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Drake Settles with iHeartMedia Amid ‘Not Like Us’ Payola Probe

Drake has reached a private deal with iHeartMedia while he probes allegations UMG engaged in a pay-to-play scheme with Kendrick Lamar's ‘Not Like Us’

Drake has reached a private settlement with iHeartMedia after he sued the Texas-based radio company amid his ongoing claims that his record label Universal Music Group ( UMG) made “covert payments” to promote airplay of Kendrick Lamar ’s diss track “Not Like Us.” In court filings, Drake has alleged that UMG Recordings “funneled payments to iHeartRadio and its radio stations as part of a pay-to-play scheme.” Drake said he already had “sufficient” evidence to pursue a defamation claim but lacked the “factual support necessary to determine whether he may bring claims of civil fraud and racketeering against UMG.” His filing in Texas alleged that UMG and unidentified co-conspirators “violated payola laws.” “Before it approved the release of the song, UMG knew that the song itself, as well as its accompanying album art and music video, attacked the character of another one of UMG’s most prominent artists, Drake, by falsely accusing him of being a sex offender, engaging in pedophilic acts, harboring sex offenders, and committing other criminal sexual acts,” Drake’s petition seeking the depositions reads.

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