Drake’s legal team filed a “pre-action” petition in a Manhattan court on Monday (November 25), alleging Universal Music Group (UMG) used bots, payola and other methods to inflate Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us”. The filing also alleges that the label paid Spotify to promote “Not Like Us” to users searching for unrelated songs and artists. The petition also claims UMG paid Apple to have Siri intentionally redirect users requesting songs from Drake’s catalog, instead offering “Not Like Us”.

This pre action petiton is not a lawsuit, but a step required by New York State to secure information before officially filing. Drake’s attorneys say he raised the issue with UMG before heading to court, but that the music giant has “no interest in taking responsibility for its misconduct.” Instead, Drake says UMG has “pointed the finger” at Lamar and insisted that Drake should sue his rival rather than the label. He also claims that UMG told him that the label would sue Lamar if Drake ended up filing his own lawsuit.