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Drake Tries to Save His Failing Reputation

Drake Tries to Save His Failing Reputation

Plus, Kendrick dropped a surprise music video for "squabble up."

November 27, 2024

The pre-orders for physical copies of Kendrick Lamar’s surprise album GNX have launched. In other news:

Billboard Hot 100 📈
Drake is crashing out 😬
Kendrick’s new music video shows love to L.A. ❤️
Industry Insights 🔎

Billboard Hot 100

As reported by Billboard for the week of November 30.

The above chart shows Billboard’s Hot 100 ranking for this week. The Hot 100 ranks songs based on streaming activity, radio airplay audience impressions, and sales data—all measured by Luminate.

“Sticky” and “Like Him” from Tyler the Creator’s CHROMAKOPIA are making a comeback as Glorilla and Sexxy Red’s newest collab is also gaining momentum thanks to social media.

Drake’s L Gets Even Bigger With His New Legal Actions

Drake has taken on many cosplay moments throughout his career. He has become an island wannabe on tracks like “Controlla” and “Work.” He decided to get into his British bag and take on the UK Drill sound with “War.”

Now, the Canadian rapper has decided to do his most controversial roleplay yet. Putting on a 2008 brown wig (complete with the giant sunglasses), Drizzy has gone into full Karen mode to try to legally fight back against “Not Like Us” since his lyrics don’t cut it.

This is low, even for Drake

In their “pre-action petition” filed on November 25, Drake’s Frozen Moments LLC has accused both UMG and Spotify of conspiracy to artificially boost the popularity of Kendrick’s “Not Like Us” (because surely, it couldn’t be that it was a better song!).

Drake’s attorneys are accusing UMG of violating the federal RICO statute. They also claim that the group charged Spotify “30% lower than its usual licensing rates for ‘Not Like Us’ in exchange for Spotify affirmatively recommending the song to users who are searching for other unrelated songs and artists.”

UMG is also accused of paying unknown parties to use “bots” to artificially inflate the streaming numbers of “Not Like Us” and deceive the public into thinking it was more popular than it actually was.

They even said that Siri was in on the plan, misdirecting Apple users on purpose to listen to the song.

Both Lamar and Drake have spent their entire careers working with UMG. Drizzy first signed a deal through Lil Wayne’s Young Money label and then directly to Republic. K. Dot was first associated with UMG through TDE but now licenses his own company, pgLang, through Interscope.

Nevertheless, UMG and Spotify have been blatantly supporting Drake for years, so the petition is wild, to say the least. UMG had the Drizzy diss “The Story of Adidon” removed from YouTube days after its release, while Spotify changed its entire layout to celebrate the rapper dropping Scorpion in 2018.

UMG responds

If you thought that UMG wouldn’t fight back, though, you’re dead wrong. They released a statement shortly after the news dropped and denied Drake’s allegations.

“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue. We employ the highest ethical practices in our marketing and promotional campaigns. 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 spokesperson for UMG said.

Fans have also highlighted the eyebrow-raising fact that Drake took legal action over the streams but not the “certified pedophile” allegations in the song.

Drake cries defamation

However, Drake’s team filed a second legal action against UMG on November 26, alleging defamation.

The rapper’s team said in the filing that “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.”

They also now brought iHeartRadio into the chaos, claiming that UMG “funneled payments” to the radio giant as part of a “pay-to-play scheme.”

UMG and iHeartRadio have not responded to the new allegations. However, social media users (including those on TDE) are pointing out how Drizzy has never looked so lame in his entire career.

Are you still Team Drake?

Click an option below to weigh in

All of the Easter Eggs in the “squabble up” Music Video

Kendrick Lamar squabble up music video still

Kendrick extended his year-long reign by dropping his surprise album GNX on November 22. The twelve-track project included smooth jams like “luther” with help from SZA, the newest addition to his “Heart” series, and the song he teased at the beginning of the “Not Like Us” video—”squabble up.”

The song had its own music video drop on November 25—filled with Easter eggs paying homage to L.A.

What hints did Kendrick drop?

Directed by Calmatic, K. Dot showed love to iconic album covers like Ice-T’s Power (hence the gun-holding woman with her cakes out) and Nate Dogg’s G-Funk Classics project. The overall vibe and set-up of the video also reference The Roots’ 1999 music video for The New Movement.

He took a spiritual approach by referencing Issac Hayes’ Black Moses cover art and held up a sign proclaiming that “JESUS SAVES GANGSTERS TOO.”

When it comes to TV and movies, a kid riding on a bike appears as K. Dot and raps, “Don’t hit him, he got kids with him, my apologies.” The child was a reference to the 1993 movie A Menace II Society (which Kendrick has shared he was a fan of back in 2013).

The video also featured the classic Soul Train scramble board, though it hasn't been confirmed yet what it’s trying to spell out.

While sitting back and reading the book How to Be Like Kendrick For Dummies, signature West Coast mentions like the Trunk Boiz’ “Scraper Bike,” a photo booth featuring the group CUZZOSx5, and signs for the Compton Christmas Parade and the 105 Freeway street sign were on display. He also put the unofficial African-American flag on full display.

With a surprise album and music video being dropped within days of each other, who knows what Kendrick has up his sleeve next? Regardless, fans are sitting on the edges of their seats.

What did y’all think of the music video?