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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Entertainment
Laura Snapes

Universal deny that head Lucian Grainge was personally involved in Kendrick Lamar attack on Drake

From left: Kendrick Lamar and Drake.
Kendrick Lamar (left) and Drake. Composite: Mark Blinch/Reuters

Universal Music Group has denied new allegations made by Drake’s lawyers that its British chair and chief executive Lucian Grainge had a “role in and knowledge of the scheme to defame and harass” the Canadian rapper by peer Kendrick Lamar, and that as such the label should “collect, review and produce” communications by Grainge.

Drake is suing UMG – his label Republic’s parent company – over its release of Lamar’s 2024 diss track Not Like Us, which contains the line: “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young … Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles.” The artwork for the global hit single features an image of Drake’s home dotted with icons used to identify the homes of registered sex offenders.

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