Drake receives cease-and-desist letter from Tupac Shakur's estate over AI diss track
CBC Music | Posted: April 24, 2024 8:12 PM | Last Updated: April 26
The Toronto rapper's song 'Taylor Made Freestyle' features AI vocals of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg
After releasing "Taylor Made Freestyle" on April 19, Drake received a cease-and-desist letter from Tupac Shakur's estate over the song's use of AI. As of Apr. 26, the song is no longer on Drake's social media channels.
LISTEN | The audio for Drake's song 'Taylor Made Freestyle':
The diss track was Drake's latest dig at Kendrick Lamar amid their ongoing feud, and featured AI-generated voices resembling Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
The letter stated that Drake must remove the track within 24 hours to avoid legal action, according to Billboard.
"The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac's voice and personality," attorney Howard King wrote in the letter. "Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac's publicity and the estate's legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use."
"The unauthorized, equally dismaying use of Tupac's voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, compounds the insult," King continued in the document.
LISTEN | The official audio for Drake's diss track 'Push Ups':
Drake first released "Push Ups," a diss track targeting Lamar, Metro Boomin, Rick Ross and the Weeknd on Apr. 19. A few hours later, he followed it up with "Taylor Made Freestyle," putting audio of the song on Instagram and X, formerly known as Twitter.
On "Taylor Made Freestyle," the AI voice of Shakur raps several lyrics encouraging Lamar to fight back at Drake including: "Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast saviour/ Engraving your name in some hip-hop history."
Snoop Dogg reacted to hearing his voice on the song in a video posted to his Instagram.
"Taylor Made Freestyle" is currently not available on streaming platforms.