Sheryl Crow slams Drake’s AI use of Tupac Shakur
In a recent article for the BBC, Sheryl Crow has given her opinion on the controversial practice of using AI in music. While it may seem harmless now, she describes its use as a “slippery slope” and specifically calls out Drake, slamming the way he embraced the practice during his recent public beef with fellow rapper Kendrick Lamar.
As part of their beef, while everyone was waiting for Lamar to respond to Drake’s diss ‘Push Ups’, Drake also released a track called ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’. The song used AI to replicate Tupac’s voice to rap, encouraging the Compton rapper to drop his reply as people were waiting on him.
When it came out, the song received mixed reviews. While some fans said that the use of AI was creative and entertaining, many found it disrespectful to Tupac’s legacy and dangerous to the rap game. The song also featured an AI version of Snoop Dogg’s vocals.
The track was made to intentionally frustrate Kendrick. Throughout his music, the Compton rapper frequently mentions Tupac and makes it clear how much he inspired him. Not to mention Tupac is also featured on the last song, ‘Mortal Man’, of Kendrick’s critically acclaimed album To Pimp A Butterfly. After a short track, it cuts to him interviewing Tupac, using snippets of old footage of the rapper to put what sounds like a genuine conversation together.
Drake was eventually forced to take ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ down only one week after releasing it following a lawsuit filed by Tupac’s estate. They claimed that Drake had no right to use his voice and, therefore, would need to take the song down. Drake has also removed another one of his responses to Kendrick, ‘The Heart Part 6’, which has been taken off streaming sites following a relatively bad reception.
One person who didn’t care for ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ was Sheryl Crow. She took particular issue with the Toronto rapper for using Tupac’s voice and doesn’t believe that the diss track should ever have been released.
Via the BBC, she said, “You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that. I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll say sorry later’. But it’s already done, and people will find it even if he takes it down. It’s hateful. It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us.”
Listen to Drake’s ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ below.