Universal Music has responded to Drake’s most recent legal efforts to get access to top dog Lucian Grainge’s inbox and an unredacted copy of Kendrick Lamar’s record contract.
Universal says that the rapper’s recent motions in his defamation battle with the major are simply a “transparent attempt” to “harass” the company and its CEO, and to force Universal to “waste time and resources out of spite”. Which all sounds like good fun, albeit for the rest of us, but maybe not Universal or Grainge.
A flurry of documents filed with the courts by Universal late last week included a formal declaration from Grainge himself, rejecting the claim that he was actively involved in the release of Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’, the diss track that prompted Drake’s defamation lawsuit because of the lyrics accusing him of being a pedophile.
Grainge is a very busy man doing a very important job running a very big company with lots of divisions putting out lots of records in lots of countries, he explains in his declaration. Which means “the proposition that I am in the weeds as to the release and promotion of any particular sound recording, from the thousands of UMG releases throughout the world, is farcical”.
And just to be clear, no exception was made regarding the weeds from which Lamar’s Drake-dissing hit flowered. Grainge blusters on, “I would like to make it quite clear that I had never heard the recording ‘Not Like Us’, nor ever saw the corresponding cover art or music video, until after they were released by Interscope Records”, a Universal subsidiary.
Drake’s defamation litigation against Universal, his own label, is currently in the discovery phase, where both sides in the dispute share relevant paperwork. Although Universal has shared various documents with Drake’s team, it has so far resisted giving the rapper access to Grainge’s text messages or emails, and has only provided a heavily redacted version of Lamar’s contract with the major.
Elsewhere in his declaration, Grainge says that – as a very busy man doing a very important job running a very big company – “I am accustomed, and unfortunately largely resigned, to personal attacks”.
Poor Lucian. What with that – his €100 million share price linked mega bonus seeming ever less likely and his big deal to buy Downtown Music on the rocks – you would be a stony hearted meanie if you didn’t shed the occasional tear for the plight of poor old Papa Grainge.
But before you do, don’t despair too much. This is all in a day’s work for big old rough tough Papa Grainge. In fact, he continues, when Universal is involved in high profile litigation, it’s “a frequent strategy” of the major’s opponents to try to “waste my and UMG’s time and resources with discovery of the sort that Drake is seeking here”.
That may be “to gain media attention”, or “in an effort to force some kind of commercial renegotiation or financial concessions”, but either way, Grainge is used to such sneaky tactics being employed.
However, the courts shouldn’t allow such a strategy to succeed, Grainge and his legal team believe. Which means the judge overseeing this case, Jeannette A Vargas, should refuse to force Grainge to open up his inbox so that Drake can rifle through his emails. .
“Lucian has at most only minimal relevance to this action”, yet another filing from Universal’s lawyers last week insists, adding, that Drake “does not come close” to “meeting his burden” of demonstrating why Grainge’s emails or text messages should be shared as part of the discovery process.
In their own filing last week, Drake’s legal team also complained that – although Universal has shared a copy of Lamar’s record deal with the major – it had been, to use the legal term, redacted to fuck. But, says Universal in its response, that’s because Drake asked for sight of a very specific element of Lamar’s deal, and that bit was left unredacted.
Drake’s attorneys asked to see any contract terms between Universal and Lamar that “reflected” the major’s “right to approve, reject, refuse to publish, edit, amend, alter or veto the publication of Lamar’s songs or videos”. Universal agreed to share the sections of Lamar’s contract “reflecting such rights” and then “redact the remainder”. Which it did.
“Drake nonetheless now moves for an unredacted copy of Lamar’s contract”, Universal’s own filing notes, before claiming that this is another attempt to “harass” Universal “out of spite”, though with this request he also gets to harass Lamar, “who is plainly the real target of Drake’s anger”.
It then adds, “this appears to be another instance of Drake seeking discovery based on his grudges”, explaining that Drake previously “called on Lamar to release his contract during their rap feud”.
‘Not Like Us’ was one of a number of tracks released in a back and forth between Drake and Lamar last year of course. It was Drake’s ‘Push Ups’ which contained the lyric, “Pull your contract cause we gotta see the split”.
Judge Vargas should reject Drake’s request to see the rest of Lamar’s contract, Universal’s lawyers say, because he “cannot explain why the rest of the contract is relevant”.
And while she’s at it, the major explains in another filing, Vargas should also ensure that even the heavily redacted version of the deal that was shared with Team Drake is not made public as part of the proceedings. Because doing so would disadvantage Universal when negotiating deals with other artists, or when other labels are competing to sign acts it currently works with. Including possibly Lamar.
So now, obviously, everyone is hoping that document somehow sees the light of day. And, meanwhile, we will wait with baited breath to see whether Drake can come up with any more creative legal manoeuvres to piss off Grainge and his gang some more. It’s a quiet time and everyone loves a high stakes lawsuit, so here’s hoping.
