Drake issues statement hours before Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' Super Bowl performance

Drake's legal team issued a new statement regarding 'Not Like Us' just hours before Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl Halftime show performance on Sunday (February 9).

The Canadian artist is engaged in a legal battle with UMG, which Lamar is also signed to, over claims the label has “illegally inflated” streaming figures for the diss track.

This was filed alongside a separate suit claiming Lamar's lyrics were defamatory against Drake, with lawyers claiming 'Not Like Us' “falsely accuses him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harbouring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts.”

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Kendrick Lamar's 'Not Like Us' was first released in May amid a lengthy feud with Drake. The two released numerous diss tracks about each other across the spring containing a multitude of accusations.

In April, Drake was forced by Tupac Shakur's estate to remove his Lamar diss 'Taylor Made Freestyle' from streaming services due to an AI-likeness of the late rapper's voice used in the track.

Lamar has seemingly "won" the feud, with 'Not Like Us' being awarded with three GRAMMY awards in last week's ceremony, though Drake's legal action against UMG has continued.

In a statement published ahead of Lamar's Super Bowl performance, Drake's legal team accused UMG of "masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about paedophilia or child abuse in the real world."

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"We are confident that the evidence we will ultimately present at trial—including information we’ve already learned and continue to receive since filing the lawsuit—will expose UMG’s gross prioritisation of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth,” the statement continues.

You can watch Kendrick Lamar perform 'Not Like Us' during the Super Bowl 2025 halftime show, below.

Megan Townsend is Mixmag's Deputy Editor, follow her on Twitter