Drake is not letting up on his legal actions against Universal Music Group. Obtained on Tuesday (Nov. 26), he filed a second petition against the company for distributing Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” knowing it had lyrics that “falsely” accused him of being a pedophile.
Unlike the first legal action, which was filed in Manhattan and accused UMG of violating New York laws against deceptive business practices and false advertising, the second was lodged in Texas, where Drake became a resident not too long ago.
“UMG could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed,” attorneys for the Toronto native’s Frozen Moments LLC wrote, according to Billboard. “But UMG chose to do the opposite.”
The documents continued, “UMG designed, financed and then executed a plan to turn ‘Not Like Us’ into a viral mega-hit with the intent of using the spectacle of harm to Drake and his businesses to drive consumer hysteria and, of course, massive revenues. That plan succeeded, likely beyond UMG’s wildest expectations.”
iHeartMedia, Inc. was also named in the second petition, with Drake claiming that UMG “funneled payments” to the radio platform as a part of some “pay-to-play scheme.” As previously noted, the legal action is primarily aimed at gathering more information for a possible lawsuit rather than initiating court proceedings right away.
“Not Like Us,” similar to other records that have come out of the Drake-Lamar beef, contained a lot of jabs. During the over 4-minute track, the Compton MC called his rival a “69 God” and “predator,” whereas other OVO affiliates were dubbed “certified pedophiles.”
Not long after Drake filed his petition against UMG for allegedly colluding with Spotify to boost Lamar’s “Not Like Us” streams using bots and other forms of payola, a spokesperson came out and denied the claims. “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 company representative said.