Drake’s Legal Battle with UMG Could Seriously Backfire
You know how I can tell Drake’s lawyers aren’t taking this seriously?
Because all UMG has to do to end this defamation case is play that one video. You know the one—the concert clip with the blue lighting.
Drake’s accusing UMG and Spotify of faking streams to boost Kendrick Lamar’s numbers. And what happened right after that? Kendrick’s Not Like Us saw a 440% jump in U.S. sales and 20% more streams this week.
Honestly, I wouldn’t be surprised if Lucian Grainge—UMG’s CEO—is sitting back, watching this unfold, and ready to teach Drake a lesson.
Meanwhile, Dedrick Devon Williams, who’s serving life for XXXTentacion’s murder, is appealing his conviction. His lawyers say the trial wasn’t fair because certain evidence pointing to other suspects was left out. And guess whose name came up? Yep—Drake’s.
Let’s not forget—Drake’s got a “rich baby daddy” in Lucian Grainge. Universal’s been backing him for years. Drake’s basically out here saying:
“My daddy controls the streams. My daddy owns the labels.”
But now it looks like Drake’s testing how far that connection goes. After losing out on a $600 million deal, he’s back to taking shots at Kendrick.
Drake thought he could strong-arm UMG into bumping his deal from $400 million to $600 million—like they’d just hand it over because of their “special relationship.” Instead, he ended up filing lawsuits, accusing UMG of RICO violations and stream fraud to push Kendrick’s diss track.
The problem? Drake seems to have overestimated how close he really is to Grainge. He thought they were family. UMG just sees him as another artist on the roster.
Kanye’s been telling y’all how the industry works. It’s about power and money. Drake thought he was the exception—turns out, he’s not.
And now there are rumors Drake’s planning to drop another Kendrick diss during his tour in Australia.
It’s obvious—Drake isn’t ready to take this L quietly, and things are only going to get messier.
Here’s the bigger picture—this lawsuit might explain why so many rappers suddenly backed off from coming at Drake.
UMG pretty much runs the music industry. They either own or have a hand in most major labels. If Drake wins, it could shake up the entire system—and put a lot of that money in his pocket.
Drake has a rich baby daddy named Lucian and Universal. Wow.
For years, Drake has been Universal Music Group’s golden child, raking in millions for the label. But it seems like he got a bit too comfortable, thinking he was the one calling the shots. Now, UMG is stepping in to remind him who’s really in charge.
Drake may have thought he was untouchable, but UMG is proving he’s just another player in their game.
And let’s be real—this isn’t the first time UMG has put a superstar in their place.
This is the biggest record label in the world, and they don’t hesitate to remind anyone who thinks they’re bigger than the label itself.
In case you missed it, Drake recently filed two lawsuits against Universal Music Group.
The first lawsuit claims UMG teamed up with Spotify to fake numbers and inflate streams for Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, Not Like Us.
The second one is even messier.
Drake accuses UMG of letting Kendrick defame him, claiming Kendrick falsely called him a “PDF file” in the track, and UMG still chose to release it.
These lawsuits mark a major shift in Drake’s relationship with UMG, and it’s clear there’s some serious drama behind the scenes.
For years, UMG treated Drake like their prized asset. In fact, CEO Lucian Grainge once said that Drake could name his price, and the label would give him whatever he wanted.
Drake was UMG’s star player—his albums dominated the charts, his singles were everywhere, and his influence in the music world was undeniable. UMG made a fortune off of him, and in return, they gave him perks and freedom most artists could only dream of.
In 2021, Drake locked down a jaw-dropping deal with UMG worth somewhere between $400 and $500 million—something almost unheard of in the industry.
But here’s where things get even more interesting.
There’s talk that the deal wasn’t just about the money. Some say Drake might’ve even scored a piece of the action, possibly getting a stake in other artists’ catalogs under Universal’s umbrella.
And here’s the real kicker—rumors are swirling that Drake might have been quietly eyeing Kendrick Lamar’s catalog.
Now, let’s talk about Drake’s connection with Lucian Grainge.
Lucian has been getting some unwanted attention lately.
His name came up in that messy Diddy lawsuit, and then Kanye West threw a jab at Drake, calling him a “rich baby daddy.”
As Kanye put it: “It cuts Drake’s soul. It’s like he signed his soul to the devil to not be cool with me. It’s like… this is his job—to go against God.”
