Drake Claims UMG, Spotify “Artificially Inflated” Kendrick Lamar’s Diss Track “Not Like Us”

Drake’s feud with Kendrick Lamar has reached another level: The Canadian rapper is claiming that Universal Music Group and Spotify have inflated the streams of Lamar’s diss song aimed at him.

Drake’s Frozen Moments company filed a petition in a New York court Monday, alleging that UMG — the parent label both rappers are signed to — “launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves with a song, ‘Not Like Us,’ in order to make that song go viral, including by using ‘bots’ and pay-to-play agreements.”

UMG said in a statement that the allegations are “offensive and untrue.” Drake is signed to UMG subsidiary Republic Records, while Lamar is signed to UMG’s Interscope Records. The petition comes days after Lamar released the surprise album GNX and months before he will headline the Super Bowl halftime show.

“Not Like Us” is one of the year’s biggest hits. It spent two weeks on top of the all-genre Billboard Hot 100 chart; it spent 20 at No. 1 on the Hot rap songs chart. The song is nominated for five Grammy Awards, including song and record of the year. It has become an international, cultural anthem and more than a diss track.

Lamar released the anthemic West Coast banger in May after the rappers’ feud resurfaced in March. After going back and forth with diss songs, Lamar dropped “Not Like Us,” calling Drake a pedophile and accusing him of appropriating Black culture. The upbeat DJ Mustard-produced track set streaming records and spectators crowned Lamar the winner of the battle as a result. The beef originated in 2013 when Lamar — who formerly collaborated with Drake and opened for him on tour — sent shots to 11 of his contemporaries through his guest verse on Big Sean’s “Control.”