The lyrics have been a trending phrase on social media these past few days. Drake said the request to 21 Savage in their new song, “Rich Flex” coming from the recent album, Her Loss.
Listeners have interpreted the lyric as “sassy”, contributing to past memes about Drake’s behavior.
The Her Loss album itself has generated much media attention. In the song, “Circo Loco,” Drake implied that Megan Thee Stallion had lied about being shot by Tory Lanez earlier in the year. Serena Williams is also referenced as Drake stated that her husband, Alexis Ohanian, is a groupie.
Alongside the news brought with mentions of figures in pop culture, Drake and 21 Savage are again under the media limelight as Condé Nast, publisher of Vogue magazine is suing the duo for over $4 million or triple the profits received from their new album. The aforementioned lawsuit is 30 pages long and details the reasoning behind Condé Nast filing the suit which is due to the album’s promotional campaign.
To publicize the release of Her Loss, Drake and 21 Savage participated in a series of parodies that fabricated their appearance on popular platforms. This included NPR’s Tiny Desk, The Howard Stern Show, Saturday Night Live, the front cover of Vogue magazine and others.
The responses to the parodies were mostly positive as NPR wrote an article expressing the media organization’s desire for the two to genuinely appear on the Tiny Desk show. The NPR Music Twitter account also tweeted its approval on Nov. 2.
Howard Stern also talked about the false promotion of using a deepfake of himself in his podcast show. In the episode which aired on Nov. 7., Stern did not divulge any indication of disapproval over the deepfake.
He joked, “Whenever I have to visit my mother, I wish I could do this.”
However, Condé Nast does not harbor the same sentiments as NPR and Howard Stern. The publisher argued that the magazine cover is deceptive as it falsely creates the premise that the duo had appeared on a Vogue cover.
In a now-deleted joint Instagram post, Drake and 21 Savage thanked Vogue’s Editor-in-Chief Anna Wintour and Vogue Magazine for their “love and support on this historic moment.”
According to the lawsuit filed, “none of [the campaign] has been authorized by Condé Nast.”
Further rationales to sue were given via the suit as the company claims that the promotional campaign also resulted in the distribution of counterfeit Vogue covers in large metropolitan areas.
In turn, according to Condé Nast, the fabricated cover has caused “widespread public confusion that the counterfeit cover and counterfeit magazine were authentic…”
The issue arose with Drake and 21 Savage’s usage of the registered Vogue mark and has been contended through the Lanham Act as willful trademark infringement. It is unclear whether direct profits were made due to the magazine covers, but the lawsuit alleged that the duo is exploiting Vogue’s mark to increase album sales.
As the album was released on Nov. 4., 2022, Condé Nast claimed that it attempted to cease Drake and 21 Savage’s usage of the covers for their promotions starting as early as Oct. 31.
However, the promotion continued, and the publisher alleged that the “…flippant disregard for Conde Nast’s rights have left it with no choice but to [sue]…”
Promotion of the Vogue magazine cover has completely ceased, and traces have been erased from Drake and 21 Savage’s social media accounts. However, the effects of the promotion remain and have resulted in legal action.
It is unsure what consequences will occur following the lawsuit’s filing.
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