Drake Suing Record Company in a Decade Long Rap Battle
Hip-hop and rap thrive on prominent personalities and even bigger feuds. From big artists getting in trouble with the law to embarrassing public arguments, there’s always something new for fans to focus on. Recently, Drake shocked fans by suing a record company over serious allegations.
Drake Suing Record Company: What’s The Crime?
Drake’s suit against a record company comes from the performance of his rival, Kendrick Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us.” Drake’s legal team alleged that Lamar’s record company, Universal Music Group (UMG), conspired to artificially boost the song’s performance.
In the words of the legal petition, the record company “Launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves to make that song go viral, including by using ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements.”
Drake’s full suit lists multiple ways in which the record company worked to boost the song artificially. One major accusation was that UMG created manipulative agreements with Spotify. These agreements allegedly allowed Spotify to secure 30% lower licensing fees in exchange for promoting advertisements on their platform. The petition also accuses UMG of paying third parties to deploy listening bots, which allegedly inflated streaming numbers artificially. Accusers have pointed to other major platforms, including Apple and iHeartRadio, for engaging in bribery and artificially inflating streaming numbers.
When it was first released in May 2024, Lamar’s song landed number one on the Hot 100 list. To date, it has grossed a reported 900 million Spotify streams.
Drake Files a Second Suit
Shortly following the initial suit under Drake’s company name, he filed a second in New York. Drake filed this suit under his legal name, Aubrey Drake Graham. In this suit against the record company, Drake accused them of defamation over the song “Not Like Us.”
Like the last court filing, this isn’t an actual lawsuit. Instead, it is a “pre-action petition,” a movement allowing the court to force UGM to preserve and relinquish any evidence for future legal action.
Drake’s claims of defamation stem from lyrics within Lamar’s diss track. One major lyric calls out Drake and his colleagues as “certified pedophiles.”
In the second petition, Drake’s legal team asserts their view on the matter. They claimed that “UMG knew that the song itself attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake…by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts.”
In other arguments made in the petition, they add that the record company, which also represents Drake, could have refused to distribute the material that had damaging lyrics. Likewise, they could have requested edits to preserve the image of Drake and all artists represented by UGM.
Drake’s legal team is confident that the actions taken by UGM illustrate their focus on profit rather than their artists.
Drake and Kendrick Lamar’s Rocky Relationship
The relationship between Drake and Kendrick Lamar wasn’t always a negative one. In their early careers, they were known for collaborating and creating music that fans truly enjoyed. Over time, their light-hearted disses and insults became increasingly heated.
Fans have tracked their tumultuous relationship back to 2013 when Lamar attacked Drake in Big Sean’s hit song, “Control”. In the rap, he said “Jermaine Cole…A$AP Rocky, Drake, Big Sean,…Tyler, Mac Miller / I got love for you all, but I’m tryna murder you n****s”.
Since then, Drake and Kendrick have been regularly releasing diss tracks with cutting lyrics. Of these tracks, singles such as “Push Ups”, “Euphoria”, and “Not Like Us”, became infamous among the fan base. As time passed, the content of the songs moved to serious topics such as accused addiction and abuse. In Lamar’s song, “Meet the Grahams,” he even addresses Drake’s family with intense claims of pedophilia and strained family relations.
The inflated success of “Not Like Us” was the last straw. This was cited in ultimately leading to Drake suing the record company.
What’s Next?
Drake and Lamar’s fans are eagerly speculating about what will happen next. With legal matters in disarray and high tensions between the artists, a clean resolution seems unlikely.
As it stands, Drake has only officially filed “pre-action petitions” against the label. This means that the label is formally notified of his grievances. A court may require them to hand over any evidence related to the conflict. Many pre-action petitions are settled outside of the court between the two parties. If Drake fails to meet a proper resolution, a court may permit him to initiate a lawsuit against the company.
While it is not uncommon to see rappers and other artists on the legal stage, cases as extreme as this always seem to capture audiences’ attention. At this point, it is only a matter of time before further action will occur in this unique case.