Drake alleges Universal inflated popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’

Drake alleged successful a tribunal filing Monday that Universal Music Group falsely pumped up the popularity connected Spotify and different streaming services of Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us, a opus that viciously attacked Drake amid a bitter feud betwixt the 2 hip-hop superstars.

The petition successful a New York tribunal by the rapper’s institution Frozen Moments LLC demands the preservation and divulgence of accusation that mightiness beryllium grounds successful a imaginable suit against UMG, which is the distributor for the grounds labels of some Drake and Lamar.

In allegations that UMG calls “offensive and untrue,” the filing says the grounds institution “launched a run to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, ‘Not Like Us,’ successful bid to marque that opus spell viral, including by utilizing ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements.” It said the institution and Spotify “have a long-standing, symbiotic concern relationship” and alleges that UMG offered peculiar licensing rates to Spotify for the song.

The petition besides says UMG has fired employees seen arsenic loyal to Drake “in an evident effort to conceal its schemes.”

Universal Music Group said successful a connection successful effect that the “suggestion that UMG would bash thing to undermine immoderate of its artists is violative and untrue. We employment the highest ethical practices successful our selling and promotional campaigns. No magnitude of contrived and absurd ineligible arguments successful this pre-action submission tin disguise the information that fans take the euphony they privation to hear.”

Not Like Us, the wildly fashionable Lamar azygous released successful May arsenic portion of a flurry of duelling tracks by the 2 artists, includes the lyrics, “Say, Drake, I perceive you similar ’em young, You amended not ever spell to compartment artifact one.” It has gotten much than 900 cardinal plays, according to figures listed connected Spotify.

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Spotify representatives declined contiguous comment, but successful a connection connected a erstwhile case, the institution said it “invests heavy successful automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the interaction of artificial streaming connected our platform,” and successful broader nationalist statements has said it has gone to large lengths to mitigate the effects of atrocious actors connected streaming numbers and royalties.

The feud betwixt Drake, a 38-year-old Canadian rapper and vocalist and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a 37-year-old Pulitzer Prize victor who is acceptable to header the adjacent Super Bowl halftime, is among the biggest successful hip-hop successful caller years, with 2 of the genre’s biggest stars astatine its centre.

The 2 were occasional collaborators much than a decennary ago, but Lamar began taking nationalist jabs astatine Drake starting successful 2013. The combat escalated steeply earlier this year.

The determination to court, portion not yet a lawsuit, inactive represents a large escalation of the feud and involves immoderate of the biggest concern partners of some men.