Drake’s legal team spends over $75k in attempt to subpeona Kojo Menne Asamoah amid ongoing battle with UMG

As per court filings obtained by All Hip Hop, Drake is accusing Kojo Menne Asamoah of coordinating secret payments on behalf of UMG executive Ramon Alvarez-Smikle. As per his legal team, these secret payments were used to hire third parties and bots to inflate Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us' reach and damage his reputation.

The filings are related to his lawsuit against Universal Music Group in January 2025, when the artist accused the label, Spotify, and iHeartMedia of artificially boosting the success of Kendrick Lamar's disstrack against him, Not Like Us. The artist believes that Asamoah helped UMG funnel money to boost Not Like Us with artificial streams and online promotion.

The artist's legal team has reportedly spent over $75,000 trying to locate and serve Asmoah with a subpeona. The team has searched addresses in California, Maryland, his last known residence, several business locations, his parent's home and tracked a Range Rover registered to him. The team also sent emails to addresses associated with Asamoah.

Due to Asamoah's non-responsiveness, the artist is seeking the court's permission to use alternative methods, such as certified mail and email, to deliver the subpeoona.

What is Drake Vs. Universal Music Group legal battle?

In January, 2025, Drake filed a lawsuit against record label Universal Music Group, in the southern district of New York, and claimed that the label "approved, published, and launched" a promotional campaign for Kendrick Lamar's diss track, Not Like Us, which falsely depicts him as a pedophile.

In the track, Lamar sings,

"Say Drake, I hear you like 'em young...certified lover boy? certified pedophile."

Not Like Us became commercially succesful after it's release, reaching No.1 in the US and UK and also won Lamar five Grammy awards in 2024. In their defense, UMG argued, that the lyrics are “nonactionable opinion/rhetorical hyperbole”, and uses standard disstrack fare.

The lawsuit also pointed to specific incidents that endangered the life of the artist following the release of the track, including a shooting outside the artist's home and threats made against his family.

Most recently, Drake's lawyer listed 63 potential witnesses in the defamation suit, as per a document dated June 2, which was made available to the public on July 14. The witness list includes some high profile names such as UMG CEO Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Publishing Group chief Jody Gerson, Interscope CEO John Janick, Republic co-founders Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman, and Top Dog Entertainment president Dave Free.

The list also includes executives linked to companies like Spotify and the NFL.

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