A federal decide is pondering the character of rap battles and the reducing wordplay in Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” the megahit diss observe that spurred a defamation lawsuit from his fellow famous person Drake.
Drake sued Common Music Group — each his and Lamar’s document label — over “Not Like Us,” saying the corporate printed and promoted a music he deems slanderous. Common says the lyrics are simply hyperbole within the custom of rap beefing, and the label is attempting to get the case dismissed.
U.S. District Choose Jeannette Vargas did not instantly determine after a vigorous listening to in New York on Monday, when the uncooked creativity of hip-hop brushed up in opposition to the staid confines of federal courtroom.
“Who’s the odd listener? Is it somebody who’s going to catch all these references?” Vargas puzzled aloud, addressing a authorized customary that issues how a mean, cheap particular person would perceive a press release. “There’s a lot specialised and nuanced to those lyrics.”
Neither artist attended the listening to.
The case stems from an epic feud between two of hip-hop’s greatest stars over one in every of 2024 greatest songs — the one which gained the document of the yr and music of the yr Grammys, bought essentially the most Apple Music streams worldwide and helped make this winter’s Tremendous Bowl halftime present essentially the most watched ever.
Launched as the 2 artists had been buying and selling a flurry of insult tracks, Lamar’s music calls out the Canadian-born Drake by title and impugns his authenticity, branding him “a colonizer” of rap tradition who’s “not like us” in Lamar’s dwelling turf of Compton, California, and, extra broadly, West Coast rap.
“Not Like Us” additionally makes insinuations about Drake’s intercourse life, together with “I hear you want ’em younger” — implications that he rejects.
Drake’s go well with says that the music quantities to “falsely accusing him of being a intercourse offender, partaking in pedophilic acts” and extra. Contending that the observe endangered him by fanning notions of vigilante justice, the go well with blames “Not Like Us” not just for harming Drake’s picture however for tried break-ins and the capturing of a safety guard at his Toronto dwelling. The mansion was depicted in an aerial picture within the music’s cowl artwork.
“This music achieved a cultural ubiquity not like some other rap music in historical past,” Drake lawyer Michael Gottlieb mentioned. He argued that Common had campaigned and contrived to make it “a de facto nationwide anthem” that did not simply deal with hip-hop followers who knew the backstory and had been accustomed to over-the-top lyrical battling.
The common listener may very well be “a 13-year-old who’s dancing to the music at a bar mitzvah,” Gottlieb instructed.
“That might be a really attention-grabbing bar mitzvah,” the decide opined. (The music has certainly been performed at some such celebrations.)
Common, in the meantime, has emphasised that “Not Like Us” was a part of an alternate of barbs between Drake and Lamar.
“Context is vital,” label lawyer Rollin Ransom argued Monday, at one level apologizing for having to make use of profanity whereas reciting a number of the lyrics Drake geared toward Lamar in a observe known as “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
“What you hear in these rap battles is trash-talking within the excessive, and it’s not, and shouldn’t be handled as, statements of truth,” the legal professional mentioned.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Drake additionally went after iHeartMedia, claiming in a Texas authorized petition that the radio big bought unlawful funds from Common to spice up airplay for “Not Like Us.” IHeartMedia has denied any wrongdoing. That dispute was resolved in March.
Drake hasn’t sued Lamar himself.
