Drake files federal lawsuit

Drake is moving forward with his legal battle against his own record label, filing a federal lawsuit against Universal Music Group alleging it defamed him by spreading a “false and malicious narrative” when it promoted Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.”

Drake, the Canadian rapper whose real name is Aubrey Drake Graham, filed the 81-page lawsuit Wednesday in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York.

Both Drake and Lamar are signed to UMG but under different divisions — Drake under Republic Records and Lamar under Interscope.

The lawsuit repeats some of the claims Drake made against UMG in a petition filed in November, when he accused it of conspiring to “artificially inflate” Lamar’s “Not Like Us” on Spotify by using pay-to-play schemes, bots and other tactics.

Lamar released the song over the summer amid a monthslong feud with Drake.

“UMG’s campaign went well beyond the traditional music company playbook — indeed, UMG has unleashed every weapon in its arsenal, including, on information and belief, certain practices that are unlawful,” Wednesday’s lawsuit says.

It alleges that UMG offered “financial incentives” to third parties to stream the song and promote it without disclosing the payments to the public. The label also removed copyright restrictions, which allowed content creators to play the song in their videos, according to the lawsuit.

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