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Universal Music Group has filed a scathing first court response to Drake’s defamation lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” blasting the case as “no more than Drake’s attempt to save face” after losing a rap beef.
In a motion filed Monday (March 17) seeking to dismiss the lawsuit, attorneys for the music giant argued that Drake’s allegations against the company were clearly “meritless” — and that he had gone to court simply because he had been publicly embarrassed.
“Plaintiff, one of the most successful recording artists of all time, lost a rap battle that he provoked and in which he willingly participated,” UMG’s lawyers write. “Instead of accepting the loss like the unbothered rap artist he often claims to be, he has sued his own record label in a misguided attempt to salve his wounds.”
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In the filing, UMG pointedly noted that Drake himself had leveled his own “hyperbolic insults” and “vitriolic allegations” during the same exchange of stinging rap tracks, including accusing Lamar of domestic abuse and questioning whether the rival had really fathered his son.
“Drake has been pleased to use UMG’s platform to promote tracks leveling similarly incendiary attacks at Lamar,” the company’s attorneys write. “But now, after losing the rap battle, Drake claims that ‘Not Like Us’ is defamatory. It is not.”
In a statement to Billboard on Monday, Drake’s attorney Michael J. Gottlieb responded to the new filing. “UMG wants to pretend that this is about a rap battle in order to distract its shareholders, artists and the public from a simple truth: a greedy company is finally being held responsible for profiting from dangerous misinformation that has already resulted in multiple acts of violence,” Gottlieb said. “This motion is a desperate ploy by UMG to avoid accountability, but we have every confidence that this case will proceed and continue to uncover UMG’s long history of endangering, abusing and taking advantage of its artists.”
Lamar released “Not Like Us” last May amid a high-profile beef with Drake that saw the two stars release a series of bruising diss tracks. The song, a knockout punch that blasted Drake as a “certified pedophile” over an infectious beat, eventually became a chart-topping hit in its own right and was the centerpiece of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show.
In January, Drake took the unusual step of suing UMG over the song, claiming the label had defamed him by boosting the track’s popularity. The lawsuit, which doesn’t name Lamar himself as a defendant, alleges that UMG “waged a campaign” against its own artist to spread a “malicious narrative” about pedophilia that it knew to be false.
But in Monday’s response, UMG says the lyrics to Lamar’s song are clearly the kind of free speech that are shielded from defamation lawsuits by the First Amendment. The song contains over-the-top insults, the company argued, but so do all such tracks, including those by Drake.
“Diss tracks are a popular and celebrated artform centered around outrageous insults, and they would be severely chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed,” the company wrote. “Hyperbolic and metaphorical language is par for the course in diss tracks — indeed, Drake’s own diss tracks employed imagery at least as violent.”
In technical terms, UMG is arguing that Lamar’s lyrics are either “rhetorical hyperbole” or opinion — the kind of statements that might sound bad but cannot actually be proven false. Since defamation only covers false assertions of fact, statements of hyperbole and opinion can’t form the basis for such lawsuits.
To make that point, UMG cites Drake’s own public support for a 2022 petition criticizing prosecutors for using rap lyrics as evidence in criminal cases. That letter, also signed by Megan Thee Stallion, 21 Savage and many other stars, criticized prosecutors for treating lyrics as literal statements of fact.
“As Drake recognized, when it comes to rap, ‘the final work is a product of the artist’s vision and imagination’,” UMG’s lawyers write. “Drake was right then and is wrong now. The complaint’s unjustified claims against UMG are no more than Drake’s attempt to save face for his unsuccessful rap battle with Lamar. The court should grant UMG’s motion and dismiss the complaint with prejudice.”
Drake’s attorneys will file a court response to UMG’s motion in the weeks ahead, and the judge will rule on the motion at some point in the next few months. If denied, the case will move ahead into discovery and toward an eventual trial.
When Island/Republic/MCA Nashville released Chappell Roan’s “The Giver” on March 12, the move extended a pop/country crossover trend that has seen the likes of Shaboozey, Beyoncè and Post Malone successfully hop genre fences.
As current as the development may be, it’s also a case of history repeating. The release comes 50 years after Freddy Fender’s “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” reigned on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart dated March 15. “Teardrop” went on to top the Billboard Hot 100 on May 31, 1975, in the midst of a crossover wave.
