Drake During Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Performance: ‘Drizzy Drake is Very Much Alive!’
The 2025 Super Bowl halftime show was one for the books because of Kendrick Lamar’s inclusion of the Drake diss track “Not Like Us.” Apart from performing that song, which fans weren’t sure was going to make the broadcast due to the ongoing legal battle with Drake suing Universal Music Group (although Lamar was not specifically mentioned in the lawsuit), Lamar also brought two of Drake’s exes, SZA and Serena Williams, to perform with him. Not only did Lamar perform “Not Like Us,” but he also referenced how Drake “loves to sue.” When the first notes of the song played, he said, “Yeah, that song.”
Where Was Drake During Kendrick Lamar’s 2025 Super Bowl Performance
While Kendrick Lamar was busy dissing him in New Orleans, Drake was in Melbourne, Australia during his Anita Max Win tour. During his first show, Drake told the audience, “My name is Drake. I started doing music in 2008. I come all the way from Toronto, Canada. The year is now 2025, and no matter what, Drizzy Drake is very much alive and that’s all thanks to you. I love you,” per The Independent.
Drake’s Lawyers Statement
Before Lamar’s anticipated halftime performance, Drake’s lawyers issued a statement to the New York Times (via The Mirror) about “Not Like Us,” which backfired. The statement reads, “UMG is masquerading as a champion of artistic freedom by calling its actions merely ‘entertainment,’ but there is nothing entertaining about pedophilia or child abuse in the real world.” The statement continued and said they “will expose UMG’s gross prioritization of its own corporate profits and executive bonuses over its exclusively signed artists’ well-being and the truth.”
The comments in this Reddit post are not in favor of the “Take Care” rapper. One Redditor wrote, “All UMG needs to say to this is ‘We let you release a song saying Kendrick beats his wife. Is domestic abuse entertaining? How is this different?’” Another wrote, “The irony of Drake frequently getting called out for not being an authentic hip hop voice or from the community followed by him responding to a rap diss by suing his record label is not lost and absolutely hilarious.”
UMG said in a statement via The Independent, “Not only are these claims untrue, but the notion that we would seek to harm the reputation of any artist—let alone Drake—is illogical. We have invested massively in his music and our employees around the world have worked tirelessly for many years to help him achieve historic commercial and personal financial success.”
