Why Drake is suing own record label over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track

Drake has filed a legal suit against his record label, alleging it published and promoted a song by Kendrick Lamar which included categorically false allegations against him.

Over the years, lauded rappers Drake, 38, - real name Aubrey Drake Graham - and Kendrick, 37, have traded barbs, jibes and harmlessly name-dropped each other during award ceremonies.

But their beef escalated last year when Kendrick responded to a verse on Drake and J Cole’s 'First Person Shooter' collab, which saw the trio being described by the latter as the 'big three'.

In response, the ‘All the Stars’ favourite appeared on Metro Boomin and Futures’ song ‘Like That’ to claim there was no ‘big three - it’s just big me’.

Drake later referenced the verse during a live concert in Florida before releasing another song.

Drake has filed a lawsuit against his and Kendrick Lamar's record label (Mark Blinch/Getty Images)

Meanwhile, J Cole snapped back too, this time claiming Kendrick had 'fell off like The Simpsons'.

In a follow-up, Kendrick used 'Not Like Us' to accuse the 'One Dance' hitmaker of having relationships with underage women.

Drake, who has denied all claims of paedophilia, has since filed a lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG), claiming bosses defamed him by promoting the diss track.

As reported by Music News, the father-of-one submitted the lawsuit in a New York federal court yesterday (January 15), alleging UMG knowingly 'decided to publish, promote, exploit, and monetise allegations that it understood were not only false but dangerous'.

Bosses at the record label were also accused of promoting the song which 'intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile', the suit states.

The documents, first obtained by Reuters, also claimed the accusations made by Kendrick - who is not named as a defendant in the suit - resulted in Drake’s security guard being shot outside his Toronto mansion and two subsequent attempted break-ins, as per Sky News.

The hip-hop artist is seeking damages for defamation and harassment.

"UMG may spin this complaint as a rap beef gone legal, but this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists," the legal filing reads.

Despite releasing the track in question, Kendrick is not named in the suit (Arturo Holmes/MG23/Getty Images for The Met Museum/Vogue)

"Notwithstanding a relationship spanning more than a decade, UMG intentionally sought to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse. UMG chose corporate greed over the safety and wellbeing of its artists."

A spokesperson for UMG has denied all of Drake’s allegations, according to Billboard.

"We have not and do not engage in defamation - against any individual,” the statement read. "At the same time, we will vigorously defend this litigation to protect our people and our reputation, as well as any artist who might directly or indirectly become a frivolous litigation target for having done nothing more that write a song."

UMG has also accused Drake of seeking to 'weaponise the legal process to silence an artist's creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing [Kendrick’s] music'.