The scuffle between rap icons Drake and Kendrick Lamar has taken another turn after the former dropped the case against Spotify and Universal Music Group (UMG) over Lamar’s highly controversial single, Not Like Us. The duo’s beef dates back to March 2024, when the 2018 Pulitzer Prize awardee composed a targeted verse in his collaboration with Future and Metro Boomin on Like That. Since then, both Drake and Lamar have come out with multiple diss tracks against one another, with the latter arguably coming out on top in the end. Their intense tussle even resulted in Drake suing UMG and Spotify, a case the rapper has since withdrawn.
Here are all the available details regarding the God’s Plan singer’s decision to walk away from the said legal action.
Why did Drake drop UMG, Spotify case?
At the time of writing, the exact reason why Drake’s team voluntarily pulled out of the case they filed against UMG and Spotify remains unknown. The iconic musician has refrained from providing an official update on the same as of yet.
Drake’s representatives initially accused the two companies of colluding with one another to give discounted streaming licensing rates on Lamar’s Not Like Us while artificially boosting the song’s popularity. The case was originally submitted in November 2024, in which the rapper’s legal team stated that UMG had worked with Spotify and iHeartRadio to inorganically extend the reach of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track against Drake. The filings also claimed the usage of bots to boost the song’s streams. Additionally, Drake’s team charged UMG of defamation for their part in encouraging the spread of a song that termed the singer as a “certified pedophile.”
In response, Spotify filed an opposition brief to the Canadian artist’s petition. A spokesperson for the company also issued a clarification, stating, “Spotify has no economic incentive for users to stream Not Like Us over any of Drake’s tracks.” (via Rolling Stone)
Frozen Moments, the Drake-owned company that manages his catalog, has since withdrawn all the pre-action filings against UMG and Spotify.
