{"id":4119,"date":"2025-02-11T20:01:43","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T20:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/kendrick-super-bowl-plus-hendrix-trial-biggie-suit-more-law-news\/"},"modified":"2025-02-11T20:01:43","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T20:01:43","slug":"kendrick-super-bowl-plus-hendrix-trial-biggie-suit-more-law-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/kendrick-super-bowl-plus-hendrix-trial-biggie-suit-more-law-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendrick Super Bowl – Plus Hendrix Trial, Biggie Suit & More Law News"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tThis is The Legal Beat, a weekly newsletter about music law from Billboard Pro, offering you a one-stop cheat sheet of big new cases, important rulings and all the fun stuff in between.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\tThis week: Kendrick Lamar plays \u201cNot Like Us\u201d during his Super Bowl halftime show despite Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit; an appeals court sends a case over Jimi Hendrix\u2019s music to trial; the estate of Notorious B.I.G. sues over a famed photo; and much more.<\/em><\/p>\n

\n\t\tTHE BIG STORY: Say, Drake\u2026<\/strong>\t<\/h3>\n

\n\tIf a team of lawyers tried to dissuade Kendrick Lamar<\/a> from performing \u201cNot Like Us\u201d during Sunday night\u2019s Super Bowl halftime show, they didn\u2019t do a great job.<\/p>\n

\n\tAfter much speculation about whether or not the rapper would play his chart-topping, Grammy-sweeping hit at the Superdome \u2013 a performance that came weeks after Drake sued Universal Music Group over allegations that the song defamed him by calling him a pedophile \u2014 Kendrick really<\/em> didn\u2019t hold back much.<\/p>\n

\n\tWith a trolling grin, he looked directly into camera and made eye contact with 120 million viewers when he rapped \u201cSay, Drake, I hear you like \u2019em young\u201d \u2013 a lyric he then followed up with lines like \u201cYou better not ever go to cell block one\u201d and \u201cJust make sure you hide your lil\u2019 sister from him.\u201d If anyone was expecting him to avoid the controversy entirely, think again.<\/p>\n

\n\tLamar did<\/em> avoid saying the actual word \u201cpedophile,\u201d but that hardly made a difference when thousands in the crowd sang it for him \u2014 and millions more at home knew exactly what was missing. And no such omission spared Drake from the song\u2019s comedic punchline: \u201cTryna strike a chord and it\u2019s probably A minnnnorrrrr.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThe very structure of Kendrick\u2019s set seemed designed to mock the idea that a lawsuit might stop him. Early in the show, he explicitly referenced the case, saying \u201cI wanna do their favorite song, but they love to sue\u201d before teasing the song\u2019s infectious four-note riff. When Lamar quickly moved on to another song, it seemed like he wanted the fans to think that might be it. Maybe it was a happy compromise? A quick nod that wouldn\u2019t give the lawyers heartburn?<\/p>\n

\n\tLol, nope: Minutes later, Kendrick launched into a full-blown rendition of \u201cNot Like Us\u201d on the world\u2019s biggest stage. \u201cThey tried to rig the game,\u201d he said right before he started, \u201cbut you can\u2019t fake influence.\u201d For good measure, Lamar brought out Serena Williams<\/strong> \u2013 rumored to be a one-time romantic partner of Drake \u2013 to crip walk on his metaphorical grave.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does it all mean for the lawsuit? For Kendrick, probably not much. Don\u2019t forget: he isn\u2019t actually named as a defendant, and Drake\u2019s lawyers have taken great pains to stress that their client is only suing a malevolent record label that boosted a defamatory song, not the rival rapper who created it: \u201cUMG may spin this complaint as a rap beef gone legal,\u201d they wrote in the original complaint, \u201cbut this lawsuit is not about a war of words between artists.\u201d<\/p>\n

That stance doesn\u2019t appear to be changing. Just hours before Kendrick took the stage in New Orleans, Drake\u2019s lawyers released a new statement<\/a> on the case that harshly attacked UMG \u2013 but they never mentioned the man himself. It would be hard to reverse course now, even after that stare into the camera.<\/p>\n

\n\tPerhaps Drake\u2019s legal team will try to add Fox or the NFL or even Apple (the show\u2019s sponsor) as defendants, claiming they gave Kendrick a platform to republish lyrics they knew were defamatory. Or maybe they\u2019ll cite the performance as more ammo against UMG \u2014 the latest example of how the popularity of the \u201cNot Like Us\u201d is harming Drake\u2019s reputation. As CNN wrote after the game, in which the Philadelphia Eagles thrashed the Kansas City Chiefs: \u201cDrake lost worse than the Chiefs at the Super Bowl.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tAt the end of the day, those secondary moves won\u2019t matter much unless a federal judge eventually rules that \u201cNot Like Us\u201d is actually<\/em> defamatory<\/em> in the first place. And as I wrote last week, legal experts are skeptical that\u2019s going to happen.<\/p>\n

