NEW YORK - Following a Grammy Awards and a Super Bowl halftime show in which he featured heavily in absentia – at least as a punchline – life goes on for Drake, who released his first new album Friday since his much-publicised beef with American rapper Kendrick Lamar.

Some Sexy Songs 4 U, a collaboration with PartyNextDoor, a longtime Drake associate with success as an enigmatic R&B singer, pop songwriter and producer, was released via multiple record companies at a fraught moment: Drake is suing his own label, Universal Music Group, or UMG, for defamation and harassment.

In a lawsuit filed in January, lawyers for the Canadian rapper, born Aubrey Graham, said UMG’s release and promotion of Lamar’s diss track and No. 1 smash Not Like Us (2024), which accuses Drake of paedophilia, was an example of valuing “corporate greed over the safety and well-being of its artistes.”

Still, the release of Some Sexy Songs 4 U seemed to be business as usual, as UMG (and its Republic flagship) are credited with the release. The album is also credited to OVO Sound, Drake’s boutique label and the home of PartyNextDoor. OVO Sound is distributed by the Santa Anna Label Group, a subsidiary of UMG’s corporate rival, Sony Music.

Representatives for Drake, who is on tour in Australia, and UMG did not respond to requests for comment.

Not Like Us won five Grammys on Feb 2, including major nods like song and record of the year. It was the centrepiece of Lamar’s Super Bowl halftime show on Feb 10, in which Lamar rapped “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young” but stopped short of performing the line calling Drake and his crew “certified paedophiles,” replacing the controversial designation with a prerecorded scream.

The performance has gone viral online, with more than 64 million views on YouTube and even K-pop stars like J-Hope from BTS parodying it.

Released on Feb 14, Valentine’s Day, Some Sexy Songs 4 U mixes rap and R&B in a patented Drake style across 21 tracks and 74 minutes, although the album dips into guitar-strummed pop on Die Trying, with American singer-songwriter Yebba, and even traditional Mexican music on Meet Your Padre, which features Chino Pacas, a singer at the forefront of the urban sierreño subgenre.

Drake seems to address his bitter battle with Lamar, which began in 2024 and carried into the new year via Lamar’s victory lap, on Gimme A Hug, which begins with the lines: “Drake elimination, fake in...