Drake’s escalating legal battle with Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify shows no signs of slowing down. The Toronto rapper caused a stir by withdrawing a petition he had filed in New York, only to refile a formal lawsuit against the companies shortly thereafter. His aim: to examine their streaming data, alleging collusion to artificially inflate streams for Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.”
Now, the feud has extended to Texas, where Drake filed a separate petition in addition to the New York lawsuit. Although no formal lawsuit has been filed in Texas yet, UMG has taken swift action to dismiss the petition.
On Friday, UMG submitted a 144-page motion to quash Drake’s Texas filing, firmly denying any accusations of misconduct. The motion describes the rapper’s actions as “retaliatory” and seeks dismissal of the petition along with a suspension of discovery and a request to cover legal fees. UMG’s legal team asserts that Drake’s actions are part of a “strategic legal retaliation against UMG and others,” and accuses him of attempting to “limit the distribution of ‘Not Like Us.’”
The timing of UMG’s motion is notable, coming just days before the scheduled hearing date on January 28 in Bexar County, Texas. The stakes are high, as Drake recently became a Texas resident, a fact he made known when he shared a photo of his new state ID on Instagram in August 2024. While the photo sparked social media jokes about his signature duck face pose, it underscored his newfound ties to the Lone Star State—a connection he’s celebrated in his music for years, with tracks like “Houstatlantavegas.”
Drake’s legal battles with UMG are far from confined to Texas. The rapper is also suing the label in another ongoing defamation case. UMG, for its part, was recently granted an extension to respond to that lawsuit, citing disruptions caused by wildfires in Los Angeles. “We request this extension,” UMG attorney Nicholas Crowley explained, “because wildfires in Los Angeles have greatly impacted [the] defendant’s executive and legal teams.” That case is scheduled to resume on March 17.
With hearings looming and tensions escalating, the standoff between Drake and UMG promises to keep the industry watching.
