The beef between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar exploded on the airwaves this summer. Now it’s found a new arena: the court of law.
Drake alleged in a court filing Monday that Universal Music Group conspired to “artificially inflate” Lamar’s summer hit “Not Like Us” on Spotify by using bots, payola and other tactics.
This summer, the two released several diss tracks targeting each other. Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” released in May, was perhaps the most popular, enjoying a multiweek stay on Billboard’s Hot 100 No. 1.
However, the Canadian rapper claimed in the petition filed Monday in New York Supreme Court that the success of “Not Like Us” was due to deceptive practices and not organic streams.
Drake initiated legal action by his company Frozen Moments LLC. A petition is typically a precursor to a lawsuit and seeking the preservation of evidence in New York. Most of the claims in the suit are aimed at Universal Music Group. (UMG, a Dutch American-owned company, has no relation to NBCUniversal, the parent company of NBC News.)
In the petition, he claimed UMG launched a campaign to “manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, ‘Not Like Us,’ in order to make that song go viral.”
UMG allegedly charged Spotify licensing rates 30% lower than usual rates for “Not Like Us” in exchange for Spotify recommending the song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists, the filing claimed.
UMG also allegedly conspired with and paid unknown parties to use “bots” to play “Not Like Us” and boost its popularity.
The petition alleged that UMG also had some financial agreement with Apple to have its digital assistant “Siri” direct users to “Not Like Us” when users asked Siri to play Drake’s album “Certified Lover Boy.” “Not Like Us” contains the lyric “Certified Lover Boy? Certified pedophiles” as an allegation against Drake.
UMG also allegedly engaged in pay-to-play schemes, a practice known as payola, the petition claimed.
It alleged a UMG employee made payments to an independent radio promoter who then transferred those payments to radio stations or radio station employees to play “Not Like Us” without disclosing they were paid to do so, the filing said. The petition did not divulge who made the payment nor what radio station allegedly received it.
UMG often boasted of the wild success of “Not Like Us,” which broke Spotify records, the filing said. The hit holds the record for the biggest single-day streams of a hip-hop song and is the most streamed “diss track” in Spotify history, according to the petition.
The song has over 900 million streams, according to Spotify.
The petition said that the alleged schemes to inflate the popularity of the song were motivated “by the desire of executives at Interscope to maximize their own profits.”
As a result, Drake, who owns the copyright to his entire catalogue, suffered economic harm, the filing claimed.
Both Drake and Lamar are signed to UMG, under different divisions — Drake under Republic Records and Lamar under Interscope.
The petition said that Drake tried to engage UMG in discussions “to resolve the ongoing harm he has suffered as a result of UMG’s actions,” but “UMG refused to engage in negotiations, and insisted that UMG is not responsible for its own actions.”
The petition claimed that UMG “pointed the finger” at Lamar and “insisted that Drake should initiate legal action against” him rather than the company. The filing further claimed that UMG terminated employees who were loyal to Drake.
The filing alleged that UMG violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act and engaged in deceptive business practices and false advertising.
Universal Music Group told NBC News 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. 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,” the statement added.
Spotify declined to comment Tuesday. However, on its website, the streaming platform says it has practices in place to prevent, detect and mitigate artificial streaming.
Drake also filed a second petition in Bexar County, Texas, on Monday.
That filing, shared with NBC News, seeks to find out whether UMG engaged in a payola scheme to boost “Not Like Us” with iHeartRadio, which the petition described as the number one audio company in the country.
This petition, filed in Drake’s own name, outlines similar allegations to the New York filing. It says that UMG knew the song “Not Like Us” attacked his character, even though he is also a prominent UMG artist, “by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender.”
The song dissing Drake calls him a “certified pedophile” and a “predator” and someone whose name should “be registered and placed on neighborhood watch.” Though UMG could have refused to release it or require changes to the “offending material,” “UMG chose to do the opposite,” it said.
The petition laid out the same allegation as the New York filing, saying “one inside source” known to Drake alleged UMG made “covert payments” to a number of platforms, including radio stations, to play and promote “Not Like Us” without disclosing those payments to listeners.
However, the filing stated it’s not clear if any iHeartRadio stations were part of that alleged payola scheme. The petition said that given iHeartMedia’s status, Drake “believes that UMG engaged in similar tactics to drive radio play of ‘Not Like Us’ on iHeartMedia stations.”
iHeartMedia did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
Social media erupted with memes and jokes following news of the petitions.
“Drake realizing that he could just sue his way out of his problems instead of facing them like a man,” one social media user wrote on X.
“Drake is the first rapper to ever run to court after losing a rap battle,” another added.
“I speak for EVERYONE when i say we stand with UMG Drake acting like a spoilt brat who lost,” one X user said.
