Universal Music Group (UMG) is resisting efforts by Drake’s legal team to obtain communications from its British chief executive, Lucian Grainge. Drake’s lawyers sought to “collect, review and produce” these communications, alleging that Grainge was “personally involved in decisions made regarding the marketing and promotion of [Not Like Us] around its release,” according to The Guardian. This request is part of Drake’s ongoing lawsuit against UMG concerning Kendrick Lamar’s viral diss track, which included lyrics accusing Drake of pedophilia.

Drake’s lawsuit, initiated in January 2025,claims that UMG “intended to convey the specific,unmistakable and false factual allegation that Drake is a criminal paedophile,and to suggest that the public should resort to vigilante justice in response.”

UMG’s legal representatives have responded to the motion,stating that Drake’s arguments “defy credulity” and are a waste of judicial resources. They are urging the court to reject the motion.

lawyer Rollin A. Ransom stated, “The premise of Drake’s motion – that he could not have lost a rap battle unless it was the product of some imagined secret conspiracy going to the top of UMG’s corporate structure – is absurd. Sir Lucian is the CEO of a multinational enterprise; his days are spent determining and implementing global strategy, not vetting individual tracks or album covers or driving the release and promotional plans for any one recording.”

in March, Universal labeled the lawsuit “utterly without merit” and submitted a motion to dismiss it entirely.The motion asserted that the lyrics in “Not Like Us” constitute “nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole, not fact.” Furthermore, it emphasized Drake’s voluntary participation in the rap battle, contending that “diss tracks are a popular and celebrated art form centred around outrageous insults, and they would be severely chilled if Drake’s suit were permitted to proceed.”