Drake wants the US courts to force Universal Music CEO Lucian Grainge to hand over any emails and text messages he sent or received that are relevant to the rapper’s defamation lawsuit against the major record company. Grainge, it seems, would rather keep his inboxes private.
Or maybe he’s just lost the Post-it note with his passwords written on and can’t log in (hint: try FukKUdR@k€). Or maybe he’s dropped his Blackberry in the pool. Or – in a tried and tested tactic of libel cases – his phone got dropped off the side of a speed boat in an unfortunate accident. Or maybe telling Drake to go fuck himself is just another part of of Universal’s “artist-centric” approach.
In a new filing with the court, Drake’s lawyers say that Universal’s “insistence on shielding Grainge” from the document discovery process as part of the rapper’s libel case is “unfair, unwarranted and inconsistent with fundamental principles of discovery”.
Drake is suing Universal, his own record company, over its role in releasing Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’, the lyrics of which accuse Drake of being a pedophile. Trying to hold a label liable for defamation over the lyrics of a hip hop diss track seems ambitious on Drake’s part, but the legal battle is nevertheless very entertaining. And only partly because it seems to be annoying Grainge big time.
This week’s court letter neatly summarises Drake’s specific allegations against the Universal boss, just in case anyone had missed them when reading the actual libel lawsuit. That includes allegations relating to “Grainge’s role in approving the publication and promotion” of Lamar’s track and his “role in and knowledge of the scheme to defame and harass” Drake.
It also highlights legal notices Drake sent to Universal last summer about Lamar’s lyrics, before adding “there is no doubt that Grainge was made aware of these detailed denials from Drake, as well as Drake’s description of the harm he had suffered as a result of the false allegations”.
And, Drake’s attorneys go on, these are not the only allegations their client is making against Grainge. Because, since filing his lawsuit, he “now also has reason to believe that Grainge was personally involved in decisions made regarding the marketing and promotion” of Lamar’s track “around its release”.
This summary of Drake’s specific Grainge gripes isn’t just included to piss off the Universal boss. It’s also there to counter a key argument that Universal has made as to why Grainge’s inboxes should be off limits when it comes to the discovery process in Drake’s defamation action.
Which is that the Universal boss had “no meaningful involvement in the matters and decisions at issue in this litigation”, meaning his emails and texts won’t be of any help to Drake’s team.
After sneakily noting that the major previously said Grainge had “no role” in the Lamar release – which has since been downgraded to “no meaningful involvement” – Drake’s lawyers say that that “self-serving, unsupported and untested” claim is irrelevant, given the allegations the rapper has made in his lawsuit.
Another excuse being used by Universal is that any relevant information in Grainge’s inboxes would already be covered by emails and texts sent and received by other Universal execs like John Janick and Monte Lipman, whose messages the major seems much more willing to share.
But, says Team Drake, the simple fact Grainge has those messages in his files is relevant because that “reveals Grainge’s knowledge and state of mind” before and after the release of ‘Not Like Us’.
Drake’s lawyers also argue that it shouldn’t be too difficult for Universal to provide the Grainge messages they want access to because, after all, if – as the major says – he had no “meaningful involvement” in the Lamar release, there shouldn’t be too many messages to share.
In addition to Grainge’s emails, Drake’s team also wants an unredacted copy of Lamar’s record contract with Universal. The major has already shared one document that seems to be that contract but, say Drake’s lawyers in a separate filing with the court, “the vast majority of the 22-page agreement is redacted, rendering it virtually unreadable and incomprehensible”.
Will the judge force Universal to provide Drake with the documents he has requested? Will Grainge remember his passwords? And does anyone really care about the outcome so long as it keeps everyone entertained? Who can say. But as soon as there’s an update we’ll be sure to let you know.
