Marking a surprising development in his ongoing feud with Kendrick Lamar, Canadian superstar Drake has launched legal action against Universal Music Group and Spotify, alleging an illegal “scheme” to boost streams on hit diss track “Not Like Us”.

The diss against Drake broke a series of records when it was released, including the biggest single-day streams for a hip-hop track, but Drake’s lawyers claim that Universal Music “did not rely on chance… it instead launched a campaign to manipulate and saturate the streaming services and airwaves”.

Legal papers filed in New York which emerged on November 25th describe a conspiracy involving bots, payola, and even firing Universal Music staff loyal to Drake in order to boost the prominence of “Not Like Us”. A second filing which emerged late last night (November 26), reveals that Drake's legal team are also pursuing a defamation case around Lamar “falsely” accusing him of being a “certified paedophile“. 

In particular, Drake’s lawyers claim that the music multinational “conspired with and paid currently unknown parties” to “artificially” raise the track’s streams, as well as cutting its royalty rates for “Not Like Us” by 30 per cent in exchange for Spotify recommending it to users. The papers also reference online reports that fans who asked Apple’s voice assistant to play Drake’s Certified Loverboy were instead directed to “Not Like Us”. 

Adding to these claims in the second legal report filed on November 26, Drake’s lawyers write: “UMG … could have refused to release or distribute the song or required the offending material to be edited and/or removed, but UMG chose to do the opposite. 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.”

A spokesperson for Universal Music, under which both Lamar and Drake are signed, has responded: “The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” adding that “fans choose the music they want to hear”.

“We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns,” the statement continued. “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.” Lamar and Spotify are yet to respond.

The preliminary legal actions follows just days after Lamar dropped surprise album GNX last Friday (November 22), which instantly jumped to the top of streaming charts worldwide. Appearing on a live stream with Canadian streamer XQC in the wake of this album release, Drake appeared to make comments referencing the feud with Lamar, stating “I’m here, as you can see, fully intact. Mind, body, and soul. In case you are wondering, right? You need facts to take me out. Fairytales won’t do it.”

“Not Like Us” was recently nominated for four Grammy awards, but Kendrick still trails behind Drake in terms of overall streams, with Drake being the 13th most streamed artist in the world, and Lamar landing at 24th.

This article has been updated.