earlier this month, UMG had filed a motion with the judge, requesting a halt to all investigative endeavors pertaining to the case. which encompassed demands for "all contracts" between Lamar and UMG, as well as compensation details and incentive packages for Interscope CEO John Janick and other high-ranking executives. A confidential source close to the proceedings revealed to Variety that, although the hearing today centered on Drake's discovery requests, UMG intends to seek its own discovery related to the allegations raised in the initial lawsuit.
Michael Gottlieb, Drake's lead counsel and a partner at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, rejoiced over the ruling in a statement to Variety: "It's finally time to uncover what UMG was so desperately endeavoring to conceal." A representative from UMG did not promptly respond to Variety's request for comment.
On March 18, UMG submitted a letter requesting a stay on discovery, arguing that Drake's initial discovery demands would impose an "undue burden" and necessitate "expensive collection and examination of voluminous hard-copy and electronic datasets, contracts, agreements, and communications." The requested documents encompassed Lamar's contracts with Universal and metrics used to ascertain incentive compensation for Interscope executives over the past half-decade.
Since the lawsuit was filed in January, UMG has adopted an aggressive stance, most recently filing a scathing motion last month seeking to dismiss the suit, asserting that Drake is merely suing because he "lost a rap battle." "Rather than acknowledging his defeat like the laid-back rapper he often portrays himself as, he has sued his own record label in a misplaced endeavor to mend his bruised ego," the filing stated. "Plaintiff's Complaint is entirely devoid of merit and should be dismissed with prejudice." In today's ruling, the judge set a hearing on UMG's motion to dismiss for June 30.
Drake initially launched the suit against UMG in January, accusing the company of defamation, harassment, and perpetuating a "false and malicious narrative" portraying him as a pedophile through "Not Like Us." Drake's legal team contended that UMG was aware that Lamar's lyrics and imagery in the music video were untrue and perilous yet continued to promote them for profit. The suit further alleged that UMG colluded with Spotify to falsely inflate the streaming numbers for "Not Like Us," a claim vehemently denied by both companies.
That same month, UMG filed a motion to dismiss Drake's separate petition for a pre-suit deposition in Texas, citing a lack of evidence to support the rapper's claims against the record label that it artificially boosted and promoted "Not Like Us" after its release in May of the previous year.
