{"id":6895,"date":"2025-07-15T00:25:23","date_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:25:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/possible-witnesses-include-kendrick-lamar-more\/"},"modified":"2025-07-15T00:25:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-15T00:25:23","slug":"possible-witnesses-include-kendrick-lamar-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/possible-witnesses-include-kendrick-lamar-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Possible Witnesses Include Kendrick Lamar & More"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

\n\tA<\/span>s the evidence collection process gets underway in Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over the Kendrick Lamar diss track \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d Drake\u2019s legal team has included some high-profile names on a surprisingly long list of potential witnesses.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake\u2019s so-called \u201cinitial disclosure\u201d filing lists 63 people and entities whom he believes have evidence that could help his bombshell case against UMG. The document is dated June 2 but wasn\u2019t made public until Monday (July 14) as an attachment to Drake\u2019s motion to subpoena a man named Kojo Asamoah, whom the rapper claims was involved in paying bots to artificially inflate streaming numbers for \u201cNot Like Us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile inclusion on this list doesn\u2019t necessarily mean someone will be deposed or called to testify at trial, the individuals and companies named here could be asked to hand over documents to Drake\u2019s legal team as part of the evidence discovery process. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe central allegation of the lawsuit is that UMG plotted to boost the popularity of Lamar\u2019s chart-topping Interscope Records track, in which he called Drake a \u201ccertified pedophile.\u201d UMG, which also owns Drake\u2019s label Republic Records, vehemently denies the claims as \u201cmeritless.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tTo that end, Drake\u2019s initial disclosure names lots of UMG employees as potential witnesses in the case. But beyond seeking information from the people who handle music marketing on a day-to-day basis, the Canadian rapper seems to believe the conspiracy went all the way to the top of UMG, since he names CEO Sir Lucian Grainge <\/strong>as a source of information about \u201call causes of action\u201d in the case.<\/p>\n

\n\tAnd Grainge isn\u2019t the only UMG bigwig on the list. Also named are Universal Music Publishing Group chief Jody Gerson<\/strong>, Interscope CEO John Janick <\/strong>and Republic co-founders Avery Lipman<\/strong> and Monte Lipman<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake has not accused Lamar himself of defamation, and the Los Angeles rapper is notably absent from Drake\u2019s potential witness list. But he does name multiple high-profile people and businesses associated with Lamar, including former Top Dawg Entertainment president Dave Free <\/strong>and manager Anthony Saleh.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n\tAs Drake\u2019s lawyers look for evidence of an alleged conspiracy to inflate the popularity of \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d the list states that streaming platforms like Amazon Music, Apple, Deezer, Soundcloud, Spotify and TIDAL should share details about UMG\u2019s \u201cpromotion and licensing of the defamatory material\u201d and \u201cuse of covert tactics to promote the defamatory material.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSocial media sites like TikTok, Twitch, YouTube and Instagram are also named as sources of this same information, as is Billboard<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\n\tDrake\u2019s list targets live events as well. A number of the possible witnesses are entities involved in the production of Lamar\u2019s 2025 Super Bowl halftime show performance, which, according to an updated version of the lawsuit, included a rendition of \u201dNot Like Us\u201d out of an alleged desire to \u201cassassinate the character of another artist.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tLawyers for the Canadian superstar say the NFL, Fox and Roc Nation could all have information about the \u201cdecision to play the defamatory material at the 2025 Super Bowl.\u201d Drake is seeking similar details from the Recording Academy, asking what actions UMG took \u201cto have the defamatory material featured at the 2025 Grammy Awards,\u201d where \u201cNot Like Us\u201d swept up five trophies.<\/p>\n

\n\tUMG\u2019s initial disclosure is also attached as an exhibit to the Monday motion. The music giant\u2019s witness list, dated March 24, is significantly shorter than Drake\u2019s by a factor of seven. It names just nine potential witnesses, including Drake and various record executives.<\/p>\n

\n\tUnlike Drake, though, UMG\u2019s potential witness list also names Lamar himself.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cLamar is likely to have discoverable information concerning the creation of the recording, image and video, and the distribution and promotion of the recording and video,\u201d write UMG\u2019s lawyers. \u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tReps for UMG and Drake\u2019s legal team both declined to comment on the witness lists on Monday.<\/p>\n

\n\tThese revelations come amid a wait for a decision on UMG\u2019s motion to dismiss the case outright. Judge Jeannette A. Vargas in New York federal court held a hearing at the end of June on the question, and her upcoming ruling will determine whether or not Drake\u2019s claims are legally viable enough to move forward.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As the evidence collection process gets underway in Drake\u2019s defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over the Kendrick Lamar diss track \u201cNot Like Us,\u201d Drake\u2019s legal team […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6896,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[6452,402,403,2617],"class_list":["post-6895","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-lawyers","tag-include","tag-kendrick","tag-lamar","tag-witnesses"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6895","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6895"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6895\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6896"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6895"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6895"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usatrustedlawyers.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6895"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}