50 Cent has weighed in on Drake‘s bombshell legal filings against Universal Music Group, laying out his theory as to why the Toronto rapstar is going after the music giant.
The 6 God filed two “pre-action” petitions against UMG last month, accusing the company of using streaming bots and payola to artificially boost the popularity of his rival Kendrick Lamar‘s hit diss song “Not Like Us.”
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He also claims that UMG — the parent company of both his label Republic Records and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope — defamed him by knowingly releasing a song that accuses him of being a sex offender.
Contrary to widespread misinterpretation, the filings are not actually lawsuits but merely seek more information before a potential lawsuit is filed.
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In an interview with Cam’ron on his Talk With Flee YouTube show, 50 theorized that Drake is trying to prevent Kendrick from performing “Not Like Us” during his performance at next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.
“I’ve never seen that before. I’ve never seen a rap battle end up in a lawsuit. But I thought that was Drake’s team trying to prevent the Super Bowl from doing more damage,” he said.
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“Because if you sue Apple and you sue Universal Music Group during the period where Apple is [behind] the music at the Super Bowl, they’re already in the lawsuits so they’re already having to incur costs to defend themselves.”
50 also speculated that Drizzy’s attorneys have likely threatened the NFL by telling them: “We have this issue over this song. It’s already a pending case, we don’t want you guys to allow that to air [or] you’d be a part of the damages.”
In a separate sit-down with Big Boy, the G-Unit boss elaborated on his theory and said that the Super Bowl would only “reignite” the popularity of “Not Like Us,” further motivating Drake to stop Kendrick performing it.
He also speculated that the Her Loss hitmaker might be using the legal filings as leverage in negotiations with UMG, with which he signed a blockbuster $400 million deal in 2022.
Drawing from his own experience of dealing with record labels in rap beef, Fif further claimed that Universal didn’t “protect” Drake in his feud with Kendrick because, in his view, the company bet on Kendrick to win the battle and make them the most money.
“Everything he said they did in that lawsuit, they did it,” he stated.
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Drake has been given two court hearings in his battle with UMG. His defamation petition will be heard before a Texas judge on December 20 to determine whether the rapper is allowed to depose individuals from UMG and iHeartRadio over claims they engaged in illegal activity around “Not Like Us.”
His New York petition will be heard a few weeks later on January 16. In that case, Drake is asking the court to require UMG and Spotify to preserve any documents or messages relevant to their promotion of Kendrick’s chart-topping diss song.
