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Drake has reportedly named the person whom he thinks helped Universal Music Group allegedly boost Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us with artificial streams. According to an exclusive report by AllHipHop, dated July 14, the Canadian rapper has named Kojo Menne Asamoah as the alleged middleman coordinating secret payments to third parties on behalf of Ramon Alvarez-Smikle, an executive from the record label, in a new court filing.
Drake further claimed the payments were used to buy bots to allegedly increase streams for Not Like Us to damage his reputation. According to AllHipHop, the rapper is reportedly attempting to subpoena Kojo Menne Asamoah.
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His legal team has reportedly spent $75,000 in an attempt to track down Asamoah, including searching his various residences and business locations and reaching out to his parents. In the recent court filing, the rapper has requested that the court permit him to serve Asamoah through alternative means, including email and certified mail.
This is the latest update to come from Drake's defamation lawsuit against UMG, involving Lamar's hit diss track, Not Like Us. The lawsuit, first filed in January 2025, was later amended and refiled in April 2025 to add recent events, including Lamar's performance of the song during the Super Bowl Halftime Show and his five Grammy wins.
As per the lawsuit, the Canadian rapper claimed that he was defamed due to the song's lyrics accusing him of being a "certified p*dophile," which he alleged increased the threats towards him and his family. While Drake has taken legal action against UMG, he has not sued Lamar. Both rappers are reportedly signed to Universal Music Group, with Lamar under Interscope Records and Drake under Republic Records.
Drake named 63 potential witnesses in a recent court filing
According to Billboard, Drake listed 63 potential witnesses in a recent court filing, including UMG executives and CEO Sir Lucian Grainge, but not Kendrick Lamar.
The filing, dated June 2 but made public on July 14, claims these people may have evidence that Not Like Us was artificially promoted to harm Drake’s reputation.
The potential witnesses are not obligated to attend depositions or testify at trial. However, they could be asked to turn over the documents that the Canadian rapper's legal team requires as part of the evidence discovery process, which was approved in April 2025 despite UMG's requests to deny it.
Some of the names in Drake's potential witness list include Avery Lipman and Monte Lipman (Republic Records' co-founders), John Janick (Interscope Records' CEO), Dave Free (Lamar's business partner and former TDE co-president), and Anthony Saleh (Lamar's manager).
Other entities mentioned include streaming platforms such as Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple, Soundcloud, and TIDAL, with the court filing adding that the platforms should share details about UMG's “promotion and licensing of the defamatory material” and “use of covert tactics to promote the defamatory material.”
The Canadian rapper has also listed various entities involved in Kendrick Lamar's Super Bowl halftime show (including Roc Nation, NFL, and Fox), and the Recording Academy, claiming the latter should offer details about the actions that UMG took “to have the defamatory material featured at the 2025 Grammy Awards.”
Meanwhile, UMG's potential witness list mentions nine names, including the Canadian rapper, its record executives, and Kendrick Lamar.
“Lamar is likely to have discoverable information concerning the creation of the recording, image and video, and the distribution and promotion of the recording and video,” UMG's legal team stated in the filing.
In other news, UMG filed a motion to dismiss the defamation lawsuit "with prejudice" in the wake of Drake's amended complaint, dubbing it a "misguided attempt" from the Canadian rapper to "salve his wounds" after he "lost the rap battle." As of this article, the judge has yet to decide on the motion to dismiss.
