Regulation in Common Tradition
Choose tosses Drake’s swimsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s rap music calling him ‘licensed pedophile’
Rapper and singer Drake, left, attends an NBA basketball recreation between the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Houston Rockets on March 16, 2024, in Houston. (Picture by David J. Phillip/The Related Press)
An inexpensive listener would conclude that rapper Kendrick Lamar was “rapping hyperbolic vituperations” when he known as rapper and singer Drake a “licensed pedophile” in his 2024 music “Not Like Us,” a federal decide mentioned final week in an order tossing Drake’s defamation lawsuit over the assertion.
In an Oct. 9 order, U.S. District Choose Jeannette A. Vargas of the Southern District of New York known as Lamar’s lyrics “nonactionable opinion,” written amid “a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by each individuals.”
Law360 and Reuters have protection, whereas the Volokh Conspiracy printed opinion highlights.
Drake had sued the Common Music Group for an alleged “defamation-for-profit technique” that included selling “Not Like Us” and arranging for Lamar to carry out it on the 2025 Tremendous Bowl. The Common Music Group has a division that additionally represents Drake.
Vargas granted the Common Music Group’s movement to dismiss the complete swimsuit, which included claims for defamation, harassment and misleading acts.
Drake plans to attraction, a spokesperson informed Law360 and Reuters.
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