Drake sues UMG over Not Like Us success but not for the reasons ...
Earlier this year Kendrick Lamar and Drake were beefing. That battle of verses culminated in one of Lamar’s biggest hits in Not Like Us. In the track Lamar drags Drake and his crew over the coals and accuses them of being paedophiles.
One would think that Drake would sue Lamar for the allegations in the track but instead, the Canadian rapper is suing Universal Music Group on allegations of payola and using bots to pump up the plays of Not Like Us.
In a lawsuit launched by Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC, attorneys allege that, “UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices. It instead launched a campaign to manipulate or saturate the streaming services and airwaves.”
The lawsuit further alleges that UMG violated the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organisations Act, which is usually used in criminal cases involving organised crime. Spotify is also named in the action.
Billboard reports that the legal challenge isn’t a full lawsuit yet and the allegations are part of a pre-action petition which aims to secure evidence ahead of a lawsuit
Proving that is going to take some creative arguing. On YouTube alone Not Like Us has amassed 356 million views over two videos, one being a static image featured in the header and the other the full video we’ve embedded above.
Drake’s attorneys allege that UMG convinced the public that Not Like Us was more popular than it really was and even suggest that Apple had its voice assistant Siri misdirect users to listen to Lamar’s track instead of Drake’s Certified Lover Boy album.
“Online sources reported that when users asked Siri to play the album ‘Certified Lover Boy’ by [Drake], Siri instead played ‘Not Like Us,’ which contains the lyric ‘certified pedophile,’ an allegation against Drake,” the lawsuit reads.
However, Apple isn’t named as a respondent so we have to wonder whether Drake is just throwing allegations at the wall in hopes of finding something when it gets to discovery.
An excerpt of the lyrics from Not Like Us. Source – Genius.The rapper clearly feels like UMG has done him dirty and even says that the label has told him to sue Lamar instead which is a dastardly move if it holds water. However, UMG is refuting Drake’s claims.
“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,” a spokesperson from UMG told Billboard.
While these are creative arguments, it seems more likely that Not Like Us popped off because it’s a good track and it resonated with people beyond Kendrick Lamar’s fan base.
The song inspired multiple listenings because Lamar is a brilliant lyricist who employs multiple linguistic techniques in interesting and unique ways. The music video released a few months later reignited interest and again, inspired multiple viewings. The track earned Lamar five Grammy Awards 2025 nominations including Record of the Year, Song of the Year and Best Music Video.
Maybe Drake should try putting some mustard on his beats, turn the TV off and focus on his music career instead of lawsuits.
