Drake-Kendrick Lamar Feud Escalates: Drake Files Legal Threat ...

3 hours ago

Forbes

Topline

Rapper Drake accused Universal Music Group of artificially inflating Spotify streams of Kendrick Lamar’s chart-topping diss track “Not Like Us” in a court filing submitted in New York on Monday, the latest escalation in a months-long conflict between the two rappers.

The suit was filed by Drake’s firm Frozen Moments LLC. (Photo by Amy Sussman/Getty Images)

Getty Images Key Facts

The petition—filed by Drake’s firm Frozen Moments LLC—accused UMG of launching “a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves” with “Not Like Us” by using bots and pay-to-play agreements to make the song go viral (the filing does not accuse Lamar of wrongdoing).

As part of the campaign, Drake’s attorneys alleged UMG charged Spotify discounted licensing rates for “Not Like Us” in exchange for Spotify pushing the song to users searching for unrelated songs and artists.

UMG was also accused of paying “currently unknown parties” to use bots to promote “Not Like Us” and the song’s music video, which has more than 178 million views on YouTube.

The filing argues Drake was harmed by the record label because the streaming business is a “zero-sum game,” and “UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake.”

The filing petition argues Frozen Moments has cause to file a lawsuit for deceptive business practices and racketeering, and seeks to force UMG and Spotify to produce information—though it doesn’t specify who the defendant would be, or when a suit could be filed.

Spotify and representatives for Drake and Lamar did not immediately respond to Forbes’ request for comment.

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Contra

Universal Music Group—which distributes both Drake and Lamar’s music—said in a statement: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue.” The record label added: “No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action submission can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”

Key Background

Drake and Lamar’s beef was sparked earlier this year after Drake and J. Cole released “First Person Shooter,” in which Cole crowned himself, Drake and Lamar as the “big three” of rap. Lamar turned down the idea of the “big three,” placing himself above Cole and Drake in a feature on Future’s song “Like That.” A string of diss tracks were later traded between Lamar and Drake in April and May, targeting both rappers’ family members, friends and associates. Lamar’s “Not Like Us”—which calls Drake and members of his team “certified pedophiles,” one of the feud’s most incendiary allegations—became the most popular of all the diss tracks released within that window, breaking records and being nominated for five Grammy awards.

Tangent

The legal filing came just days after Lamar released surprise album "GNX." Lamar made a few oblique references to his feud with Drake: He criticized Snoop Dogg for sharing Drake's diss track "Taylor Made Freestyle" on social media, and one of the album's songs—"heart pt. 6"—had the same name as another Drake diss track.