iHeartRadio did not financially compensate Drake to settle the dispute, which alleged that Universal Music Group paid the radio conglomerate to play Kendrick Lamar’s diss track.
Drake’s petition against iHeartRadio will no longer move forward, with the rapper withdrawing his claim that Universal Music Group engaged in payola to purchase airtime of “Not Like Us,” Kendrick Lamar’s Drake-targeting diss track.
Both parties “reached an amicable resolution of the dispute to the satisfaction of both sides,” according to a court filing made on January 27 in Bexar County, Texas. “In exchange for documents that showed iHeart did nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition,” iHeartRadio said in a statement. “No payments were made by either one of us.”
The original filing, made on November 21, sought to depose iHeartRadio and Universal Music Group in order to determine whether or not UMG had paid iHeartRadio to broadcast “Not Like Us” and artificially boost its popularity. Both companies denied the allegation.
Drake will still proceed with his federal defamation lawsuit against UMG, the longtime label he shares with Lamar. The civil case filed in New York accuses UMG of “intentionally [seeking] to turn Drake into a pariah, a target for harassment, or worse” with a song that was “intended to convey the specific, unmistakable, and false factual allegation that Drake is a pedophile.”