“That song just caught fire,” says Country Music Hall of Fame member Joe Galante, who handled marketing for RCA Nashville at the time. “It sold, and that was one thing that made it difficult for people to walk away from, was the sales numbers. Even as a competitor, I was sitting there going, ‘How the hell is this happening?’ And you start looking at the numbers and you went, ‘Well, that’s how it’s happening.’ ”
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Fender’s success was not an isolated example in 1975. From March 8 through June 7 that year, four different singles reached the Hot 100 summit while simultaneously becoming country hits: Fender’s “Teardrop,” Olivia Newton-John’s “Have You Never Been Mellow,” B.J. Thomas’ “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song” and John Denver’s“Thank God I’m a Country Boy.”
When Fender was at No. 1, at least seven more titles on that same country chart made significant inroads on the Hot 100 and/or the Easy Listening chart (a predecessor of adult contemporary), including Jessi Colter’s “I’m Not Lisa,” Elvis Presley’s “My Boy” and Charlie Rich’s “My Elusive Dreams.” Additionally, Linda Ronstadt peaked at No. 2 on country with the Hank Williams song “I Can’t Help It (If I’m Still in Love With You),” weeks ahead of the crossover follow-up “When Will I Be Loved.”
Throughout the rest of 1975, the country crossover trend continued with Newton-John’s “Please Mister Please,” Fender’s “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” Glen Campbell’s “Rhinestone Cowboy,” The Eagles’ “Lyin’ Eyes,” Tanya Tucker’s “Lizzie and the Rainman” and C.W. McCall’s “Convoy.”
Then, as now, plenty of fans and critics debated if some of those titles belonged on the country station.
“For me, the answer to ‘What is country?’ is: the records that the country audience, at that time, thinks belong on a country radio station,” says Ed Salamon, a Country Radio Hall of Fame member who became PD in 1975 of WHN New York.
Salamon programmed plenty of crossover music, sometimes incorporating songs that weren’t being promoted to the station, in an effort to appeal to a metro audience that didn’t have much history with the genre.
WHN became a major success story — just five years later, the Big Apple got a second country radio station — but its crossover mix yielded as much hostility from Nashville as praise. Part of that was directly related to the corporate source of some of the records on the playlist: Denver, Newton-John and The Eagles were all signed out of New York or Los Angeles.
“There was such a pushback about what I did that I didn’t fully comprehend it at that time,” Salamon reflects. “I was taking the space that the Nashville label thought should go to one of their records on a country radio station, and I was giving it to the pop division.”
Exactly one year after Fender topped the country chart, crossover material in 1976 had subsided. The number of crossover singles was the same, but none of them had the same level of impact.
“It’s the luck of the draw,” says Country Radio Hall of Fame member Joel Raab, a consultant and former programmer for WHK Cleveland.
Two of those 1976 crossovers, Cledus Maggard’s “The White Knight” and Larry Groce’s “Junk Food Junkie,” were novelty records, distinguishing them from the 1975 batch.
“We’d seen success in the crossover the year before,” recalls Country Radio Hall of Fame member Barry Mardit, whose programming history included WEEP Pittsburgh and WWWW Detroit. “If those songs weren’t consistently coming, we were therefore looking for something else that would grab the ear, that would grab the attention of the listener, like a novelty song does.”
Crossover records would continue through the rest of the ’70s, with Crystal Gayle, Dolly Parton, Ronnie Milsap, Kenny Rogers, Eddie Rabbitt and a couple of Waylon Jennings & Willie Nelson duets benefiting. In most cases, those happened when one or more label executives were enthusiastic enough to take a risk. Record companies had to be judicious since radio stations relied heavily on local sales reports for research.
“You had to have product in stores in order for people to do sales checks,” Galante notes. “So it wasn’t as simple as just saying, ‘Oh, I think I’ll go do this.’ You’ve got to get the goods in stores, and if it didn’t move and they [were returned], you got a double whammy. And you’d spent the money. So you were careful about your shots, and you didn’t go willy-nilly trying to cross over a record.”
Similarly, artists often err when they purposely attempt to cross over. It’s an issue that country learned the hard way in the aftermath of the 1980 Urban Cowboy soundtrack.
“The Urban Cowboy sound was a moment,” Raab says. “It wasn’t a trend. It was just a bunch of really good hit songs that went with a movie — and those songs, by the way, were all pretty country: [Johnny Lee’s] ‘Looking for Love’ and [Mickey Gilley’s]‘Stand by Me.’ These were just really good country records. And because the movie was so popular, [some artists] said, ‘Oh, you know, I’ll be more pop.’ And they made these really bad pop-sounding records in the early to mid-’80s.”
The 2025 version of crossover is a little different — streaming data has helped identify the songs that work across formats, influencing the trajectory for music by Morgan Wallen, Ella Langley & Riley Green, Marshmello & Kane Brown, HARDY, Jelly Roll and Dasha.
