Key Takeaways:

• Drake’s authorized crew is requesting unredacted paperwork, together with Kendrick Lamar’s Interscope Records contract and Universal music Group CEO Lucian Grainge’s emails.
• The case alleges UMG supported “Not Like Us” to hurt Drake’s picture throughout contract negotiations.
• UMG is in search of dismissal, arguing the claims are baseless and legally unsupported.

Drake’s authorized crew is intensifying its discovery calls for within the ongoing lawsuit towards Universal music Group over the promotion of Kendrick Lamar’s hit diss monitor “Not Like Us.” As reported by Billboard, his attorneys at the moment are in search of unredacted contractual particulars and direct communications from the corporate’s high government.

Drake alleges UMG performed a central position in boosting the chart-topping Interscope Records single, which labeled him a “certified pedophile” throughout his public feud with Lamar. Interscope, Lamar’s label, operates beneath UMG, as does Drake’s personal label, Republic Records.

According to courtroom filings submitted on Tuesday (Aug. 12) by lawyer Michael Gottlieb, UMG has refused to supply important parts of the requested proof to this point. Chief among the many disputed gadgets is Lamar’s 22-page Interscope contract, which Drake’s attorneys say was produced with heavy redactions that make it “virtually unreadable and incomprehensible.”

Drake’s authorized crew can also be demanding emails and textual content messages from UMG CEO Lucian Grainge associated to “Not Like Us.” The firm argued Grainge had “no meaningful involvement” within the music’s launch or promotion. Gottlieb contended that shielding the CEO from doc discovery is “unfair, unwarranted and inconsistent with fundamental principles of discovery,” citing Grainge’s alleged oversight of label competitors and his potential affect over the monitor’s rollout.

The filings additionally counsel UMG had strategic motives, alleging the corporate sought to devalue Drake’s model to achieve leverage forward of potential contract extension negotiations. Gottlieb asserted that reviewing Grainge’s communications would impose “minimal burden” on the corporate if its claims of his noninvolvement are correct.

Other proof sought contains Interscope’s monetary good points from “Not Like Us,” the valuation of Lamar’s catalog and compensation data for Interscope CEO John Janick. Drake’s crew is moreover requesting examples of UMG censoring doubtlessly defamatory content material, pointing to stories that Def Jam Recordings, one other UMG label, might have edited verses from Pusha T’s 2018 Drake diss, “The Story of Adidon.”

UMG has denied any wrongdoing and framed Drake’s lawsuit as an try and “save face” after shedding his lyrical battle with Lamar. The firm is in search of to have the case dismissed solely, a movement at the moment into consideration by Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in New York federal courtroom. A ruling could possibly be issued within the coming days.