Drake’s legal team made a critical mistake in their defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us, highlighting a lack of understanding of hip-hop basics. In the lawsuit, Drake’s lawyers claim that Lamar’s song threatens violence against Drake, including a line about him not making it out of Oakland alive. However, the reference to Oakland is off because Kendrick Lamar is from Compton, not Oakland. The line was actually referencing the fact that Drake used an AI-generated Tupac voice in a diss track, and Tupac had strong ties to the Bay Area, especially Oakland.
This mistake in the lawsuit has raised eyebrows, as it shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Kendrick Lamar’s background and hip-hop culture. The misstep adds more controversy to an already sensitive situation, as many believe that suing over a rap beef could hurt Drake’s street cred more than losing the feud itself.