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The Court dismissed Drake's defamation case predicated on the lyrics of Kendrick Lamar's mega-hit Not Like Us, dealing the final blow (for now) in the infamous 2024 rap battle between industry titans Drake and Kendrick.
In case you are not a fan of Kendrick Lamar or Drake, missed the 2024 Super Bowl Halftime Show and 2024 Grammy Awards, and/or have been living under a rock: Drake sued his own record label (which happens to also represent Kendrick Lamar) for its role in the publication and promotion of Kendrick's smash hit Not Like Us.
To keep his claim alive, Drake urged the Court to find that Not Like Us—particularly lyrics "Say Drake, I hear you like 'em young," and "Tryna strike a chord and it's probably A-Minor"—convey to a reasonable listener as a matter of fact that Drake has engaged in sexual relations with minors.
The Court disagreed. Under both Federal and New York law, only statements of fact can be defamatory; statements of opinion cannot. The key question is whether a reasonable listener could perceive the statements (in this case, the lyrics) as conveying fact.
In its opinion the Court focused on the overall context in which the statements were made, namely, in the midst of a heated rap battle, during which the prolific rappers exchanged 8 tracks in 16 days. It is of particular importance that the statements were made as part of a dialogue—the Not Like Us lyrics directly respond to certain of Drake's own statements to Kendrick. In that way, the lyrical exchange of disses is comparable to a public debate in that the audience expects the use of fiery rhetoric or hyperbole in the heat of the moment, and understands that statements made in that context do not amount to facts.
Anticipating Judge Vargas's reasoning, Drake argued that the Court should ignore the other tracks dropped during the battle because the average listener is familiar only with Kendrick's Not Like Us. The Court rejected Drake's argument, noting his reasoning would render the protections afforded to opinion and artistic expression dependent on how popular a song becomes. The fact that the average listener knows Not Like Us and does not know the other tracks does not transform a statement of opinion into one of fact.
Even without the looking to the broader context, the Court noted (in one of its funnier lines) that a "reasonable listener would not equate a song that contains lyrics such as, 'Ain't no law, boy, you ball boy, fetch Gatorade or somethin', since 2009 I had this b**** jumpin' with accurate factual reporting."
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