Drake is not a happy camper.
Months after the God’s Plan rapper’s highly-publicized feud with Kendrick Lamar seemingly came to an end, he’s reignited things in a big way. A big LEGAL way. On Monday, the 38-year-old filed a legal petition in New York accusing UMG (Universal Music Group) of “artificially inflat[ing]” Kendrick’s diss track, Not Like Us. You know, the one in which Kendrick openly calls Drake a “pedophile”?? If you need to recap, you can listen to the full song (below):
In Drake’s petition, his company Frozen Moments LLC accuses UMG of carrying out a “scheme” to drive visibility of the infamous diss track:
“UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices. It instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
The Nonstop rapper’s lawyers further accused the music corporation of cutting licensing charges for Spotify in exchange for the music streaming service to recommend the song to listeners who searched for “unrelated songs and artists.” They also accused UMG of paying influencers to promote the song and hiring bots to boost its numbers:
“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.”
We did see a lot of people talking about the song… but everyone seemed really genuinely entertained by the rap beef. We hadn’t had a diss track battle that big in forever! Hmm…
Apple is also cited in the petition for allegedly having Siri “purposely misdirect users” to the song. According to Drake’s legal team, this was all done because of the “desire of executives at Interscope (Kendrick’s distributor, a subsidiary of UMG) to maximize their own profits.”
Related: Kanye West Sued AGAIN! ANTM Alum Claims He Gagged & Choked Her Until She Blacked Out
Spotify has declined to comment, but a UMG spokesperson has since issued the following statement to Billboard:
“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.”
Whew, that’s a whole LOT. We guess Drake AIN’T happy at all that he lost the rap feud against Kendrick! LOLz!
Later on Monday, the Canadian artist followed up his New York petition with more legal action against UMG — this time accusing the company of defamation in the wake of Kendrick’s pedophile lyrics. The filing argues UMG knew about the false claims in Not Like Us but still chose to release it:
“UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed. But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
In the Texas petition, Drake’s legal team further accused UMG of “funnel[ing] payments] to iHeartRadio in a “pay-to-play scheme” to boost the song’s presence on the radio.
As of now, iHeartRadio has not responded.
We aren’t lawyers. We don’t know how this will all play out. But we know a little something about PR. And we have to say, we do NOT think this is going to help Drake beat the “soft” allegations. Losing a rap beef so bad you go complain to the vice principal that it was unfair seems pretty weak to us.
What are YOUR thoughts on this latest legal bombshell, Perezcious readers?? Sound OFF in the comments down below!
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