Was Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” Drake Diss Boosted By Streaming Bots?

Kendrick Lamar is now facing allegations that he utilized illegitimate streaming methods to achieve the success of his “Not Like Us” Drake diss.

An underage young man, who identified himself as Anthony Saleh claims Kendrick’s record label hired him to use streaming bots to promote “Not Like Us” during a live stream conversation with Akademics. Saleh claims he handled the promotion and via his management firm which is allegedly called Emagen Entertainment group.

Saleh was reportedly paid a $2500 down payment to provide 30 million streams. Saleh also went on to claim that he’s received threats from parties connected to Kendrick and has not been paid the full fee that was agreed upon for his services in promoting the record.

And in an effort to prove the credibility of his claims, Saleh reportedly released ohoto evidence of payment receipts between his company and Kendrick’s label which serves as compensation for the botting services he provided for the single. Saleh also reportedly created a fake Instagram account to which he flooded over 160,000 followers in yet another effort to back up the validity of his claims.

Since the theory emerged Drake fans have been contributing to the discourse surrounding the allegations by forging connections between the performance of the diss records themselves and the context surrounding them. A user on Twitter (X) rehashed a tweet shared last month in which they appeared to discover Kendrick’s team was using bots on the platform to spread the pedophilia allegations that were being perpetuated in the West Coast rapper’s diss tracks aimed at Drake.

Akademiks also reposted an early theory claiming Drake’s releases were being booted with dislikes after the YouTube videos for his releases such as “Family Matters” and “The Heart Part 6” along with his feature on Sexyy Red’s “U My Everything” attracted hundreds of thousands of dislikes. Fans also asserted Drizzy may have known about the botting activity all along, and even referenced it in “Family Matters” in the bar: “Anthony set up the plays/Kojo be chargin’ you double for nothin’.”