"Bro knew his case was bogus"— Internet reacts to Drake withdrawing petition against UMG over 'Not Like Us'

Rapper Drake has withdrawn his petition against Universal Music Group over Not Like Us on January 14, 2025, as reported by The Tribune. The petition withdrawn in the state of New York mentions that Drizzy's company Frozen Moment, represented by Willkie Farr & Gallagher LLP, is discontinuing the proceeding against UMG voluntarily “without costs to any party.”

The media outlet states that the petition withdrawal follows a reported mutual understanding between both parties, including Drizzy and representatives from Spotify and UMG.

For the unversed, the rapper had filed two petitions against UMG in November 2024, claiming the music company and Spotify had falsely boosted streams of his rival Kendrick Lamar's diss track, Not Like Us. Additionally, he had accused UMG of defamation.

Multiple social media pages, including Drizzy supporter DJ Akademiks, posted a photo of the notice of withdrawal, garnering a lot of response from netizens. Commenting on the nature of Drizzy's petition against UMG, an X user wrote:

"Drake withdrew the petition. He never got proof. Bro knew his case was bogus 🤣"

"Ni**a know he wasn’t going win so he had to say sorry to his sponsor and get out his feelings and take the L that Kendrick gave him. Reality hit home that’s what happened idiot." an X user commented

"I thought Drake was fighting for the small artists? Drake just folded and seemingly didn't even get paid." another X user mentioned

"Probably realized he wasnt going to win, so he was saving his time and money" an internet user stated

On the other hand, some netizens claimed that UMG surrendered in front of the rapper accusing the music company of being at fault:

"I think UMG didn’t want to turn over any of their files to Drake like it stated in the petition, cos they knew he had a case, so they came together to settle their differences via forming an agreement" an X user tweeted

"They will give him the 500-600m he wants for next deal" a netizen commented

"They settled out of a court for an undisclosed amount. Going through court proceedings would've revealed too many skeletons in the closet for UMG." another netizen mentioned

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Drake's claims against Universal Music Group over Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us explored

The exterior of Universal Music Group in Los Angeles, California. (Image via Getty)

According to a report by The Guardian dated November 26, 2024, Drizzy filed two legal petitions against Universal Music Group wherein the first one was filed in the New York Supreme Court on November 25, 2024.

The petition accused UMG and Spotify of artificially boosting the streams of Kendrick Lamar's diss track Not Like Us. It further added that the music company and streaming platform launched a campaign to "manipulate" the streaming services and airwaves to popularize Lamar's track. Drizzy's lawyers mentioned in the petition:

“UMG … conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of Not Like Us and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality.”

Additionally, the petition accused UMG of paying influencers to promote Kendrick Lamar's diss track on social media platforms and setting up "pay-to-play" agreements with radio stations.

The second petition was filed in Texas on November 26, 2024. This time, Drake accused UMG of defamation stating that the music company was aware of Lamar "falsely" accusing him of being a pedophile in the diss track yet they released and distributed the song. The One Dance rapper's lawyers mentioned in the petition that UMG could have refused to drop Lamar's song, however, the company "chose to do the opposite:"

"UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn Not Like Us into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”

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Spotify and UMG explicitly denied the accusations levied against them by Drizzy in their respective statements. Moreover, there is no news of the rapper withdrawing the legal petition from Texas or a specific reason behind him withdrawing the first petition yet.