Drake Accuses UMG And Spotify Of “Artificially Inflating” Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”
Drake has called out Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify for allegedly orchestrating a scheme to “artificially inflate” the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.”
Per Billboard, court docs filed on Monday (Nov. 25) in Manhattan cites the 6 God accusing the music giants of including “bots, payola” and other shady tactics to help Lamar during their fiery feud. The legal filing now adds a twist in Drake and Lamar’s rift, which saw the two icons trade lyrical jabs earlier this year.
Now, their on-wax beef has gone from the booth to the courtroom.
Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC has accused UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, which is used in criminal cases against organized crime. His team also alleges “deceptive business practices and false advertising” under New York state law.
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” Drizzy’s legal team wrote. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
Drake and Kendrick have actually both spent their entire careers with UMG. The “First Person Shooter” rapper rose to superstardom through Lil Wayne’s Young Money (distributed by Republic Records), while the GNX spitter climbed the charts at TDE and is now running his pgLang imprint (both under Interscope).
The Toronto native’s petition also names Apple’s Siri, claiming that UMG got the voice assistant to “misdirect” users searching for his Certified Lover Boy album, to Lamar’s “Not Like Us.” UMG is also accused of lowering Spotify’s licensing rates to push the latter song and paying influencers to hype it up on social media.
“UMG … conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers,” Drake’s legal team claims. In a statement to Billboard, UMG called the allegations “absurd,” adding: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns.”
Drake claims he tried to hash things out with UMG before heading to court, but the label brushed him off. According to the legal filing, UMG allegedly told Drake that they’d sue Kendrick if Drake sued them first.
Spotify has yet to address this matter.
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