Drake files lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us

Drake has filed lawsuits against Universal Music and Spotify, accusing them of artificially boosting streams of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track against him, Not Like Us.

IN papers filed in New YorkDrake’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, accused the companies of participating in an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to promote Lamar’s song.

Universal Music “didn’t rely on chance,” Drake’s lawyers argued. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”

A spokesman for Universal called the claims “offensive and untrue”, adding that “fans choose the music they want to hear”.

Spotify and Lamar have yet to respond.

The petition is not a full lawsuit, but a so-called “pre-action petition,” under which Drake’s lawyers can ask the court to order Universal and Spotify to preserve all relevant documents and information in advance of future lawsuits.

Not Like Us was widely seen as the decisive blow in an escalating rap beef between Drake and Lamar earlier this year.

Drake’s lawsuit highlights the song’s runaway success – 96 million streams in seven days, number one on the US charts and a top 10 radio hit – but suggests those achievements were artificially inflated.

His lawyers claim that Universal “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties” to “artificially” increase the prominence of Not Like Us.

They claim that the record label lowered its royalty rates for the song by 30% in exchange for Spotify recommending it to users.

The filing also cites alleged claims by a “whistleblower” on a podcast who said they were paid $2,500 to create software “bots” that would stream the song on repeat, making it “a crazy hit.”

The effort spread to other streaming services, Drake’s lawyers claim, citing online reports that fans who asked Apple’s voice assistant to play Drake’s album Certified Loverboy were instead delivered Not Like Us.

The legal filing is a surprising coda to the musicians’ feud, but it also represents a rift between Drake and Universal — the label that has represented him throughout his career.

In court documents, the star’s lawyers say he tried to address these allegations privately, but that the brand has “no interest in taking responsibility for its misconduct.”

Furthermore, they allege that Universal made “an apparent effort to conceal its plans”, which included firing staff “perceived as loyal to Drake”.

“Streaming is a zero-sum game,” they claim. “Every time a song breaks through, it means another artist doesn’t.” As a result, they claim, Drake suffered “financial harm” at Lamar’s expense.

A spokesman for Universal denied the allegations.

“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” they said in a statement.

“We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action filing can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”

The legal filing came just days after Lamar released a surprise album, GNX, widely seen as a follow-up to Not Like Us.

His diss track was recently nominated for four Grammys, including song of the year, and he’s been booked to play next year’s Super Bowl halftime show.

However, he lags behind Drake in terms of popularity. On Spotify, the rapper is the 23rd most streamed artist in the world, while Drake ranks 13th.