2024 is the year of the “diss tracks”
“Diss tracks” have been a running theme for 2024, with major acts such as Drake and Kendrick Lamar all releasing one, or multiple.
Drake is taking his rap beef with Kendrick Lamar to court.
In a petition filed Monday in New York Supreme Court, the Canadian rapper accused Universal Music Group and Spotify of engaging in a “scheme to ensure” Lamar’s diss track, “Not Like Us,” “broke through” on multiple streaming platforms. He claimed UMG used underhanded tactics to garner more listeners for the Lamar song on Spotify and radio stations, which resulted in “Not Like Us” breaking a few Spotify records and landing at No. 1 twice on the Billboard Top 100.
“UMG’s schemes to artificially inflate the popularity of ‘Not Like Us’ were motivated, at least in part, by the desire of executives at Interscope (Records) to maximize their own profits,” Drake’s petition claims. He suspects UMG engaged in racketeering through bribery as well as deceptive business practices and false advertising.
As such, Drake asked the court to order the companies to hand over evidence related to his claims, otherwise known as pre-action discovery, so he could file a legal complaint.
The filing named Frozen Moments, LLC as the petitioner. Drake is a manager of the LLC, per Florida’s Division of Corporations.
“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” the music corporation said in a statement to USA TODAY. “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 Spotify spokesperson declined to comment.
Drake accuses Universal Music of engaging in ‘pay-to-play schemes’
Among Drake’s claims is that “UMG charged Spotify licensing rates 30 percent lower than its usual licensing rates for ‘Not Like Us’ in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists.”
Citing a statement from an unknown “whistleblower” on a podcast, Drake also accuses the company of conspiring with “unknown parties” to purchase bots that “artificially inflate the spread of ‘Not Like Us’ and deceive consumers into believing the Song was more popular than it was in reality.”
To date, “Not Like Us” has garnered 914 million plays on Spotify. Lamar’s “Humble.” is his most-streamed track, with 2.4 billion streams. Last year, Drake landed at No. 4 on Spotify’s list of most-streamed artists globally. Lamar was not named among the Top 10 artists in any metric in 2023.
Monday’s petition claims UMG “engaged in similar pay-to-play schemes to increase the airplay of ‘Not Like Us’ on the radio,” known as payola. Drake alleges the company attempted to cover up these “schemes” by “terminating employees associated with or perceived as having loyalty to Drake.”
“Streaming and licensing is a zero-sum game. Every time a song ‘breaks through,’ it means another artist does not,” the petition says. “UMG’s choice to saturate the music market with ‘Not Like Us’ comes at the expense of its other artists, like Drake. As Drake is Petitioner’s sole owner, and Petitioner owns the copyright to Drake’s entire catalogue, Petitioner suffered economic harm as a result of UMG’s scheme.”
Both Drake and Lamar have deals with Universal Music Group, which distributes their music.
Kendrick Lamar and Drake’s 2024 feud: A summary
Lamar and Drake’s feud goes back more than a decade to 2013 when Lamar rapped on the Big Sean song “Control” about how he wanted to “murder” Drake and other prominent rappers. On May 4, “Not Like Us” was released as Lamar’s catchy clapback to Drake, who has insulted Lamar’s ability to make a radio hit.
The DJ Mustard-produced song calls Drake a “certified pedophile” and includes the incendiary lyric: “Tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A-Minor.” Lamar also comes for Drake’s industry friendships, his appropriation of certain aspects of Black American culture and shoots his lyrics back at him saying it was “God’s plan to show y’all the liar.”
In the lead-up to “Not Like Us,” the two traded barbs (and bars), starting with Lamar’s feature on Future and Metro Boomin‘s “Like That” in March which led to Drake’s full diss track “Push Ups,” then Lamar’s “Euphoria” and “6:16 in LA.”
Both rappers on Monday received Billboard Music Award nominations and will face off in the top rap artist and top male rap artist categories. Earlier this month, Lamar’s “Not Like Us” earned five Grammy nominations while Drake, who has not entered any submissions to the Recording Academy in recent years, received zero nods.
Contributing: Naledi Ushe