Inside Drake vs UMG legal battle: Judge grants concealing Kendrick Lamar’s contract under seal

There have been new developments in the Drake vs UMG battle. According to NFR Lite on August 22, 2025, U.S. District Judge Jeanette A. Vargas ruled that Kendrick Lamar’s contract with UMG will remain confidential.

She said the contract has private business details, and protecting both UMG’s business and Lamar’s privacy is more important than letting the public see it. The judge has not yet ruled on the two Motions to Compel filed by Drake’s attorneys.

Drake filed his lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) in January 2025, after Kendrick Lamar released his diss track Not Like Us in mid-2024.

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DRAKE vs UMG Update: ​Judge Jeanette A. Vargas has granted UMG’s request to file Kendrick Lamar’s contract under seal, ruling it contains sensitive business info and that protecting UMG’s interests & Lamar’s privacy outweighs public access.

More on Drake vs UMG's legal battle

The feud between the Canadian rapper and Kendrick Lamar began back in 2024, as the two traded increasingly personal diss tracks. It escalated when Lamar's song Not Like Us, which was nominated for the 67th Annual Grammy Awards in five different categories, was released in May 2024.

The song accused the Canadian rapper of being a pedophile and included violent imagery and offensive lyrics that went viral in no time. He then filed a lawsuit against Lamar's record company, Universal Music Group (UMG), the label that was responsible for releasing and promoting the song.

Kendrick also performed the song during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in February 2025. The NFL censored the word ‘pedophile’ in the broadcast, but the performance was widely viewed as Lamar reiterating the accusation on one of the world’s biggest stages.

The Canadian rapper alleged that UMG knew the allegations were false but still pushed the song for profit, which caused damage to his career and reputation. As per the court filings, obtained by People, it said:

''UMG brazenly continued to publish and promote the [song] even after [Drake’s] home was attacked by a gunman, after his businesses were defaced, after [Drake] made UMG aware of the falsity of the allegations (and the harm they were causing), and after UMG knew that the public believed the allegations to be true statements of fact.''

UMG responded by calling the rappers' accusations baseless, and argued that the track was a part of the rap culture, and asked the court to dismiss the case. They argued, saying that the diss track ''conveys nonactionable opinion and rhetorical hyperbole, not fact.''

The case then went through the discovery process, with the rapper's legal team filing Motions to Compel, as they wanted the judge to force UMG to hand over certain documents which they believed were withheld. However, the judge recently ruled that Kendrick Lamar’s contract with UMG will remain confidential.

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