Drake greets fans at the Houston premiere for “Think Like a Man Too” (Photo Credit: Tim Wells/Regal Media Group).
The epic rap battle between music legends Kendrick Lamar and Drake has captivated the hip-hop community for almost one year.
While many will say that “K-Dot” defeated “Drizzy” in the beef, even more will say that the Toronto emcee took the bigger “L” when he filed legal petitions against iHeart Media and Universal Music Group (UMG) for payola and defamation.
In the song “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar called Drake a “certified pedophile” instead of the “certified lover boy” he refers to himself as.
The Associated Press reported, “Texas-based iHeart-media said it settled its legal dispute with Drake over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track ‘Not Like Us’ after demonstrating that it ‘did nothing wrong.’
“Drake had alleged in a legal petition filed in November that iHeartMedia received illegal payments from Universal Music Group to boost radio play for ‘Not Like Us.’ UMG is the parent record label for both Drake and Lamar.”
At first, iHeart Media did not comment on the legal proceedings but later released a statement on Saturday.
Via a statement, iHeart Media said, “In exchange for documents that showed iHeartdid nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition. No payments were made—by either one of us.”
Attorneys for Drake said the rapper and iHeart Media “reached an amicable resolution of the dispute.”
Many in the hip-hop community frowned upon Drake’s legal petition because the music genre has beef and battling in its DNA.
Rap music originated as a competitive lyrical sport in which emcees battle to determine who the greatest is.
Hip-hop battles go back as far as the early 1980s with Kool Moe Dee’s legendary battle with Busy Bee.
Sometimes, rappers say things about rappers that are not true.
Rappers have even severely damaged the careers of other rappers in the process.
50 Cent damaged Ja Rule’s career during their early 2000s beef.
Furthermore, KRS-One harmed M.C. Shan’s career in the late 1980s.
However, the rappers on the losing end often took it on the chin and carried on with the rest of their careers.
Ja Rule still has a successful career touring the country and his classics often get radio play 20 years after his heyday.
However, no rapper had ever taken the legal route when they found themselves on the losing end of a rap battle, according to many hip-hop heads.
However, Drake said that the pedophile allegations against him had adversely impacted his son who must deal with taunts from his peers at school.
While Drake endured ridicule from the entire entertainment community such as Conan O’Brien cracking jokes at Drake’s expense at the 2025 Academy Awards, Kendrick Lamar has continued to reap the benefits of his latest hits and recent Super Bowl halftime performance.
His halftime show became the most-watched Super Bowl performance of all time, surpassing Michael Jackson’s 1993 Super Bowl halftime show.
K-Dot’s halftime performance led to his latest album “GNX” reclaiming the number one spot on the Billboard albums chart.
Despite the controversy surrounding Drake, his record sales and streams have not slowed that much.
His joint album with R&B singer PARTYNEXTDOOR “$ome 4Sexy $ongs 4 U” also topped the Billboard albums chart.
Nevertheless, the joint album had one of Drake’s lowest-selling opening weeks of his storied career.
Forbes reported, “Some Sexy Songs 4 U begins its time on the Billboard 200 with 246,000 equivalent units. That’s the second-largest start of the year, coming in behind The Weeknd’s Hurry Up Tomorrow, which recently opened with just under half a million equivalent units.
“Among Drake’s discography, Some Sexy Songs 4 U doesn’t match with many of his previous releases. Among his 14 No. 1s on the Billboard 200, the Canadian hip-hop star’s latest stands out as his third-lowest opening figure.”
Additionally, Drake’s legal petition against Universal Music Group continues for their release of the popular diss track, “Not Like Us.”
The Associated Press reported, “A hearing on a motion by UMG’s lawyers to dismiss Drake’s petition had been set for Wednesday but it was changed to March 24, according to court records filed this week.
“Drake’s petition in Texas also alleges UMG knew ‘the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender’…
“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 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.”
