Why is Drake suing UMG and Spotify over Kendrick Lamar?

Drake’s feud with Universal Music Group just escalated to DEFCON 1. The Toronto rapper has filed his second lawsuit against the music giant, with his lawyer having previously dropped allegations that UMG engaged in a "pay-to-play" scheme with iHeartRadio to boost Kendrick Lamar’s "false song" "Not Like Us" on the airwaves.

Yes, second lawsuit — this time alleging defamation. The first, filed on Monday to the New York State Supreme Court, claimed the label engaged in a scheme with Spotify, allegedly manipulating the platform in order to artificially inflate the popularity of "Not Like Us," an allegation that would provide an alternative explanation for the song's success besides music fans simply loving it. Lamar's track is a dancey, anthemic rap song, but it's also a diss track that directly throws shots at Drake, including lyrics that accuse the "Certified Lover Boy" of harboring sexual predators in his entourage, and going so far as to label them "certified pedophiles."

Heavy stuff, and it’s hit harder than anyone could've predicted. "Not Like Us" has become a cultural juggernaut, achieving a record-breaking tenure at the top of the Billboard rap chart, two separate peaks as the number one U.S. song on any chart, over 900 million Spotify streams at the time of this writing. The track has even been nominated for five Grammy awards as well (one of which is for the track's producer, not Lamar).

A spokesperson for Universal Music Group has vehemently denied the allegations, calling them "offensive and untrue." The statement went on to claim, "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."

Spotify, meanwhile, has declined to comment, despite multiple outlets reaching out for a response.

Drake’s Monday filing stops short of a full legal complaint. Instead, it’s a petition that could escalate into a lawsuit, with key figures from UMG and iHeartRadio expected to face depositions as Drake’s legal team seeks to gather evidence.

UMG has a deal to license Drake's music releases under its Republic label alongside releases from Drake's own Canadian label OVO Sound. According to Drake’s lawyers, there is "more than enough evidence" that UMG failed to take any action to prevent Lamar from defaming him on "Not Like Us." They argue this lack of intervention is particularly significant given that Lamar is signed to Interscope, which, like Republic, is under the very large UMG umbrella.

The filings on Monday and Tuesday come just days after Lamar released his surprise album GNX, which The Ringer's Charles Homles calls "a 45-minute treatise on the power of rolling up to your biggest hater's funeral to ensure they’ve departed this mortal coil."

Curiously, Lamar himself has not been named in any of the lawsuits. However, the filings argue that UMG showed favoritism for monetary gain between two artists signed under Universal at the expense of Drake's reputation.