Drake Is Right—Payola Helped Kendrick. But Payola Helps Everyone

Drake Is Being A Karen But He's Not Wrong

The thing is, Drake is right. His recent legal action is the most Karenest thing in hiphop history but he’s not wrong. Drake is asserting that Universal Music Group (UMG) the entertainment conglomerate behind Kendrick (and Drake) used payola and bots to help “Not Like Us” blow up. In one way, it’s like Donald Trump in 2016 saying I didn’t lose, it was rigged against me. Drake is saying the battle he just lost was rigged against him. Former NFL running back Arian Foster tweeted, “This is Drake's Jan. 6." It is but he’s using lawyers to storm the capitol.

But there’s no question that payola helped make “Not Like Us” bigger because, get this, every song that blows up has payola behind it. It’s part of the music business. On my YouTube show about hiphop “Rap Latte,” my co-host King Green, a rapper with a record contract, said launching a major single costs about $250,000 in “promotional fees,” AKA payola.

Obviously, there was a ton of organic love for “Not Like Us”—I once went to the gym and did my whole 90 minute workout to it—but every song needs to pay to get past the gatekeepers. Let me explain how the secretive and shadowy world of payola works nowadays because it’ll help you understand how the industry really works and why most songs become popular.