In the latest twist in the bruising beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, the Canadian rapper has initiated legal action against Universal Music Group over allegations that the company conspired using Spotify to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”

The action is doubly surprising because UMG distributes both artists’ recordings.

In a filing Monday in Manhattan court first reported by Billboard, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of launching an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to boost the numbers for Lamar’s viciously personal song, which accuses Drake of pedophilia and amplified the already fiery dispute between the two artists.

“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” the petition continues. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”

The song in question can be found here: YouTube | Spotify | Tidal | Apple Music

top 2 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] UrLogicFails@beehaw.org 14 points 18 hours ago

I'm not super plugged into the world of music, so you know it's bad when I've heard someone got owned so hard they're suing over it.

I'm honestly not even sure what the end goal is for Drake, since all he is doing is bringing it to the forefront of the public consciousness again. (I guess he must have been impressed with how well similar tactics worked out for another musician, Barbara Streisand...)

[–] BlueSquid0741@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 15 hours ago

“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices,” the petition continues. “It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”

A music conglomerate like UMG would never do anything to saturate the market. Never.