Artists are interacting more freely across genre, with pairings of Kelsea Ballerini & Noah Kahan, Thomas Rhett & Teddy Swims and Post Malone & Wallen all on the current Hot Country Songs chart. And, Galante points out, country acts are playing stadiums and arenas in major markets, unlike in the ’70s, when they were mostly in small theaters in midsize metros.
As a result, there’s less incentive for country artists to refashion their music in a play for pop success.
“Country is just so big in its own right,” Mardit says, “that they don’t need to do that.”
A$AP Rocky previewed some unreleased music during his headlining Rolling Loud California set on Saturday night (March 15), and one potential Don’t Be Dumb track found him clarify his allegiance in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud.
“I ain’t on J. Cole, I ain’t on Drake, I ain’t on Kendrick side/ I choose homicide, they gonna see a different side,” Rocky rapped during his set.
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Throughout 2024, Rocky seemed to be taking shots at Drake while aligning with Future and Metro Boomin on We Still Don’t Trust You‘s “Show of Hands,” and then on J. Cole’s “Ruby Rosary” in September.
Drake directly addressed Rocky during the Kendrick Lamar feud with his three-part “Family Matters” diss track in May. The 6 God previously dated Rihanna, and Rocky reportedly has a history with Drake’s baby mother, Sophie Brussaux.
“Rakim talkin’ s–t again/ Gassed ’cause you hit my BM first, n—a, do the math, who I was hittin’ then/ I ain’t even know you rapped still ’cause they only talkin’ ’bout your ‘fit again/ Probably gotta have a kid again ‘fore you think of droppin’ any s–t again/ Even when you do drop, they gon’ say you should’ve modeled ’cause it’s mid again,” Drizzy rhymed on the track.
It was a show-stealing set for Rocky at Rolling Loud California, as he rappelled from a helicopter to kick off the performance.
The Harlem native dedicated his RL set to those impacted by the Los Angeles wildfires and U.S. immigration laws.
“I see unity. I see so many types of people. I see so many different colors,” he said. “I would like to dedicate this show to anybody that was affected by those fires. To anybody that was affected by the immigration laws. My heart goes out to you.”
Rocky also previewed more unreleased tracks during his set — which Rihanna was in attendance for — but didn’t put a release date on Don’t Be Dumb as the watch for the rapper’s Testing follow-up continues.
It was the 36-year-old’s first festival performance since being found not guilty in February in his felony shooting case against former associate A$AP Relli.
Ariana Grande has finally unveiled the tracklist for her upcoming Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead, revealing Monday (March 17) that the project will have six more titles. The additions all appear to be brand new songs, aside from one: “Intro (End of the World) Extended,” which will likely be a longer version of the […]
Iranian-Dutch singer, songwriter and producer Sevdaliza has signed her first-ever publishing agreement with Sony Music Publishing. Known for releasing boundary-pushing music for the last decade, beginning with her EP The Suspended Kid in 2015, Sevdaliza reached new heights last year with her viral single “Alibi” featuring Pabllo Vittar and Yseult, which became her first Billboard […]
Veteran rockers Collective Soul and Live announced the dates for their co-headlining Summer Unity 2025 U.S. amphitheater tour on Monday (March 17). The 30-date Live Nation-produced outing is slated to kick off on July 8 with a show at the White River Amphitheatre in Auburn, WA and hit outdoor venues in California, Missouri, Michigan, New York, Virginia, Florida, Georgia, Texas, Colorado and North Carolina before winding down on August 29 at the Hollywood Casino at Penn Race Course in Grantville, PA.
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In a dramatic three-minute video announcing the tour Collective Soul singer Ed Roland sets up for an acoustic set at a bar in St. Catharines, Ontario on one side of the screen while Live singer Ed Kowalczyk tunes his guitar on the other side in a New York pub. As the tock clicks, Kowalczyk breaks into his band’s iconic hit “I Alone,” while Roland strums out his group’s signature song, “Shine.”
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The performances are so intense they begin to make beer pints shudder as Kowalczyk zeroes in on a golden leprechaun throwing up the metal hand sign before the little guy explodes and lands both men in a black void. “Either I’ve reached enlightenment or I’m having a stroke,” Roland says to Kowalczyk when he wonders how they ended up in the blank space.
“Are we… dead?” Kowlaczyk asks. “No, you crazy cat. I think we’re in a cool Irish pub,” Roland responds in the video timed with Monday’s St. Patrick’s Day celebration. “You ever feel like we’re the same person, but stretched across two different versions of reality?” Roland asks. “Like we were once one singular Ed, but something, an event, a cosmic schism split us into two?”
