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The estate of Tupac Shakur is threatening legal action against Canadian rapper Drake, who appeared to use artificial intelligence to simulate the late rapper’s voice on a diss track.
Shared Friday on Drake’s Instagram account, the track, “Taylor Made Freestyle,” was aimed at rapper Kendrick Lamar, whom Drake has been entwined in public rap beef with lately. It also included what appeared to be an AI-generated voice from rapper Snoop Dogg, as well as verses from Drake himself.
In the song, a fake Shakur can be heard taunting Lamar, rapping, “You asked for the smoke, now it seem you too busy for the smoke.”
As reported by Billboard on Wednesday, Shakur’s estate sent a cease-and-desist letter demanding that Drake, whose government name is Aubrey Graham, remove the freestyle from social media within 24 hours. Otherwise, the estate will go through with legal action.
“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” attorney Howard King wrote in the letter, according to Billboard. “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.”
Drake’s track followed the release of rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin’s joint album, “We Don’t Trust You,” from last month, which features Lamar on a song called “Like That.”
On the song, Lamar rapped, “Motherfuck the big three, ni**a it’s just big me.”
The line pointed to and dismissed the unofficial “big three of hip-hop” category that many rap fans often put Lamar, Drake and J. Cole in. Lamar also rapped other lines on the song that listeners thought were directed at Drake and Cole, including, “Your best work is a light pack / Ni**a, Prince outlived Mike Jack / Ni**a, bum, ‘fore all your dogs get buried / That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see ‘Pet Sematary.’”
Lamar has named Shakur as one of his inspirations, and Snoop has complimented and collaborated with Lamar. All three are also West Coast rappers. As such, Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle” seemed to be an attempt to taunt Lamar into responding to both this song and another diss track Drake made for Lamar named “Push Ups,” which was released officially last week.
In the cease-and-desist letter, King said that 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.”
“If you comply, the estate will consider whether an informal negotiation to resolve this matter makes sense,” King continued. “If you do not comply, our client has authorized this firm to pursue all of its legal remedies including, but not limited to, an action for violation of … the estate’s copyright, publicity and personality rights and the resulting damages, injunctive relief, and punitive damages and attorneys’ fees.”
A representative for Drake did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for comment.
The rise in the use of AI in music has its benefits, like helping with mixing and mastering. But it also presents its own set of challenges, including the unwarranted replication of artists’ and producers’ voices and styles.
It happened previously in April last year, when an artist called Ghostwriter used the AI-generated voices of Drake and The Weeknd on a track called “Heart on My Sleeve.”