A federal choose is pondering the character of rap battles and the chopping wordplay in Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” the megahit diss observe that spurred a defamation lawsuit from his fellow celebrity Drake.
Drake sued Common Music Group — each his and Lamar’s report label — over “Not Like Us,” saying the corporate revealed 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 resolve after a vigorous listening to in New York on Monday, when the uncooked creativity of hip-hop brushed up towards the staid confines of federal courtroom.
“Who’s the atypical listener? Is it somebody who’s going to catch all these references?” Vargas puzzled aloud, addressing a authorized commonplace that issues how a median, affordable particular person would perceive an announcement. “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 largest stars over certainly one of 2024 largest songs — the one which received the report of the 12 months and music of the 12 months Grammys, obtained probably the most Apple Music streams worldwide and helped make this winter’s Tremendous Bowl halftime present probably the most watched ever.
Launched as the 2 artists have 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 residence 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 swimsuit says that the music quantities to “falsely accusing him of being a intercourse offender, participating in pedophilic acts” and extra. Contending that the observe endangered him by fanning notions of vigilante justice, the swimsuit blames “Not Like Us” not just for harming Drake’s picture however for tried break-ins and the taking pictures of a safety guard at his Toronto residence. The mansion was depicted in an aerial picture within the music’s cowl artwork.
“This music achieved a cultural ubiquity in contrast to 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 handle hip-hop followers who knew the backstory and have been accustomed to over-the-top lyrical battling.
The typical listener might be “a 13-year-old who’s dancing to the music at a bar mitzvah,” Gottlieb instructed.
“That may be a really fascinating bar mitzvah,” the choose 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 change 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 aimed 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 isn’t, and shouldn’t be handled as, statements of truth,” the lawyer mentioned.
The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages.
Drake additionally went after iHeartMedia, claiming in a Texas authorized petition that the radio large obtained 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.
