A couple of weeks back, Drake dropped ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ on social media, a diss track which took aim at Kendrick Lamar through the AI-generated voices of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg. Now, the Canadian rapper seems to have removed the track after getting into some legal trouble.
The song began with the AI-generated voice of West Coast legend 2Pac, also known as Tupac Shakur, declaring, “Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast saviour, engraving your name in some hip-hop history…” An AI Snoop Dogg takes on the second verse, before Drake himself finishes the song with more attempts to taunt Lamar.
Drake’s verse also includes a reference to Taylor Swift, as he raps, “But now we gotta wait a fucking week, cause Taylor Swift is your new top, and if you bout to drop, she gotta approve.” Swift released her eleventh record, The Tortured Poets Department, on the same day Drake dropped ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’.
The strange choice to use AI to recreate Tupac’s voice has landed Drake in some legal trouble. Last week, he received a cease-and-desist order from Tupac’s estate, as revealed by Billboard. Litigator Howard King wrote that the estate were “deeply dismayed and disappointed” by the “unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality.”
He went on to deem it not only a “flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights,” but a “blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time,” concluding that the estate would never have signed off on it.
The litigator also acknowledged Lamar, the subject of the diss track, as a good friend of Tupac’s estate. Lamar has openly shared his love and admiration for the late rapper, penning a letter to him on the 19th anniversary of his death, as well as including dialogue from an old Tupac interview in his track ‘Mortal Man’.
‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ had not been released on streaming services, but the track has now been removed from Drake’s social media. He has not spoken about the track since its disappearance.
Snoop Dogg has also responded to the use of his voice on the track, sharing a short video on Instagram with his reaction. “They did what?” he asks, “When? How? Are you sure?” All valid questions. “I’m going back to bed,” Snoop concludes, “Good night.”