Three things in life are certain: death, taxes and beef between rap superstars.
Deeply rooted in the genre’s history, rap artists have been trading ‘diss [respect] tracks’ since the beginning of time — think Tupac vs Biggie Smalls.
But thanks to the nature of social media and the size of their fanbases, the beef between Drake, a Canadian rapper and five-time Grammy winner, and Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize winner who is set to headline the next Super Bowl half-time, may go down in history as the most widely watched of all time.
And it seemingly shows no sign of slowing down, as Drake this week launched legal action against Universal Music Group claiming the music giant had falsely pumped up the popularity of Kendrick’s Not Like Us.
So, what exactly is going on?
Drake moves feud to court
Drake, the most commercially successful hip-hop artist of his generation, has alleged in a court filling on Monday that Universal Music Group (UMG) falsely pumped up the popularity on Spotify and other streaming services of Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us.
The song, which currently has more 900 million streams on Spotify, viciously attacks Drake amid a bitter feud between the two superstars.
The petition in a New York court by the rapper’s company Frozen Moments LLC demands the preservation and divulgence of information that might be evidence in a potential lawsuit against UMG, which is the distributor for the record labels of both Drake and Lamar.
In allegations that UMG calls “offensive and untrue,” the filing says the record company “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.”
It said the company and Spotify “have a long-standing, symbiotic business relationship” and alleges that UMG offered special licensing rates to Spotify for the song.
The petition also says UMG has fired employees seen as loyal to Drake “in an apparent effort to conceal its schemes.”
‘Fans choose the music they want to hear’ says UMG
In a statement in response, Universal Music Group said that 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,” the statement continued.
“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.”
Spotify representatives declined immediate comment, but in a statement on a previous case, the company said it “invests heavily in automated and manual reviews to prevent, detect, and mitigate the impact of artificial streaming on our platform,” and in broader public statements has said it has gone to great lengths to mitigate the effects of bad actors on streaming numbers and royalties.
Among biggest feuds in rap history
The feud between Drake and Lamar is among the biggest in hip-hop in recent years, with two of the genre’s biggest stars at its centre.
The two were occasional collaborators more than a decade ago, but Lamar began taking public jabs at Drake starting in 2013 when he recorded a guest verse on Big Sean’s track Control.
Over the next few years, the rappers launched disses at each other with less frequency, but the fight escalated steeply earlier this year when J. Cole featured on Drake’s latest album, on a track called First Person Shooter.
The song debuted atop the US singles chart and saw J. Cole contemplating who the “big three” of the current rap era might be.
Kendrick responded in a surprise verse on producer Metro Boomin and rapper Future’s song Like That, in which he proclaimed: “The big three … it’s just big me.”
Drake’s response was leaked and later premiered by DJ Akademiks on Push Ups, where he stated “you ain’t in no Big Three”.
After months of back and forth, Kenrick released the widely popular Not Like Us, which includes the lyrics, “Say, Drake, I hear you like ’em young, You better not ever go to cell block one.”
Drake’s move to court, while not yet a lawsuit, still represents a major escalation of the feud and involves some of the biggest business partners of both men.
Earlier this month, Lamar earned seven Grammy Award nominations, with Not Like Us recognised in five major categories: Song of the Year, Best Rap Performance, Best Rap Song, Record of the Year, and Best Music Video.
ABC/wires