Diss-cussing Defamation

James P. Flynn, Managing Director of the Firm and Member in the Litigation and Employment, Labor & Workforce Management practices, in the firm’s Newark office, authored an article in ILN IP Insider, titled “Diss-cussing Defamation.”

Following is an excerpt:

The legal intersection of music, poetry, and defamation presents a fascinating landscape where creativity collides with reputational interests. The recent decision in Graham v. UMG Recordings, Inc.—filed by Canadian rapper Aubrey “Drake” Graham over the diss track Not Like Us by Kendrick Lamar, a rapper who grew up in Compton, California—offers a contemporary lens on this tension. Yet, the legal questions it raises resonate globally, from India to the United Kingdom to the US, illustrating both the universality and jurisdiction-specific nuances of evaluating artistic speech in the defamation context. 

What is a diss track? 

My sense is that many of us have heard this term, and probably have heard specifically about the diss tracks in this feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar.  Indeed, some of us are old enough to remember the earlier, more innocent times when Carly Simon’s You’re So Vain was considered a diss track of sorts, albeit with targets of disparagement that were a bit more ambiguous. But, in short, as one resource summarizes it, the definition of such a track is: 

A diss track, diss record or diss song (an abbreviation of disrespect or disparage) is a track that verbally attacks someone, usually another artist. Diss tracks are often the result of an existing, escalating feud between the two people; for example, the artists involved may be former members of a group, or artists on rival labels. 

The diss track as a medium of its own was popularized within the hip-hop genre, fueled by the hip-hop rivalry phenomenon (especially the East Coast–West Coast hip-hop rivalry of the mid-1990s). More recently, entertainers from outside the traditional music landscape have adopted the genre. […] Though the term “diss track” originated in hip-hop, there are many examples throughout music history of earlier songs written as attacks on specific individuals. Some have also been retroactively described as diss tracks in their own right. …