Drake is getting the courts involved in his rap feud with Kendrick Lamar, and hip-hop fans aren't impressed

• Drake's company Frozen Moments filed a petition against Universal Music Group and Spotify.
• The petition was in relation to rapper Kendrick Lamar's diss track about Drake, "Not Like Us."
• The filing claims that Spotify and Universal used bots and payola to increase the track's popularity.

Kendrick Lamar and Drake's rap feud continues as Drake begins legal action against Lamar's track "Not Like Us."

Earlier this year, the two hip-hop giants' years-long resentment culminated in an explosive diss track battle.

Lamar's final diss track "Not Like Us" was the biggest hit of the battle, crowning Lamar the winner in the public sphere. "Not Like Us," which contains lyrics calling Drake a pedophile, topped the Billboard 100 charts for two weeks and received five Grammy nominations.

Now, Drake is disputing the song's success.

On Monday morning, Drake's company, Frozen Moments, filed a pre-action petition in a New York court against Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG), the record company that owns Lamar's label Interscope and Drake's label Republic Records.

The petition states that UMG used bots and payola to inflate the streams of "Not Like Us" and influence its perceived public success.

The petition says UMG charged Spotify 30% lower licensing fees for the song, in exchange for the streaming platform to recommend "Not Like Us" to users searching for unrelated songs and artists.

It also claims that UMG paid third-party companies to use bots to artificially inflate the streams of "Not Like Us.""

"In 2024, UMG did not rely on chance, or even ordinary business practices, to 'break through the noise' on Spotify," the petition read.

The petition, alleging racketeering, deceptive business practices, and false advertising to promote "Not Like Us," is not a fully fledged lawsuit. The filling is a request by Drake's lawyers asking the court to order Spotify and Universal to preserve documents related to the claims ahead of legal action.

A representative for Universal Music Group denied Drake's claims in a statement to Billboard on Monday.

"The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue," the representative said. "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."

The filing claims that Drake suffered "economic harm" because UMG "saturated the market" with Lamar's diss track, at the "expense of other artists, like Drake." The attorney also said that when Drake brought these claims to UMG, representatives from the company told Drake to sue Lamar rather than Universal, and threatened to sue Lamar if Drake sued them.

A representative for Lamar, Drake, and UMG did not immediately respond to a comment request from Business Insider. A representative from Spotify declined to comment.

Hiphop fans are mocking Drake and criticizing his move to legal action

Diss track battles are a common occurrence in the hip-hop world, but it's rare for a rapper to turn to legal action over lyrical beef.

Hip-hop fans have criticized Drake's move on social media. Pop-culture writer Bolu Babalola called the petition a "spectacularly loserish move" in a post on X.

Fans speaking out on X thought it was bizarre that Drake was taking legal action over the song's success and not the lyrics' allegations of pedophilia.

Other fans said escalating rap beef in court felt like Drake did not understand Black culture.

Fans also said they felt Drake could have recovered from losing the battle by laying low and releasing good music. But suggested the fallout from the lawsuit might harm Drake's reputation further.