What is a "pre-action” petition? Drake claims UMG paid Apple to have Siri “purposely misdirect users” to Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us

On Monday, November 25, Drake initiated legal action against Universal Music Group (UMG), alleging that the company partnered with streaming giants Spotify and Apple to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar's chart-topping track Not Like Us.

As per a Billboard report dated November 25, at the Manhattan court on Monday, Drizzy's Frozen Moments LLC accused UMG of launching illegal schemes involving payolas, bots, and other methods to inflate the song's popularity. Notably, UMG distributes both artists’ recordings.

In technical terms, the filing wasn't a lawsuit but was a pre-action petition. According to LexisNexis, 'pre-action' is defined as a period of time following a dispute but before the commencement of formal legal proceedings.

Under New York law, a pre-action petition is a procedure that seeks to gather information before the filing of an official lawsuit. Parties named in a pre-action petition might not necessarily be targeted in the subsequent lawsuit.

In one particular claim, the petition alleged that UMG paid Apple to have its voice assistant Siri "purposely misdirect users" and make them listen to Not Like Us.

“Online sources reported that when users asked Siri to play the album ‘Certified Lover Boy’ by [Drizzy], Siri instead played ‘Not Like Us,’ which contains the lyric ‘certified pedophile,’ an allegation against Drake,” claimed Drake's lawyers, as per Billboard.

However, Apple has refrained from commenting on the accusations directed at the multi-billion dollar conglomerate.

Meanwhile, a UMG spokesperson flatly denied the allegations directed by the Canadian rapper, as they told Variety:

“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.”

The legal drama adds yet another chapter to the infamous beef between Drizzy and Kendrick Lamar.

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The beef between Drake and Kendrick Lamar, explored

Kendrick Lamar (Image via Getty)

Drake and Kendrick Lamar have been involved in a rap feud since the early 2010s. It began in 2013 when K Dot featured in Big Sean's song Control and fired shots at Drizzy. However, the Compton rapper later clarified that it was friendly banter.

Eleven years later, on March 22, 2024, Kendrick Lamar dissed Drizzy and J. Cole in his track Like That, in response to J. Cole's First Person Shooter. Following this, Drake's response came in April 2024, when he released Push Ups and Taylor Made Freestyle. However, Taylor Made Freestyle had to be removed after Tupac Shakur's estate filed a copyright claim against the Canadian rapper.

Days later, Kendrick Lamar hit back with Euphoria and 6.16 in LA, but the feud reached its peak when Drizzy dropped Family Matters on May 3. In the track, he launched a personal attack on K Dot, including accusing him of domestic violence.

Within an hour of Family Matters' release, Lamar dropped Meet the Grahams, wherein each verse is written like a letter dedicated to a family member of Drizzy, including his parents Sandra and Dennis Graham, and son Adonis. The Compton rapper also accused Drake of being a s*xual predator and fathering a secret child.

A day later, Lamar followed it up with Not Like Us, zeroing in on the claims made in Meet the Grahams.

As a response, Drake released The Heart Part 6 on May 5. In the song, Drizzy alleged that his team fed false information to Lamar about the secret child, which was then included in his diss tracks.

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Although the feud seemed to have cooled down, fans think the lawsuit might rekindle it once again.