Canadian rapper Drake has taken his feud with rival Kendrick Lamar to the US court system, accusing record label Universal Music of conspiring to inflate the California hip-hop star’s streaming numbers and of defaming him, according to legal filings and media reports Tuesday. Drake, the highest-grossing rapper in the world last year, and Lamar, a Pulitzer Prize winner, have long been locked in an escalating war of words in a music genre known for celebrating and obsessing over rivalries between its biggest stars.

The so-called “beef” ramped up sharply this year as each man released vitriolic “diss tracks” criticizing the other.

Lamar’s “Not Like Us,” which accused Drake of having relationships with underage girls, enjoyed huge commercial and critical acclaim, exceeding 900 million plays on streaming platform Spotify and earning multiple Grammy nominations, including song of the year.

But in the first of two court filings this week, Drake on Monday accused Universal Music Group (UMG), which distributed the song, of charging Spotify unusually low prices to license the track, in return for the streamer widely recommending the track to its subscribers.

According to a court document filed in New York, Drake also accused UMG of using automated computer “bots” to artificially inflate the supposed number of times the song has been streamed on Spotify. 

In a second petition Tuesday, filed in Texas and first reported by music site Billboard, Drake claimed UMG was aware that the song contained “offending material,” but distributed it anyway, without insisting on any changes or edits to its lyrics.

“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,” the petition said.

Neither of this week’s legal actions are lawsuits, nor are they formal allegations of fraud or defamation.

But evidence collected from both petitions could be used for a lawsuit at a later stage.

“The suggestion that UMG would do anything to undermine any of its artists is offensive and untrue,” a spokesperson for UMG said in an e-mailed statement.

“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.”

Drake’s legal moves come just days after Lamar surprised fans on Friday with the unannounced release of a new album, “GNX.”

In February, he will headline the Super Bowl halftime show -- a coveted showcase that takes place in the middle of the NFL season finale, which is routinely watched by around a third of Americans.—AFP