They don’t agree on the vagaries of the universe, but the two old friends are totally simpatico about hitting the road again together, and enjoying the weird smell of tour buses and the allure of that sweet, sweet arena show catering.
“+LIVE+ is thrilled to be joining forces with the amazing Collective Soul! The great vibes between our two bands on and offstage is something we have both enjoyed for years, and here we come in 2025! This will be a very special night of music for all of the fans; I know everyone is gonna get rocked and uplifted right along with us…come on out!,” said Kowalczyk in a statement.
Roland added, “It was August 1994, and we, Collective Soul, were on our way to Woodstock. As our van pulled up to the grounds, another one pulled up beside us and out jumped the band +LIVE+. We became immediate friends, exchanging guitar picks with each other as soon as we met. Since that day, the Ed and Ed show has been nothing but pure, genuine friendship, and rock and roll. We’re excited that 31 years later, we still not only enjoy each other’s company, but enjoy playing music. It’s going to be a fun summer sharing it with fans, friends and +LIVE+.”
Joining the bands on the tour — their first together since a 2008 co-headlining run — will be Our Lady Peace and Greylin James Rue. Tickets will be available starting with an artist presale kicking off on Tuesday (March 18) at 10 a.m. local time, followed by additional presales throughout the week ahead of a general onsale starting on Friday (March 21) at 10 a.m. local time here.
Watch the Summer Unity Tour promo video and see the tour dates below.
Summer Unity 2025 tour dates
July 8 – Auburn, WA @ White River Amphitheatre
July 9 – Bend, OR @ Hayden Homes Amphitheater
July 11 – Wheatland, CA @ Toyota Amphitheatre
July 13 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Utah First Credit Union Amphitheatre
July 16 – Kansas City, MO @ Starlight Theatre
July 17 – St. Louis, MO @ Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre
July 20 – Huber Heights, OH @ Rose Music Center*
July 22 – Sterling Heights, MI @ Michigan Lottery Amphitheatre
July 26 – Buffalo, NY @ Darien Lake Amphitheater
July 27 – Bridgeport, CT @ Hartford HealthCare Amphitheater
July 30 – Bangor, ME @ Maine Savings Amphitheater
July 31 – Wantagh, NY @ Northwell at Jones Beach Theater
August 2 – Bethel, NY @ Bethel Woods Center for the Arts
August 3 – Bristow, VA @ Jiffy Lube Live
August 5 – Greensboro, NC @ White Oak Amphitheatre
August 6 – Charleston, SC @ Credit One Stadium
August 8 – Jacksonville, FL @ Daily’s Place
August 9 – Alpharetta, GA @ Ameris Bank Amphitheatre
August 10 – Nashville, TN @ FirstBank Amphitheater
August 13 – Irving, TX @ The Pavilion at Toyota Music Factory
August 15 – Houston, TX @ 713 Music Hall
August 16 – Austin, TX @ Germania Insurance Amphitheater
August 18 – Albuquerque, NM @ Isleta Amphitheater
August 19 – Denver, CO @ Fiddler’s Green Amphitheater*
August 21 – Lincoln, NE @ Pinewood Bowl Theater*
August 22 – Ridgedale, MO @ Thunder Ridge Nature Arena
August 23 – Albertville, AL @ Sand Mountain Amphitheater*
August 26 – Simpsonville, SC @ CCNB Amphitheatre
August 28 – Charlotte, NC @ Skyla Credit Union Amphitheatre
August 29 – Grantville, PA @ Hollywood Casino at Penn Race Course*
*Non-Live Nation Date
The rapper Plies has dropped a copyright lawsuit he filed against Megan Thee Stallion, GloRilla, Cardi B and Souja Boy over accusations that that the 2024 song “Wanna Be” featured an uncleared sample.
Filed in federal court last year, the case claimed that Megan and GloRilla stole Plies’ material indirectly by legally sampling a Soulja Boy song – a track that the lawsuit alleged had itself illegally used material from his 2008 track “Me & My Goons.”
But in a motion filed Friday, Plies (Algernod Washington) voluntarily dismissed his entire lawsuit against the stars. He did so “without prejudice,” meaning he could refile it in the future, but for now the case is closed.
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An attorney for Plies did not immediately return a request for comment on why the case was dismissed. Court documents did not indicate that any kind of settlement had been reached.
“Wanna Be,” released by Megan and GloRilla last April, debuted at No. 11 on the Hot 100. A remix, featuring Cardi, was released in late May. The song features a prominent sample of Soulja Boy’s 2010 track “Pretty Boy Swag,” which spent 16 weeks on the chart that summer.
