Drake returned to a hip-hop centric output on his new album ICEMAN, but he also dropped R&B jams on HABIBTI and club bangers on MAID OF HONOUR in case you were in the mood for something else. This trilogy immediately caught fans' attention not just because of all the new music they were getting, but because it opened the door for questions about his record label contract with Universal Music Group (UMG).
Drizzy's OVO imprint launched these LPs under Republic Records, which is itself a division of UMG. Amid Drake's dismissed lawsuit appeal against UMG for defamation, specifically for releasing the Kendrick Lamar diss track "Not Like Us," many fans wondered what this triple threat meant. The leading theory became that he got out of his UMG contract with these full-lengths, and is now able to go independent or seek a new home.
According to HITS Daily Double, this may just be true. "And if, as we’re hearing, this troika of albums fulfills Drake’s contract with UMG, it sure feels like a win-win for both parties. The artist’s fabulously successful catalog is said to be remaining with Universal," the publication recently claimed in a new report.
Of course, this is not an explicit confirmation of this presumption. So we'll have to wait for more official information to make heads or tails of the move in full.
Who Did Drake Diss On His New Album?
In any case, Drake's animosity towards UMG was very clear on ICEMAN, so we can't imagine they have a good relationship right now no matter what his contract looks like. That was just the tip of the iceberg when it came to disses.
More specific or subliminal shots also appeared for Drake's rival Kendrick Lamar, past foes like Pusha T and A$AP Rocky, former NBA friends like DeMar DeRozan and LeBron James, and a whole lot more. Fans also caught disses or negative references towards J. Cole, Jay-Z, DJ Khaled, Rick Ross, Pharrell, Joe Budden, Mustard, and UMG's CEO Lucian Grainge.
We'll see if this is the end of Drizzy's Universal tenure. In any case, with the commercial success this trilogy is boasting so far, it goes to show how valuable any contract for The Boy must be.
