Meek Mill is taking a look in the rearview in light of Drake’s lawsuit against Universal Music Group.
Thursday, Meek was tagged in a post on X questioning his feelings about Drake’s suit, which comes after his and Kendrick Lamar’s extensive back-and-forth last year. The suit focuses on Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” diss, with a UMG spokesperson later calling the claims “untrue” and “illogical.” In a series of tweets, Meek seemingly suggested that he was urged during his own feud with Drake to not release new music.
“Label told me don’t drop nothing,” Meek said before mentioning Roc Nation alum Shari Bryant. “I went against that and dropped DC4 mixtape. Shari Bryant backed me herself.”
At the time, according to Meek, he wasn’t able to “make any playlists,” which left him feeling “confused” and saw his confidence take a it.
“But I knew 80 percent was campaign,” he added. “Influence for the net only.”
Elaborating further in a follow-up tweet, Meek asserted “it all comes down to who knows who,” noting that he’s since chanced his strategy when it comes to ensuring he’s in talks with “the high-level shakers and owners.” Later, he looked ahead at his goals for 2025 with optimism.
In the past, Meek has publicly criticized Atlantic Records, the label behind multiple Meek projects, most recently 2021’s Expensive Pain. Less than a year removed from that album’s release, Meek told fans on X that he “made Atlantic Records hundred of millions” while accusing the label of telling him he couldn’t release new music “until nine months after my last album got blackballed.”
In Drake’s defamation suit, the For All the Dogs artist, whose joint album with PND is expected soon (though it’s unclear whether litigation will hinder its release), alleged that “UMG’s actions” in disseminating “Not Like Us” led to multiple threatening incidents at his Toronto residence. He specifically accused UMG of defamation, second-degree harassment, and violation of the New York General Business Law.
A UMG spokesperson later responded, saying in a statement shared with Complex that the company would “vigorously defend” itself moving forward.
“Throughout his career, Drake has intentionally and successfully used UMG to distribute his music and poetry to engage in conventionally outrageous back-and-forth ‘rap battles’ to express his feelings about other artists,” the spokesperson said in an email on Wednesday. “He now seeks to weaponize the legal process to silence an artist’s creative expression and to seek damages from UMG for distributing that artist’s music.”