Drake drops lawsuit over Kendrick Lamar’s Not Like Us

Drake has dropped a lawsuit against Universal Music and Spotify in which he accused the companies of conspiring to increase streams of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track Not Like Us.

Canadian star took action last Novemberalleging that music companies used bots, payola and other methods to promote Lamar’s song that accused him of pedophilia.

“Not Like Us’ record-breaking broadcast, sales and radio airplay distribution was intentional and appeared to rely on irregular and inappropriate business practices,” the court documents allege.

However, on Tuesday, Drake’s lawyers voluntarily withdrew the previous application, effectively ending the case.

According to court documents filed in New York, the star met with Spotify and Universal representatives on Tuesday to discuss the case.

Spotify, which filed the opposition, did not object to the recall and termination. Universal, which did not file an opposition, withdrew its position.

A related casefiled against Universal and the iHeartRadio radio network in Texas is still active.

“Not Like Us” was considered by many to be the decisive blow in the long-running feud between Drake and Lamar that began in the early 2010s.

In the lyrics, Lamar claims that Drake “loves them young” and accuses him of using other, more reliable rappers to raise his profile.

About 24 hours later, Drake responded with a track called The Heart Part 6, where he denied the allegations, saying, “I’ve never been with anybody underage.” He also claimed he fed Lamar “false” information through a double agent.

However, his track didn’t garner the same attention as Not Like Us, which debuted at number one on the US chart and has racked up more than 1 billion streams on Spotify.

In the lawsuit, Drake accused Universal, which distributes both his and Lamar’s music, of artificially inflating the number of songs.

In court documents, he alleged that the label licensed the song “at deeply discounted rates to Spotify” and used bots to stream the song, giving the “false impression that the song was more popular than it actually was.”

The documents weren’t a lawsuit, but a “pre-suit motion” in which Drake’s lawyers tried to gain access to internal documents at Spotify and Universal that could support their case.

In a statement at the time, Universal told the BBC: “To suggest that (the company) would go out of their way to undermine any of their artists is offensive and untrue.

“We use the highest ethical standards in our marketing and advertising campaigns. No amount of contrived and absurd legal arguments in this pre-action statement can mask the fact that fans choose the music they want to hear.”

Spotify also responded that there was “no economic incentive for users to stream Not Like Us over any of Drake’s tracks.”

The Swedish streaming company later sent a statement of opposition to Drake’s petition, saying it “should be rejected.”

Music industry experts were skeptical that the allegations would ever go to trial.

Some have speculated that Drake used the lawsuit to get information from Universal that would allow him to sue for breach of contract and back out of the deal.

But entertainment attorney Kevin Cazzini said the proposed lawsuit could do more harm than good to Drake’s reputation.

The media coverage “really only serves to draw more attention to lyrics that Drake finds offensive or objectionable.” he told Rolling Stone magazine.

“And I think the number of streams of the song will go up again.”