Just one day after Drake filed a petition accusing Universal Music of conspiring with Spotify to falsely boost the numbers of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us,” the Canadian rapper has filed a second action, this one in Texas, claiming that UMG was aware that the song “falsely” accused him of pedophilia, but chose to distribute it anyway.
It also claims that UMG “funneled payments” to iHeart, the country’s largest radio network, as part of a “pay-to-play scheme” to promote the song on radio.
With regard to the defamation allegations, the petition says the company “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.”
To be clear, these petitions are not lawsuits: They’re pre-action filings intended taking depositions from key figures at UMG and iHeart in order to obtain more information for a potential future lawsuit. While the petition claims Drake’s attorneys already have enough evidence of defamation, they say they are considering allegations of civil fraud and racketeering.
Similarly, the petition stops short of actually alleging defamation, but does say Drake’s attorneys have “amassed sufficient facts to pursue certain tortious claims against UMG, including, but not limited to, a claim for defamation, but currently lacks factual support necessary to determine whether he may bring claims of civil fraud and racketeering against UMG and its many (as of yet) unidentified co-conspirators who violated payola laws and accepted illicit payments, and other things of value, from UMG without disclosure.”
UMG did not immediately respond to Variety‘s requests for comment on this latest petition, but in response to Monday’s a rep for the company said: “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.“
It also should be noted that neither artist is signed directly to UMG: Both artists are now at the level where they own their own masters and are signed with their own companies — Drake’s OVO and Lamar’s pgLang — and license their music to Universal labels for marketing and distribution.
While sources close to the situation claim that Drake’s petition is about Universal — the label that has distributed his music since he first signed with Lil Wayne’s Young Money label in 2009 — rather than Spotify, iHeart or even Lamar directly, it hardly seems coincidental that the legal action is based around the song at the center of a long-running feud between the two artists; “Not Like Us” is also a rare diss track that not only topped the Billboard Hot 100 but is nominated for multiple 2025 Grammy Awards.
It seems possible that, having quite clearly lost the battle with Lamar in the virtual streets of hip-hop cred, Drake may be trying to up the stakes by taking it to court. How that plays out is an open question.
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