Extending the legal fight over the beef that dominated music last year, Drake on Wednesday filed notice to appeal the dismissal of his defamation case against Universal Music Group.

The suit stems from the rapper’s heated back-and-forth with Kendrick Lamar, which birthed Lamar’s 2024 hit “Not Like Us.” Among other digs that Drake, whose full name is Aubrey Drake Graham, deemed slanderous, it calls him a “certified pedophile” — words broadcast to more than 130 million viewers when Lamar performed the song at the 2025 Super Bowl halftime show.

According to Drake, Universal Music Group, which has signed both rappers, published and promoted the track despite knowing the insinuation that he has sexual relations with minors were false and defamatory.

In early October, U.S. District Judge Jean

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