Despite widespread mockery, Drake appears to be serious in his claims that Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” received help from payola and bots on its way to being a No. 1 hit.
The Canadian rapper’s attorneys have filed a second petition alleging that Universal Music Group paid for the diss track to be successful, only this time, it was iHeartRadio, not Spotify, that allegedly joined in on the scheme, Forbes reports. While the first filing was made in New York, this second claim was filed in Texas.
The rappers born Aubrey Drake Graham and Kendrick Lamar Duckworth attacked each other in a series of songs earlier this year, with “Not Like Us” serving as the knockout blow in Lamar’s victory in the eyes of many.
Instead of accepting a loss and moving on, Drake has instead alleged UMG actively worked to slander one of their artists at the expense of another, as both rappers have their music distributed by the company. UMG has denied the claims.
“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” the record label said in a statement. “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.”
Lamar has not publicly responded to the claims, though he’s traditionally used his songs to make his case, including on Friday’s surprise album “GNX,” where he claimed he “just strangled me a GOAT,” the “greatest of all time” title that Drake frequently claimed.
Hip-hop fans on the internet, however, did not wait to get their jokes off.
Twitter personality Dragonfly Jonez said he’d “never seen a bigger L in rap history” and pointed out that this precursor to a possible lawsuit attacks streaming numbers, but not Lamar’s claims that Drake is a “certified pedophile” whose friends are also sexual predators.
“You are being called a pedophile who hangs with and harbors other pedophiles in his own home and even has these pedophiles on your payroll on the biggest rap single of the year,” Jones wrote, with an imaginary Drake responding, “Excuse me?!?! Biggest rap single of the year?????? We’ll see about that!”
It’s worth noting that Drake’s attorneys claimed in this second filing that the song defames their client by “falsely accusing him of being a sex offender,” but thus far, no action has been taken against the person making those claims: Lamar.
“UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” the attorneys wrote. “But UMG chose to do the opposite. UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
The claims by Drake’s attorneys, however, may not be gaining much traction.
As New York Times opinion writer Jane Coaston pointed out by paraphrasing one of Lamar’s more prominent lines on “Not Like Us”: “The audience ain’t dumb, Drake.”
