The dismissal of Drake's defamation lawsuit against UMG over Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" diss track has led to a lot of notable reactions from hip-hop, many of which are critical. Others like DJ Vlad and DJ Akademiks, though, are looking ahead to the future and theorizing as to what the 6ix God's relationship with his label will be like moving forward.
During a new interview on VladTV, Akademiks spoke on the rumor that Drake's next album ICEMAN will be his last with Universal Music Group. He doesn't necessarily agree; this will just be the last album for Drizzy to fulfill his current contract with the label. The reason why the commentator and journalist thinks that UMG and The Boy's relationship isn't done yet is because the artist is too big for the label to let go.
In fact, DJ Akademiks theorized that they will overpay for him to stay and maybe drop another collab album after ICEMAN as "some type of addendum." "I don't see him walking away from that," he posited. Other factors contributing to this are how new releases help the streams of the back catalog and the Toronto superstar's age. Also, Ak doesn't think he's going to go independent because of the industry systems in place that support signed artists. "The music industry, you cannot win on that large of a level unless you're playing the game. The game is dictated by these three behemoths," he argued.
It's important to note that this interview took place before Drake's lawsuit's dismissal. Maybe that changes things, but those conversations are happening online anyway.
Drake ICEMAN
At the end of the day, we will see how all of this plays out once ICEMAN actually comes out. Whatever happens next should set this in stone, although it's a very complex situation to begin with.
Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us" is charting again as a result of these decisions. Will the fanbase war between them ever end? Probably not, but hopefully they both have bigger and better things to look forward to in the future, regardless of Aubrey Graham's rumored label situation.
