It has been referred to as the biggest feud in rap history. The beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar never fails to live up to this title. Shocker after shocker, discovery after discovery, move after move, the two artists are going at it aggressively, with none willing to back down for the other or for the culture and both willing to tear down whatever to come out victorious.
Hip-hop heads woke up on the 22nd of November to a surprise Kendrick Lamar album, where he was very expressive about his issues with Drake, Lil Wayne and the entire industry. In a similar fashion, Drake responded in the middle of the night and fans woke up to a lawsuit. He went for the head this time, suing their parent label UMG.
Drake in his legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify claims that the two companies conspired to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us.”
In a filing Monday (Nov. 25) in Manhattan court, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of launching an illegal “scheme” involving bots, payola and other methods to pump up Lamar’s song — a track that savagely attacked Drake amid an ongoing feud between the two stars.
Drake’s attorneys accuse UMG of violating the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, the federal “RICO” statute often used in criminal cases against organized crime. They also allege deceptive business practices and false advertising under New York state law.
The court filings are a remarkable twist in the high-profile beef between the two stars, which saw Drake and Kendrick exchange stinging diss tracks over a period of months earlier this year. That such a dispute would spill into business litigation seemed almost unthinkable in the world of hip-hop.
The court filing claims:
UMG used Spotify and Apple’s Siri to push Not Like Us over Drake’s tracks.
Employees perceived as loyal to Drake were allegedly fired as part of an effort to cover up UMG’s actions.
UMG paid influencers and radio stations to boost Lamar’s song without disclosure.
A whistleblower revealed bots generated 30 million early streams for Not Like Us.
The effects of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake saga on streaming
Drake vs UMG might finally expose what real success looks like in music. Your true worth as an artist comes in the form of loyal fans who actually spend on your art. Playlists don’t buy tickets or merch, people do. If the claims of stream farming are true, we might have a situation where laws are created and implemented against it.
It’s interesting to see stream farming being called out and allegations raised against the big artists and companies. The future of this feud could go on to define and determine the next phase of music streaming.
Stream farming is becoming prominent in the music industry, even at home. Recently, Afrobeats superstar Wizkid was accused of farming on his last single ‘Kese’. Though the saga was later sorted by Apple Music, it doesn’t take away from the many other situations at home.
Afro pop singer Kizz Daniel recently came out to say that Stream Farming is a marketing tool and should be embraced, but there’s nothing about using fake users and bots to pump numbers that sounds like marketing.
This whole lawsuit is a straight-out-of-the-playbook distraction tactic against Kendrick’s project in the press cycle. It’s a genius move by Drake, shifting the conversation away from Kendrick’s album to questioning the validity of his commercial success.
If the conversation is successfully moved to commercial success, it’s a one-way ticket for Drake as he’s a bigger pop star than many artists in the industry. It’d be interesting to see, how Kendrick responds to this.
Kendrick’s next move will determine if Drake just handed him the biggest PR stunt for his project and career or a dent in Kendrick’s promotional resurgence.