Drake recently made a bold statement, saying, “My daddy’s got it. My daddy controls the spins. My daddy owns the DSPs. My daddy…”
He’s talking about Lucian Grainge, the powerful CEO of Universal Music Group (UMG), who’s behind all those massive streams and number one hits.
But here’s where things get really interesting. Word on the street is that Lucian told Drake to chill after Kendrick Lamar hinted he could reveal some deep industry secrets—secrets that may even tie back to those PDF file allegations.
The drama doesn’t end there. Producer Lil Rod filed a lawsuit against Diddy, making some serious accusations—and Lucian’s name popped up a lot. Lil Rod even suggested that Lucian and Diddy’s relationship wasn’t just friendly. He alleged that Lucian had financially supported Diddy’s controversial ventures and helped enable them, calling him a co-conspirator.
But get this—just a few months after the lawsuit was filed, it was revealed that Lil Rod’s lawyer quietly removed both UMG and Lucian Grainge from the case. They were dropped after their lawyers threatened legal action against the accuser, claiming the allegations were so false they could seek penalties against the lawyer himself, not just Lil Rod.
Many believe the reason for dropping Lucian and UMG was because Lil Rod’s lawyer realized how powerful their legal team was—and the deep pockets behind Universal Music Group.
Just as Lucian and UMG thought they’d dodged the bullet, things took another turn. Drake’s feud with Kendrick started heating up, and Kendrick kept hinting he might dig even deeper into the industry’s secrets. UMG had to be worried, especially after narrowly avoiding Diddy’s legal mess. They didn’t want to get dragged into another controversy.
Now, with Drake going after UMG through lawsuits, some are saying he might be pushing his luck—maybe even heading down the same path as Diddy. Universal had already told him to slow down before he filed those payola claims.
You probably remember when Drake dropped a massive 100GB bundle of unreleased tracks back in August. Well, UMG wasn’t having it. They slapped him with a copyright strike, and several tracks were pulled from his site almost immediately. Drake fired back on Instagram, posting the takedown notice for everyone to see.
Instead of backing down, though, Drake doubled down. He even asked UMG to increase his contract to a mind-blowing $600 million.
While Lucian had managed to quietly distance himself from Lil Rod’s lawsuit, Drake brought him right back into the spotlight—in a not-so-favorable way. Insiders close to Lucian and UMG say Drake has no idea just how much trouble he’s stirred up. UMG is furious and, according to reports, they’re out for revenge. They’ve denied his claims and even shaded him a little, implying that Drake is just jealous of the genuine love Kendrick gets from fans.
In a statement to Billboard, UMG said:
“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”
On top of that, Spotify has responded to Drake’s claims that they teamed up with UMG to artificially boost Kendrick’s song Not Like Us. They completely denied the accusations, saying the lawsuit was an attempt to manipulate the legal system.
In a court motion filed on December 20th in Manhattan, Spotify stated there was no evidence of any bot attacks and refuted the idea that UMG had made any deal with them to promote Kendrick’s track. Spotify’s lawyers made it clear:
“The predicate of petitioner’s entire request for discovery from Spotify is false. Spotify and UMG have never had any such arrangement.”
Spotify didn’t just deny Drake’s accusations — they also slammed him for even taking this matter to court. The ruling dismissed his conspiracy theories as far-fetched and questioned why Spotify was dragged into it at all.
They also criticized the way Drake brought the case forward. Instead of filing a full lawsuit, he used a rare pre-action petition to demand information. Spotify argued that this unusual approach was because his claims were too weak to stand up in a real lawsuit, which would have been dismissed in a heartbeat.
Spotify’s filing stated:
“What [Drake] is trying to do here is sidestep the usual legal process and use pre-action discovery to get what he could only request if he survived a motion to dismiss. This kind of move should be shut down.”
But Drake isn’t backing off. After Spotify’s response, his rep issued a statement to Billboard, saying:
“It’s no surprise that Spotify is trying to distance itself from UMG’s alleged actions to inflate streaming numbers for one of its other artists. If Spotify and UMG have nothing to hide, they should have no issue with a basic discovery request.”
And there’s more. Rumor has it that Drake’s planning to drop a brand new diss track during his upcoming Australian tour — and it’s not just aimed at Kendrick, but also UMG.
It looks like Drake’s not done causing a stir.
The real question now is whether it’s smart for Drake to keep pushing UMG. Could this backfire and end up ruining everything he’s worked for over the years?