Drake has opted to take legal action against Kendrick Lamar, marking yet another dramatic escalation in their ongoing feud.
On Monday (November 25), AllHipHop obtained legal documents revealing the Toronto-based rapper filed a legal complaint against Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify, accusing the two entities of engaging in an illegal scheme to artificially boost the streaming numbers for Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” Filed in a Manhattan court, the “pre-action” petition by Drake’s company, Frozen Moments LLC, alleges deceptive business practices and violations of the RICO Act, typically reserved for organized crime cases.
At the center of the lawsuit is the claim that UMG employed bots, payola and other manipulative tactics to inflate the track’s popularity. The filing also accuses UMG of licensing the song at drastically reduced rates to Spotify and manipulating algorithms on platforms like Apple’s Siri to direct users to the song.
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” Drake’s legal team wrote. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
The allegations are particularly shocking given that UMG serves as the distributor for both Drake and Lamar.
“They engaged in conduct designed to artificially inflate the popularity of ‘Not Like Us,’” the filing reads, suggesting such tactics sought to harm Drake’s reputation further while propping up Lamar’s track, which makes deeply personal accusations against Drake.
While the filing stops short of a formal lawsuit, it sets the stage for further legal proceedings. Representatives for Drake, Lamar, Spotify and UMG have not yet responded to requests for comment.
The lawsuit comes on the heels of Kendrick Lamar’s surprise album GNX, released on Friday (November 22). The album has already become a cultural and commercial juggernaut. The 12-track project, including the hit single “squabble up,” is projected to debut at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart with an estimated 350-400 million streams in its opening week.
The performance puts it in contention to be the most-streamed Hip-Hop album of 2024, surpassing even Drake’s For All the Dogs, which notched 514 million first-week streams in 2023.
“squabble up,” teased earlier in the “Not Like Us” video, has captured fans’ attention and is predicted to land at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, marking Lamar’s third No. 1 on the set this year behind the former and “Like That” with Future and Metro Boomin. The single’s meteoric rise further cements Lamar’s dominant return to the spotlight, as every track from GNX is chartting on platforms like Apple Music and Spotify.