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Kendrick Lamar‘s Drake diss “Not Like Us” received yet another honor recently, in addition to hitting number one two separate times, being named Top Rap Song of 2024, and being both the best-selling song and Apple Music’s most-streamed song of last year: it has hit the billion-stream mark on Spotify.
According to NFR Podcast (an outlet that, incidentally, Drake has accused of being paid by Universal Music Group to promote K.Dot), this makes “Not Like Us” the first diss track to hit that milestone.
As of this writing, Kendrick’s record-breaking hit has 1,002,438,426 streams on Spotify, a feat it accomplished in near-record time, having only been released last May.
“Not Like Us” actually received even more attention recently following Drake’s bombshell legal filings against Universal Music Group.
The chart-topping diss song is at the heart of the dispute, with Drizzy accusing UMG of artifically boosting the track’s popularity through the use of streaming bots and payola.
He has also claimed that UMG — the parent company of his label Republic and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope — defamed him by knowlingly releasing a song that accuses him of being a pedophile.
Since he filed the petitions last November, sales of “Not Like Us” have increased by a staggering 440 percent, while streams of the song have jumped by 20 percent, according to Talk of the Charts.
The Canadian superstar submitted two “pre-action” filings against Universal Music Group (UMG), seeking discovery and depositions for potential future lawsuits. These aren’t lawsuits themselves, but petitions asking for more information before a lawsuit is filed. Even if he gains access to the information he desires, Drake is not legally bound to follow through with a lawsuit.
In the first filing, Drizzy claims that UMG — the parent company of both his label Republic and Kendrick’s longtime home of Interscope — used bots and payola to boost the popularity of “Not Like Us” on streaming services and radio, ensuring it would become a mega-hit.
It seeks “pre-action discovery” from UMG and Spotify to allow Drake to “identify appropriate defendants” and pursue a lawsuit alleging violations of the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, as well as New York’s Deceptive Business Act and False Advertising Act. Regarding a potential civil RICO, it points to “predicate acts of wire fraud, mail fraud, and/or bribery.”
The second, which also names iHeartMedia as a respondent, accuses UMG of defamation and claims the music giant could have halted the release of “Not Like Us” which “falsely accus[ed]” him of being a pedophile. It also to seeks to determine “whether, and how, UMG funneled payments to iHeartRadio and its radio stations” to promote “Not Like Us.”
Universal Music Group have vehemently denied the claims, saying in a statement: “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. 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.”
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