Drake has been forced to remove his Kendrick Lamar diss track, ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’, after receiving a cease and desist from the estate of Tupac Shakur over the use of an AI likeness of the late rapper’s voice.
The track, which was released last Friday, is the latest chapter in the ongoing spat between Lamar and Drake — which was reignited last month when Kendrick had seemingly hit out at the Canadian artist in an uncredited verse on Future’s ‘Like That’, also featuring Metro Boomin.
Drake hit back with two diss tracks, the first entitled ‘Push-ups’, and then doubled down with ‘Taylor-Made Freestyle’ — in which he uses Tupac’s voice to berate Kendrick for not responding to his original diss, as well as making comments about Kendrick’s height.
Variety reports that ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ has now been removed from Drake’s social media — though fan uploads of the track are still available on YouTube and TikTok.
Last week Tupac’s estate issued a cease and desist letter, labelling the track a “flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights.”
In the letter, which was obtained by PEOPLE, attorney Howard King labelled the track a “blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.” Adding the estate “would never have given its approval for this use.”
Tupac’s estate referenced the content and nature of the track in their statement, with King commenting that “the unauthorised, 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.”
According to a legal expert at PEOPLE, California law regarding the use of AI in music is “murky” though the use of Tupac’s voice “should be protected” against the use for advertising, musical compositions and more.
However, they add that Drake never put the ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ on streaming services, and therefore could be seen as not financially benefitting from the AI likeness, which could mean he is exempt from legal charges on copyright grounds.
Last year, AI likenesses of Drake and The Weeknd’s voices were used on a track called ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ — which went viral across streaming services and social media, before Universal Music Group removed it from all platforms.
Drake’s likeness was also used to imitate rapper Ice Spice in a viral meme, which Drake responded to by saying “This is the final straw”.
