*Tupac Shakur’s estate sent a cease-and-desist letter to Drake after he used AI to generate the late rapper’s voice in a new diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
USA Today reports that the estate of Pac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, called it “a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
In a letter sent to Drake’s team, the estate said it’s “deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality in the ‘Taylor Made (Freestyle)’ record.”
The letter continues, “We demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication and exploitation of the Record, and that you immediately take ALL NECESSARY steps to remove it from all platforms where it is publicly available.”
Drake posted the “Taylor Made” audio on his Instagram last week, but the post is no longer there as of Thursday.
The letter said that using AI to generate Tupac’s voice is “a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the Estate’s legal rights. … 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.”
Drake and Kendrick have been feuding since 2013 when Kendrick dropped his verse on Big Sean’s “Control.” He called out several of his peers, including Drake. He reignited their feud most recently by aiming at the Canadian artist with his lyrics on the diss track “Like That” off Future and Metro Boomin’s “We Don’t Trust You” album.
According to Variety, the AI Tupac speaks directly to Lamar on the “Taylor Made Freestyle,” rapping: “Kendrick we need ya, the West Coast savior / Engraving your name in some hip-hop history/Call him a bi*tch for me / Talk about him liking young girls as a gift for me.”
Drake reportedly used Snoop Dogg’s computer-generated voice to clap back at Lamar, saying: “World is watching this chess game, but oh you out of moves Dot / You know that the OG never fucking doubted you / But right now it seem like you posted up without a clue / Or what the fuck you ’bout to do.”
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