Plies, best known for his 2007 singles “Shawty” and “Hypnotized,” filed his case in November, naming all four stars (Megan Pete, Gloria Woods, Belcalis Almanzar and Deandre Way) as defendants.
“Defendant Soulja Boy authorized Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla to sample [his song],” lawyers for Plies write. “[Wanna Be] incorporates substantial elements of the copyrighted material underlying ‘Me & My Goons,’ without authorization from plaintiffs.”
Such accusations – claiming that a legal sample featured an unlicensed sample – have become increasingly common. While all samples in major releases are strictly cleared, copyrighted material featured within the sampled songs can sometimes be trickier to catch. In the last year, Barry White’s estate filed a lawsuit claiming Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That” sampled from a 1980s hip-hop song that had ripped off White’s music, and a New Orleans group briefly sued Beyoncé for the same thing over a sample of Big Freedia featured in “Break My Soul.”
Playboi Carti explosively shut down the final night of Rolling Loud on Sunday (March 16), bringing out The Weeknd for a jaw-dropping closing set. Following the blockbuster release of his highly anticipated new album Music on Friday (March 14), Carti delivered a resounding performance at Rolling Loud California that included guest appearances from Kai Cenat, […]
Justin Bieber is ready to “let hate go,” according to a heartfelt message he penned on Instagram Stories Sunday (March 16). Writing in all caps, the pop star began by sharing, “I WAS ALWAYS TOLD WHEN I WAS A KID NOT TO HATE … BUT IT MADE ME FEEL LIKE I WASNT ALLOWED TO HAVE […]
When Dermot Kennedy named his global music festival MISNEACH – meaning “courage” in Gaelic – he did so because he knew, like any first-time endeavor, it could fail. And yet, his mission of celebrating and amplifying Irish music and culture proved stronger than any fear of failure.
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“We’re so proud of our little country and how our artists continue to punch above their weight globally,” he says. “And so on St. Patrick’s Day I wanted to bring together some of Ireland’s best artists and bands to perform for massive crowds in Sydney and Boston, two cities with huge Irish communities.”
On March 16, fans in Sydney, Australia got to see Kennedy’s vision come to life as the first of the “twin festivals” took place. And on March 18 and 19, fans in Boston will get their turn. Kennedy will headline each lineup, alongside talent he curated in partnership with Ireland Music Week including Irish artists and acts such as The Frames, The Swell Season, Matt Corby and Meg Mac. (Kennedy shares that while he was “honored” that Hozier and Snow Patrol responded to his request “in a really positive way,” scheduling didn’t work out this year to book either act.)
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“Because we’re so proud of our rich musical history, we always talk about Irish artists like Sinéad O’Connor, Van Morrison, Thin Lizzy, and the impact they’ve had on music history,” says Kennedy. “And if we want that to continue for generations to come, we need moments like this where we come together and celebrate amazing Irish talent.”
Kennedy’s manager, TaP’s Ed Millett, says the idea for a festival like this started about 3-4 years ago and evolved organically over time. “Around the Sonder campaign [Kennedy’s 2022 second album], we were focused on activations that involved Dermot wanting to interact with fans and reflect back their stories and experiences,” recalls Millett. “We started discussing different ways we could tell his story and also shine a light on Ireland and all the amazing talent coming out of there. St. Patrick’s Day was the perfect opportunity to do this – but how?”Their first step was to discuss the idea with Kennedy’s agents in the U.S. and Australia, along with his promoter in the U.S. “We are always looking for ways for an artist to build out their ideas and identities and the more we talked, the more it turned out there had been an interest in doing this kind of thing for a while,” says Millett. He and Kennedy took two years to refine the concept, deciding along the way to own the festival themselves to ensure its identity would remain as authentic as possible.
“By retaining ownership and controlling the festival end-to-end, this has allowed us to market smartly and direct-to-fan,” says Millett. “Not just [with] tickets, but also issuing fan passes for on-site merchandise discounts, and connecting it with [Kennedy’s] new music coming out at the same time.”
Kennedy’s latest single, “Let Me In,” arrived just before his headlining gigs. He wrote the song in Nashville last summer and says it’s the first of much more new material to come. “2024 was a very productive year for me in terms of making music,” he says. “I’m just so happy with how everything’s feeling and with the sound and the sentiment of all that’s coming.”
Millett is excited about the future, too — and is especially hopeful that MISNEACH will become an “annual fixture” in cities worldwide with a large Irish diaspora. “But,” he says, “the focus right now is getting this year right. Dermot has big ambitions not just to support Irish and diaspora talent, but give back to Ireland and the local community. A festival should do all these things – and we are excited to learn and grow this for years to come.”