The "lawsuit" from Drake toward Universal Music Group and Spotify yesterday has the internet eviscerating him. People are calling this the definition of spiraling and using the "fragile opp" label against him. In fact, hip-hop fixtures such as Charlamagne tha God, Mustard, and TDE Punch even got in on the action. Similar comments are coming out in droves today as well, thanks to a particular namedrop in the legal documents. A Twitter account, King Wow, sifted through and noticed that the NFR Podcast was allegedly paid to "promote "Not Like Us" and its Video without disclosing the payment."
It further alleges, "As part of its deal with UMG, the NFR Podcast published podcast episodes, tweets, and other content publicly about the Song. And in a sea-change for UMG's internal policy, UMG removed the Song's copyright restrictions on YouTube and Twitch, thereby "whitelisting" the Song (for the first time in UMG history), which further incentivized influencers to spread the Song." As we said, the comments are just as ruthless as they were when the initial news broke. For example, one Twitter user writes, "Fragile OPPS activity."
If you have never tuned into any of the NFR Podcast's videos or content of any kind, their page is run by Canadians Lu Guerini and Anthony D’Aliesio. For the most part, they support a lot of Drake's music and the things he's done throughout his career. Both are also huge fans of Kendrick Lamar's. However, still seeing their platform in this "pre-action" petition is quite a shocking turn of events.
As it stands, though, Drake's documents are swinging for the fences. He accuses UMG and Spotify of violating the RICO Act, as well as deceptive business practices and false advertising. Overall, he also alleges that both companies were using an "illegal" scheme to boost streams and other content surrounding "Not Like Us." Specifically, Drake's documents allege that UMG has been using bots, payola, and more to carry this out.
