Drake Settles Legal Dispute with iHeartMedia Over Kendrick Lamar Diss Track "Not Like Us"
Texas-based iHeartMedia announced it has settled its legal battle with Drake over Kendrick Lamar's diss track "Not Like Us," after demonstrating that it "did nothing wrong."
Drake had alleged in a petition filed in November that iHeartMedia received illegal payments from Universal Music Group to boost radio airplay for "Not Like Us." UMG is the parent record label for both Drake and Lamar.
The San Antonio-based iHeartMedia company initially declined to comment on the settlement, which it revealed last week in court documents. The media company released an updated statement on Saturday.
"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 statement said.
A representative for Drake disputed iHeart's statement Tuesday, saying the company "has not provided a single document as of yet to Drake, let alone any information that showed they did nothing wrong."
"This back and forth is silly. Drake dropped the petition. We did nothing wrong. End of story," iHeartMedia said in a statement late Tuesday.
In a court document filed Thursday in Bexar County, where San Antonio is located, attorneys for Drake said the rapper and iHeartMedia had reached an "amicable resolution" of the dispute but did not offer any other information. The dismissal of iHeartMedia from the petition was done "with prejudice," meaning Drake would not be able to refile the petition against the company.
A hearing on a motion by UMG's lawyers to dismiss Drake's petition had been set for Wednesday but was changed to March 24th, according to court records filed this week.
Drake's petition in Texas also alleged UMG knew the song, its accompanying album art, and music video "attack the character of another one of UMG's most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender."
Besides the legal petition in Texas, Drake in January filed a defamation lawsuit in federal court in New York City against UMG over what he alleges are false allegations of pedophilia made in the "Not Like Us" track. Kendrick Lamar is not named in that lawsuit.
On Tuesday, a judge overseeing the defamation lawsuit rejected a request from UMG to delay a pretrial hearing and put a pause on discovery, which is the exchange of evidence between the two sides. UMG had sought the delay until a judge could hear its request to dismiss the case.
Drake's legal team said in a statement that they were "pleased with the court's decision to reject UMG's continued attempts to stall discovery, another clear sign that UMG cannot run from or bury the truth."
UMG's lawyers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The feud between Drake, the 37-year-old Canadian rapper and singer and 5-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 36-year-old Pulitzer Prize winner who headlined the Super Bowl halftime show on February 11, is one of the biggest hip-hop rivalries in recent years.
Stay tuned for more updates on this ongoing story.
