UPDATE: 4/26/2024: According to Pitchfork, after posting “Taylor Made Freestyle” on social media last week, Drake has taken down the Kendrick Lamar diss track. The song was subject to a legal letter from Shakur’s estate, which cited the “misappropriation and misuse of Tupac Shakur personality rights.”
According to Pitchfork, the estate of the late Tupac Shakur sent cease and desist letter to Drake over the rapper’s song “Taylor Made Freestyle.” The track is a diss aimed at Kendrick Lamar and it features vocals that were meant to sound like Shakur, which was likely created by using artificial intelligence. The estate is asking Drake to take down the song, which the artist posted on social media last week.
Shakur‘s Estate is being represented by entertainment lawyer Howard E. King. In his letter to Drake, King called the song “a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the Estate’s legal right” and “a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
Kings continues with: “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.” Shakur’s estate plans “to pursue all of its legal remedies” if Drake does not take down “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
On another note, Drake’s and Lamar’s long feud has been making waves in the past weeks. Lamar took shots at Drake and J. Cole on the tune “Like That.” Drake responded with “Push Ups,” where he followed the diss song with “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
On the freestyle, Drake used AI Shakur and AI Snoop Dogg vocals to taunt Lamar into responding to him again. Dogg has not publicly expressed his desire to take legal action against Drake but he did post video to show his confusion with the situation.
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