\n\tStay tuned at Billboard <\/em>for more as Drake\u2019s case moves forward \u2013 we\u2019ll keep you updated on any major (or minnnnorrrrr) developments.<\/p>\n

\n\t\tOther top stories this week\u2026\t<\/h3>\n

\n\tJIMI HENDRIX TRIAL<\/strong> \u2013 A long-running legal battle over the rights to Jimi Hendrix\u2019s music is headed to trial after a U.K. appeals court ruled against Sony Music. The case was filed by the estates of his two Jimi Hendrix Experience bandmates (bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell), who say they own part of the copyrights to the trio\u2019s albums and that Sony owes them millions. After the appeals court refused Sony\u2019s renewed bid to dismiss the case, a trial is tentatively set for December in London.<\/p>\n

\n\tBIGGIE BIGGIE BIGGIE<\/strong> \u2013 The estate of legendary rapper Notorious B.I.G. filed an infringement lawsuit against Target, Home Depot and others over allegations that they sold unauthorized canvas prints of a famed photo called the \u201cKing of New York.\u201d Joined by the photographer who snapped the image, the estate accused a company called iCanvas of showing a \u201cdisdain for intellectual property law\u201d by creating the prints sold by the big box stores: \u201cDefendants specifically chose to use Mr. Wallace\u2019s persona, name, image, likeness \u2026 in an attempt to capitalize on their fame and extraordinary financial value.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA \u201cWILD\u201d COPYCAT? <\/strong>\u2013 MTV owner Viacom filed a lawsuit claiming that Nick Cannon\u2019s new comedy battle rap game show (Bad vs. Wild<\/em>) is a \u201cflagrant\u201d copycat of his long-running series Wild \u2019N Out<\/em>. Notably, the lawsuit targeted only the streaming service that produces the show, Zeus Network, and not Cannon himself \u2013 claiming that the streamer effectively poached the star and is now \u201ccosplaying\u201d as successor to MTV\u2019s Wild<\/em>: \u201cZeus has chosen the path of least resistance: stealing the fruits of Viacom\u2019s goodwill and decades of labor and innovation, and pawning it off as its own original idea.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSUCH A LOVELY MESS<\/strong> \u2013 A year after the spectacular implosion of a criminal trial over the Eagles legendary 1976 album Hotel California<\/em>, one of the accused men filed a civil lawsuit against Don Henley and longtime manager Irving Azoff over accusations they engaged in a \u201cmalicious prosecution.\u201d The new case, filed by rare-books dealer Glenn Horowitz, says Henley knew the handwritten notes at the center of the trial were not stolen but misled authorities into bringing the charges. The trial ended abruptly last spring after new evidence cast doubt on whether Henley\u2019s materials were stolen in the first place, prompting a judge to suggest prosecutors had been \u201cmanipulated\u201d into filing the case.<\/p>\n

\n\tMEGAN THEE PLAINTIFF <\/strong>\u2013 A federal judge ruled that Megan Thee Stallion can proceed with a defamation lawsuit accusing social media personality Milagro Gramz of waging a \u201ccampaign of harassment\u201d against the star on behalf of Tory Lanez, who was convicted in 2022 of shooting the star rapper during an argument. The judge said Megan had made a \u201ccompelling case\u201d that the blogger had defamed her with her posts, including those that suggested the star lied in her testimony during Lanez\u2019s trial: \u201cPlaintiff\u2019s claims extend far beyond mere negligence \u2014 they paint a picture of an intentional campaign to destroy her reputation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tOZZY SUED OVER OZZY PIC <\/strong>\u2013 Ozzy Osbourne was hit with a copyright lawsuit<\/a> for allegedly posting images of himself to Instagram and other social media platforms, filed by a veteran rock photographer who snapped the pictures. The legendary rocker is just the latest to celeb to face that kind of bizarre-sounding lawsuit, joining the ranks of Miley Cyrus, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber and many others. Once again for those in the back: the copyrights to a photo are almost always retained by the person who took it, and simply appearing in an image does not give a celebrity the right to repost it.<\/p>\n

\n\tPOP SMOKE PLEA DEAL<\/strong> \u2013 Corey Walker, a man charged with murder over the killing of Pop Smoke (Bashar Jackson), reached a deal with prosecutors to avoid a looming trial, pleading guilty to lesser charges of voluntary manslaughter and home invasion robbery that will see him serve 29 years in prison. The actual triggerman in the 2020 shooting, an unnamed 15 year old, admitted to the killing in 2023 and was sentenced as a juvenile to detention until is 25.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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