Superstar rapper Drake has filed a formal notice of appeal in an effort to revive his defamation lawsuit against Universal Music Group (UMG) over Kendrick Lamar's Grammy-winning diss track Not Like Us.
The Canadian rapper, whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, will ask an appeals court in Manhattan to overturn the October 9 dismissal by a federal judge.
UMG releases both Drake and Lamar's music.
Drake and Lamar have been involved in a lengthy feud in which they both released diss tracks targeting one another.
While UMG Recordings is a defendant, Lamar is not.
Drake sued UMG in January over its promotion of Not Like US, saying the song deceived listeners into believing the false accusations that he is a paedophile.
But US district judge Jeannette Vargas dismissed the case saying Lamar's lyrics, in which he targets Drake and his affiliates, were not defamatory because they amounted to non-actionable opinion.
"The artists' seven-track rap battle was a 'war of words' that was the subject of substantial media scrutiny and online discourse," Vargas wrote.
"Although the accusation that plaintiff is a paedophile is certainly a serious one, the broader context of a heated rap battle, with incendiary language and offensive accusations hurled by both participants, would not incline the reasonable listener to believe that Not Like Us imparts verifiable facts about plaintiff."
Not Like Us won the record of the year and song of the year at this year's Grammys, and spent three weeks at the top of Billboard's Hot 100 charts.
Lamar also performed the song at this year's Super Bowl half-time show.
It could take over a year for the appeals process to run its course.
UMG has told ABC News it has no comment at this stage.
ABC/Reuters
