Drake restarts his battle against Kendrick Lamar. According to Variety, the rapper filed a complaint against the Universal Music Group label, accusing it of defamation for promoting the song. not like us by Kendrick Lamar.
Released by Kendrick this summer during his song clash with Drake, not like usis a diss track, a song intended to attack one or more rappers, in which the artist attacks his opponent.
In this song, which was a real hit upon its release, Kendrick Lamar describes Drake as a “scrounger” and a “scavenger” and implies that he is a “certified pedophile”, in reference to Drake’s album, Certified Lover Boy. published in September 2021.
“Greed at the expense of the safety of artists”
In his complaint, Drake indicates that Universal Music Group, by authorizing the publication of the title and promoting it “to create a viral hit,” contributed to the harassment of which the rapper was a victim, according to him, and his defamation. , “by transmitting false accusations of pedophilia” against him.
Drake also specifies that the cover of not like us shows a photo of his house in Toronto and that after the success of the song, he was the victim of a shooting outside his house and that individuals tried to break into his house twice in the following days.
The rapper thus accuses Universal Music Group – which is both his record label, but also Kendrick Lamar’s – of having “shown greed to the detriment of the safety and well-being of its artists.”
First complaint filed against Spotify
Last May, Drake and Kendrick Lamar faced each other through songs for several weeks in the context of a rivalry that has lasted more than ten years. Among them, Kendrick’s Not Like Us became a real hit and has been listened to more than a billion times on Spotify since its release.
A success that did not leave Drake unmoved since, in November 2024, the rapper accused Spotify of having secretly helped Kendrick Lamar promote his song to the detriment of other songs published by Drake.
The Canadian rapper thus filed a complaint against Universal Music Groupe and Spotify. According to him, the record company would have established a contract that implied a reduction in the prices of its Spotify licenses, in exchange for which the streaming platform would massively recommend Kendrick Lamar’s song to its users.
He also accuses Universal and Spotify of having used “bots” to automate the reading of Not Like Us and thus artificially inflate their audience.
Questioned by the media, The Verge Universal Music Group defended itself by indicating that it adheres to “ethical practices”: “Fans choose what they want to listen to,” specifies a representative of the record company.
For its part, Spotify also flatly denied these accusations, ensuring that the platform and UMG “never had an agreement of this type” and that the accusations made by Drake are “false” and “far-fetched.”
Source: BFM TV
