Nicki Minaj’s previous remarks about Drake benefiting from Spotify have resurfaced in light of his recent legal actions against Universal Music Group (UMG). In 2018, Spotify prominently featured Drake on the covers of all their editorial playlists, including those unrelated to his music like “Best of British,” “Massive Dance Hits,” and “Fresh Gospel,” to promote his Scorpion album, which amassed an impressive 732,000 units in its first week. At that time, Nicki took to X (formerly Twitter) to criticize Spotify’s favoritism, stating: “Spotify put drake’s face on every playlist but told me they’d have to teach me a lesson for playing my music 10 mins early on #QueenRadio. Even tho they’ve been giving away my music for free for years & I am one of the top Spotify artists of all time.”
These comments have gained renewed attention amid Drake’s significant legal dispute with UMG. Drake alleges that UMG employed streaming bots and payola to artificially inflate the popularity of Kendrick Lamar’s diss track “Not Like Us.” In his “pre-action” petitions, Drake claims that UMG provided Spotify with a 30 percent discount to license the song and that an individual connected to Interscope, Kendrick’s primary label under UMG, paid thousands to generate 30 million fake Spotify streams for the track.
Reactions to Drake’s lawsuit have been mixed within the Hip Hop community. One fan lauded Nicki’s honesty, commenting on X: “This woman never lies about what’s going on in the music industry. Ever.” Another user highlighted Drake’s hypocrisy, noting his reliance on Spotify and other streaming platforms: “And this why idgaf bout Drake feelings !! Bitch you let my sister BURN.” Additionally, some suggest Drake is now opposing the very Spotify-driven system that once benefited him, with comments like: “‘Drake is going against the machine’. ‘Economic harm.’”
Since Drake filed his petitions last week, “Not Like Us” has seen a 440 percent increase in sales and a 20 percent rise in streams, according to Talk of the Charts. Meanwhile, Kendrick Lamar’s latest album, N·G·N·X, debuted at number one on the Billboard 200 with 319,000 first-week units, surpassing initial projections of 291,000.
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