Drake Has 24 Hours To Remove “Taylor Made Freestyle,” Per Tupac Shakur’s Estate

Drake, a Canadian rapper, has come under fire from the estate of Tupac Shakur for allegedly using artificial intelligence to mimic the late rapper’s voice on a diss track.

The song “Taylor Made Freestyle,” which Drake posted on Instagram on Friday, was directed at rapper Kendrick Lamar, with whom Drake has recently been involved in a public rap feud. Drake’s own verses were added, along with what sounded like Snoop Dogg’s artificial intelligence voice.

“You asked for the smoke, now it seem you too busy for the smoke,” raps a phony Shakur, mocking Lamar in the song.

Shakur’s estate demanded in a cease-and-desist letter that Drake, whose legal name is Aubrey Graham, take down the freestyle from social media within a day, as was reported by Billboard on Wednesday. If not, the estate will proceed with a lawsuit.

Attorney Howard King said in the letter, “The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” as reported by Billboard. “The record is a clear exploitation of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time, in addition to being a brazen breach of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights. This use would never have received clearance from the Estate.

Drake’s song was released last month after Future and producer Metro Boomin’s collaborative album “We Don’t Trust You,” which includes Kendrick Lamar on the song “Like That.”

“Motherfuck the big three, ni**a it’s just big me,” Lamar rapped in the song.

The remark alluded to and disregarded the unofficial “big three of hip-hop” group that Lamar, Drake, and J. Cole are frequently placed in by rap fans. “Your best work is a light pack / Nia, Prince outlived Mike Jack / Nia, bum, ‘fore all your dogs get buried / That’s a K with all these nines, he gon’ see ‘Pet Sematary,'” Lamar rapped in the song, along with additional lyrics that some fans believed were meant at Drake and Cole.

Shakur has been cited by Lamar as an inspiration, and Snoop has both praised and worked with Lamar. In addition, all three are West Coast rappers. Therefore, it appeared like Drake was trying to get Kenan to answer to this song as well as another diss track he wrote for him called “Push Ups,” which was formally released last week, with his “Taylor Made Freestyle.”

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,” King claimed in the cease-and-desist letter.

“The estate will evaluate whether an informal negotiation to settle this issue makes sense if you comply,” King went on. “In the event of noncompliance, our client has granted permission to this firm to pursue all available legal remedies, such as pursuing an action for infringement of the estate’s copyright, publicity, and personality rights, along with the associated damages, injunctive relief, punitive damages, and legal fees.”

HuffPost reached out to Drake for comment, but he did not get back to us right away.

AI is increasingly being used in music, which has advantages such as aiding in mixing and mastering. However, it also brings with it a unique set of difficulties, such as the unjustified emulation of the voices and styles of producers and musicians.

The Weekend and Drake’s voices were synthesized by an artist named Ghostwriter for a song titled “Heart on My Sleeve” in April of last year.