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Drake has accused Universal Music Group and a major streaming platform of colluding on an illegal scheme to boost the performance of Kendrick Lamar's "Not Like Us."
According to a report Billboard published on Monday, November 25, Drake's company Frozen Moments, LLC. filed a "pre-action" petition in a Manhattan court to gather more information before filing a formal lawsuit. In the filing, attorneys for Drake allege that UMG and Spotify conspired to launch "a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.” They accused UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) by using false advertising and deceitful tactics under New York state law.
“UMG … conspired with and paid currently unknown parties to use ‘bots’ to artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the song was more popular than it was in reality,” Drake’s lawyers argue.
According to the legal documents, Drake's legal team claims the label paid social media influencers like NFR Podcast to promote the song and video on its platforms. Since the social media blog did not disclose the alleged payment, Drake's attorneys argue that it was "illegal payola" and cited guidance from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).
The legal complaint marks a stunning turn in Drake and Kendrick Lamar's beef. Both top-selling artists release music under the UMG umbrella. Drake began his career under Lil Wayne's Young Money label, which was distributed via Republic Records. After his contract was up in 2021, Drake eventually resigned with Republic/UMG for a new deal reportedly worth $400 million. Kendrick Lamar also came up under UMG during his time at Top Dawg Entertainment, which is distributed by UMG's entity Interscope Records. Lamar still releases music through his imprint pgLang, which is also distributed by Interscope.
In the lawsuit, Drake's lawyers allegedly told the rapper's label about his issues before he went to court. However, they reportedly "pointed the finger" at Lamar and suggested the Canadian rapper sue him. UMG responded to the claims in a statement to Variety.
"The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue," UMG's rep said. "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.