Things continue to brew between Drake and Kendrick Lamar. Now the conflict between the two rappers, who attacked each other this year with diss tracks, is being taken to court.
The number of plays of the success Not Like Usby Kendrick Lamar, was it artificially inflated by Universal Music Group (UMG) and Spotify? This is what Drake, his great rival, maintains in a complaint filed in Manhattan court on Monday.
According to Frozen Moments LLC, a company that represents the Canadian artist, UMG and Spotify allege that they used bots, undisclosed payments and biased recommendations to illegally boost the performance of Not Like Us on online listening platforms.
“They launched a campaign to manipulate streaming services and the airwaves,” Drake’s lawyers say in court documents seen by the US press.
Such actions, if proven, would violate the Racketeering and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO).
A spokesperson for the record company, quoted by Billboarddenied Drake’s allegations. “The idea that UMG would do anything to harm any of its artists is offensive and false. We apply the strictest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. No artificial and absurd legal argument in this submission prior to the action will be able to hide the fact that it is the amateurs who choose the music they want to listen to.
Escalade
The verbal war between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, who incidentally are both under contract with UMG, has been going on since the 2010s. It gained momentum last spring after the release of the song Like Thatin which Lamar attacked Drake.
Kendrick Lamar
Photo d’archives AFP
The latter responded with Push Ups. The songs attacking each other continued and the insults that the rappers threw at each other got worse. On The Heart Part 6Drake accused his opponent of domestic violence. Lamar responded by alleging, in the song Not Like Usthat Drake and members of his bodyguard are pedophiles.
Despite his very harsh words, Not Like Us was one of the most popular songs of 2024 and it just received five nominations for the next Grammy awards.
Kendrick Lamar has also been chosen to perform the halftime show at the upcoming Super Bowl game.
