"This is clear that they conspired against that man" — Netizens react to Dr. Dre hi-fiving UMG CEO Lucian Grainge after Kendrick Lamar's Grammy win

A video of Dr. Dre high-fiving Lucian Grainge, Universal Music Group's CEO, amid Kendrick Lamar's win at the 2025 Grammys gained traction on the internet. Lamar's Drake diss track won in all five categories it was nominated for, including Song of the Year and Record of the Year, at the award ceremony on February 2 amid a legal battle between Drake and UMG.

Drake filed a lawsuit against UMG in January 2025, accusing the record label of defaming him by releasing Not Like Us, whose lyrics alleged that the Canadian rapper was a p*dophile. For context, Not Like Us was released through Interscope Records, which UMG owns. Both Drake and Kendrick Lamar are signed to UMG under different imprints.

The video of Dre and Grainge celebrating Kendrick Lamar's win received mixed reviews on social media. Some claimed the two plotted Drake's downfall.

"Yeahhhhh this is clear that they conspired against that man lol."

Many echoed this sentiment, claiming this was evidence that the rap beef was rigged against Drake.

"I’m not gonna hold you, this might be the only time I’ll believe Drake or any of his “fans” saying this whole situation is rigged. I believe in stars alignment, however, this is the stars, the planets the constellations, Milky Way, and galaxies lined up to pack one man away," one person wrote.

"That’s because Interscope Records also won last night and beat republic records ( Drake label) it’s all Universal so it might just be some friendly competition going on," another person added.

"This actually further proves that there is and was an agenda to end Drake … seems to me that Lucian is using certain individuals to end drakes reign," someone else added.

"Delete this before Drake adds it to his lawsuit as evidence," another user commented.

However, others seemed skeptical about this claim. They said that Dre and Grainge were happy for Kendrick Lamar's win as his long-time associates and collaborators.

"Makes sense. They’re all part of the UMG family," one user noted.

"BREAKING : EMPLOYER IS HAPPY WITH HIS EMPLOYEE WINS THUS MAKING HIM MONEY," another person added.

"Yeaaaa he probably loving it that Kendrick winning even more than he would’ve been before," someone else commented.

"His artist won… Drake is not the only artist under UMG," another person wrote.

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"We are the culture" — Kendrick Lamar said in his Song of the Year acceptance speech

Kendrick Lamar made history at the 2025 Grammys after Not Like Us became the first diss to win Song and Record of the Year. The song also won in three other categories, including Best Rap Song and Best Music Video.

Kendrick Lamar, who was presented Song of the Year by Diana Ross, told up-and-coming rappers to "respect the art form" in his acceptance speech.

"This is what it’s about man, because at the end of the day, nothing is more powerful than rap music. We are the culture, it’s gonna always stay here and live forever. I just hope you respect the art form, that’s all. Respect the art form, it’ll get you where you need to go."

Kendrick Lamar also dedicated his Record of the Year statue to LA, talking about the recent wildfires that swept across the city and caused massive damage in affluent areas like Pacific Palisades.

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Exploring Not Like Us's history amid Grammy wins

Not Like Us came towards the end of Drake's rap beef with Kendrick Lamar. The beef started in March 2024 after Lamar featured in Metro Boomin and Future's track Like That, which also received two Grammy nominations this year. Following its release in May, Not Like Us dominated the charts, breaking records on Spotify and other streaming platforms.

Kendrick Lamar also performed the song multiple times at his Juneteenth pop-out show, joined by Dr. Dre, who opened the song by whispering its one-liner, "I see dead people." The song's MV was released on July 4.

Not Like Us made headlines again after Drake filed two petitions against UMG, Spotify, and iHeartRadio in November 2024, accusing the three companies of colluding to "artificially inflate" the track using bots. However, Drake withdrew the petition before filing his defamation lawsuit against UMG in January 2025.

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Drake's suit against UMG is still ongoing at the time of the article. The record label recently requested the court to extend the deadline to respond to the suit due to the LA wildfires.