STAY SCHEMING?! Drake Claims UMG Plotted To Inflate Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Streams

The ongoing feud between Drake and Kendrick Lamar reached a new level on Monday (Nov. 25), with the 6 God filing a legal petition against their joint record company, Universal Music Group (UMG).

As reported by The Independent, Drake accuses UMG of using a network of bots, in conjunction with a pay-to-play scheme (a.k.a. payola) to “manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves” with Kendrick’s mega-diss, “Not Like Us,” while suppressing his own music.

From The Independent:

The filing accuses UMG, which has deals with both performers, of paying Spotify to recommend “Not Like Us” to users “who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists,” claiming the label also paid Apple to have Siri “purposely misdirect” users requesting songs from Drake’s catalog, serving up “Not Like Us” in its place. UMG’s ploy, the filing argues, created “the false impression that the Song was more popular than it was in reality.” Making matters even stickier, Drake says in the filing that UMG has tried to hide its alleged propping up of Lamar at Drake’s expense “by terminating employees associated with or perceived as having loyalty to Drake.”

Thus, Drake is accusing UMG and Spotify of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as the NY Deceptive Business Act and the NY False Advertising Act. He is asking the court to order UMG and Spotify to preserve all relevant documents and communications in advance of a pending lawsuit.

This marks a stunning turn of events in the relationship between Drake and UMG. As you know, Drake has been with UMG for his entire career, first through signing with Lil Wayne’s Young Money imprint, and then signing with YM’s parent label, Republic Records.

K. Dot has also been with UMG his entire career, initially signing with TDE, which is distributed by Interscope. Recently, he signed a licensing deal with Interscope for his own company, pgLang.

UMG has so far “refused to engage” with the situation, saying that Drake should sue Kendrick instead. Furthermore, UMG allegedly told Drake that if he filed, the label would sue Kendrick too.

However, a source from Drake’s camp said shortly after the filing that Drake is not mad at Kendrick for the record. Instead, he is placing his anger towards UMG’s allegedly shady business practices. The source says that this filing could result in protection for other lesser-known artists in the industry.

Welp. Stay tuned, folks.

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