Yale’s Legal Scholars Support UMG in Drake’s ‘Not Like Us’ Battle

Yale Law School scholars are supporting Universal Music Group in Drake’s battle to revive his defamation lawsuit against the music entity over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

In an amicus brief filed on Friday (April 3) and obtained by XXL, legal scholars from Yale University Law School say that Drake gave consent to have Kendrick Lamar brutally diss him in their legendary rap battle and therefore Drizzy’s consent defeats his claims of defamation. In their brief, Yale law scholars compared Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s infamous rap battle as a boxing match.

“Suppose a self-assured boxer challenges the world champion to a prize fight, is knocked out on live television, and, with bruised ego and body, files a lawsuit for battery,” the Yale scholars wrote. “That lawsuit would fail at the outset for a simple but important reason: the challenger consented to the fight, and consent is a classic defense to an intentional tort. Defamation is also an intentional tort, and defamation claims are likewise foreclosed by consent.”

The scholars explained further that “Drake directly and clearly invited Lamar to publish a song accusing him of liking young girls. In ‘Taylor Made Freestyle,’ Drake invited Lamar to ‘talk about [Drake] likin’ young girls,’ raising the issue of pedophilia for the first time.”

“Lamar accepted his direct invitation, publishing ‘Not Like Us,’ which contains the allegedly defamatory statements at the heart of this lawsuit,” the scholars continued.

“Lamar won in the court of public opinion,” they added. “Having lost in that forum, Drake turned to another.”

This latest filing comes after UMG responded to Drake’s appeal on March 27, arguing that reinstating Drizzy’s defamation lawsuit would “critically undermine” the art of hip-hop. The music entity suggested that K-Dot calling Drizzy a pedophile is part of the art form that’s “built on exaggeration, insult and wordplay.”

Drake’s initial lawsuit accuses UMG—not Kendrick—of defamation through the music giant releasing the song, which called him a “certified pedophile,” that Drizzy claimed allowed millions of people to actually believe that he was a pedophile. However, a judge dismissed the suit in October of 2025, ruling that the Compton rapper’s lyrics were a “nonactionable opinion,” meaning, they were not statements of fact.

The appeals court is scheduled to hear arguments in this case in the next few months and a ruling is expected next year.

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