Months after Drake sued his own record label for defamation over his rap battle with Kendrick Lamar over the song “Not Like Us,” the head of that company has finally weighed in.

In a declaration letter filed late Thursday night with the Southern District of New York and obtained by Variety, Lucian Grainge, chairman and CEO of Universal Music Group, the world’s largest music company, called Drake’s claims of defamation and that Grainge was involved in the planning and release of that song “farcical,” “nonsensical,” “groundless and indeed ridiculous,” noting that the company had spent “hundreds of millions” in supporting the Canadian rapper’s music career.

Earlier this week, Drake’s attorneys attempted to force UMG and Grainge to turn over the label’s contract with Lamar, along with details regarding alleged claims of domestic violence and committed by Lamar, who released “Not Like Us” and other songs referencing the battle via UMG’s Interscope division.

The letter seems to have been the last straw for Grainge, who forcefully asserted in the letter that he had no involvement the release and promotion of “Not Like Us,” and shot down claims that he was trying “devalue” Drake. The Canadian rapper has been one of UMG’s top-selling artists since he first signed with the company’s Republic imprint in 2009; that deal was re-upped in 2022 for a reported $400 million.

Grainge writes that “claims that I was behind a scheme to ‘devalue’ [Drake’s] brand through the release and promotion of the Kendrick Lamar recording ‘Not Like Us’ — an allegation that makes no sense due to the fact that the company that I run, Universal Music Group N.V., has invested hundreds of millions of dollars in Drake, including longstanding and critical financial support for his recording career, the purchase and ownership of the bulk of his recording catalog, and the purchase of his music publishing rights.”

He adds that it “makes no sense whatsoever” that he was “in the weeds as to the release and promotion of any particular sound recording, from the thousands of UMG releases throughout the world,” considering his role leading a “publicly traded, multi-billion dollar, multi-national corporation whose operations in over sixty countries covering nearly 200 markets.” He calls Drake’s claims of his involvement “farcical.”

Grainge concluded that “Given my role, I am accustomed (and unfortunately largely resigned) to personal attacks, and I further recognize that a frequent strategy of UMG’s litigation opponents is to attempt to waste my and UMG’s time and resources with discovery of the sort that Drake is seeking here — either in an attempt to gain media attention or in an effort to force some kind of commercial renegotiation or financial concessions.”

He asserts, “Given Drake’s motion, I would like to make it quite clear that I had never heard the recording ‘Not Like Us,’ nor ever saw the corresponding cover art or music video, until after they were released by Interscope Records. Whilst, as part of my role, I certainly have financial oversight of and responsibility for UMG’s global businesses, the proposition that I was involved in, much less responsible for, reviewing and approving the content of ‘Not Like Us,’ its cover art or music video, or for determining or directing the promotion of those materials, is groundless and indeed ridiculous.”

In a separate letter, the company writes that “Drake’s motion is a transparent attempt to use discovery to harass UMG and force it to waste time and resources out of spite.

“The premise of Drake’s motion — that he could not have lost a rap battle unless it was the product of some imagined secret conspiracy going to the top of UMG’s corporate structure — is absurd. Sir Lucian is the CEO of a multinational enterprise; his days are spent determining and implementing global strategy, not vetting individual tracks or album covers or driving the release and promotional plans for any one recording. And even if Sir Lucian had any responsive documents, they would surely be captured by discovery from UMG’s other document custodians, who were actually responsible for releasing and promoting ‘Not Like Us.’ Drake does not come close to meeting his burden of showing that Sir Lucian must be a custodian. His motion should be denied.” S: Variety