Over the last 24 hours, the rapper Drake and his team have filed petitions in New York and Texas centered around Kendrick Lamar’s hit song “Not Like Us,” accusing Universal Music Group of defamation and using a “pay-to-play scheme” to boost the diss track on Spotify and iHeartRadio.
With Lamar set to headline the Apple Music Super Bowl LIX Halftime Show, some fans are wondering whether these potential lawsuits will impact his performance (and if that’s by design).
Will Kendrick Lamar Be Able to Perform ‘Not Like Us’ During Super Bowl Halftime Show?
Lamar dropped “Not Like Us” on May 4, 2024, while feuding with Drake. Lamar and Drake are both signed through Universal Music Group, so Drake’s defamation petition argues that UMG could have blocked the release of the song to protect their artist.
“Before it approved the release of the song, UMG knew that the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders and committing other criminal sexual acts,” Drake’s lawyers wrote in the petition.
Drake’s team argues that UMG “could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed. But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed, and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
The song blew up, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, breaking records on Spotify, becoming the longest-running No. 1 song on the Hot Rap Songs chart, and receiving five Grammy nominations (including Record of the Year and Song of the Year). Lamar was also selected to perform during the Super Bowl 59 halftime show.
But if there’s ongoing litigation over “Not Like Us,” will Lamar be able to perform the hit when he takes the stage at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on Feb. 9, 2025?
Fans immediately began to wonder if Drake’s petitions may impact Lamar’s halftime show.
“Not Like Us” might not be played for the Super Bowl if it has a gag order per the judge.
Or because of court proceedings.
Also, this lawsuit might trickle down to radio stations, platforms, content creators, influencers, websites, podcasters, reviewers and etc. who played…
— Andrale Marie' (@Andrale_Marie) November 26, 2024
Many fans started wondering if Drake filed these petitions as a warning shot of sorts that is meant to put the NFL, Fox, and others who amplify the track on notice.
Last year’s Super Bowl averaged 123.4 million viewers, so Drake might be doing whatever he can to prevent “Not Like Us” — a song that calls him out by name and features wild accusations — from being performed on the world’s biggest stage.
I wonder if the bigger ploy is that Drake is suing UMG so that Not Like Us can’t be played at the Super Bowl. If it’s in Litigation, I doubt the NFL would want to have that song performed in any capacity or they would become liable as well
— YO MAMAS FAVORITE DJ (@DJGENERALMEALZ) November 26, 2024
Drake is also famously petty, so is it possible he’s going out of his way to try to negatively impact Lamar’s halftime performance?
Some fans wondered if Lamar could get around this by just performing the chorus and certain parts of “Not Like Us,” leaving out the lyrics that Drake referenced in his petition.
Idc what nobody says and it’s okay to feel like this if you drake…
You ain’t calling me no pedo during the Super Bowl this is part of it also.. he’s making sure with all these lawsuits come the NFL say hey let’s just drop the chorus & beat
— biggz cares if don’t nobody else care. (@Biggz_91) November 26, 2024
Others wondered if Drake would try to sue the NFL, Fox, or Apple Music (who has partnered with the league to present the halftime show) should Lamar perform “Not Like Us.”
If Drake is willing to sue his own label (UMG), the largest streaming platform (Spotify), and the largest radio broadcaster (iHeart), it certainly isn’t a reach to suggest that he might go after the league or its partners.
Whether he’d have any success is a different story, but it’s possible the mere threat of litigation could scare the NFL and Co.
Something tells me that Drake would probably sue the NFL for letting Kendrick perform Not Like Us or any song dissing him at the Super Bowl. Just a hunch…
— J. Kalif Abdur-Rahman (@JKalif01) November 26, 2024
It remains to be seen if Lamar will be able to perform his biggest hit during the Super Bowl 59 halftime show, but this is certainly a situation worth monitoring. It’s also possible that more petitions could be coming, as Drake has now filed two in the last 24 hours.
In response to Drake’s petitions, Universal Music group released the following statement: “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.”