Drake Used AI in a Diss Track And Was Forced to Take It Down
Throughout his career, music mogul Drake has always seemed to be ahead of the curve in the hip hop world, but this time it may have backfired on me. The Toronto rapper has found himself in the midst of a feisty rap feud that started with Compton, California rapper Kendrick Lamar and Fayetteville, North Carolina’s J. Cole about a month ago. This intense rap beef energy, however, has spread like an epidemic amongst modern-yet-aging hip hop artists, and all these subsequent beefs that have emerged almost seem like a ploy for relevancy.
While due to rap beef principle, Drake had to clap back at the viral verse Kendrick dropped on the track, “Like That,” featured on Future and Metro Boomin’s album, We Don’t Trust You. However many people believe Drizzy may have gone a little too far-and this doesn’t mean with his words.
On Friday, April 19, Drake dropped diss track “Push Ups” on all streaming platforms. Additionally he posted an additional track called “Taylor Made Freestyle” to his social media pages with the caption, “While we wait on you I guess.”
The latter song caught many listeners by surprise as the rapper uses artificial intelligence to replicate the voices of the late Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg on it.
With the use of AI being a touchy subject in the music industry-especially when it’s copying real artists’ voices-fans were split on the validity of “Taylor Made Freestyle.” Some found the track to be offensive to Tupac and Snoop, and disingenuous due to the AI use. Others debunked the message Drake was trying to portray in the song, finding it clever.
The song starts with AI Tupac addressing Kendrick Lamar like he’s in a dream state. The AI verse tells the Compton rapper that he needs to represent the West Coast and can’t have someone like Drake showing him up in the rap game.
“Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior/ Engraving your name in some hip-hop history/ If you deal with this viciously/ You seem a little nervous about all the publicity/ F— this Canadian lightskin, Dot/ We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man/ Call him a b— for me,” AI Pac raps, as highlighted on Billboard.
AI Snoop then comes in on the second verse, adding pressure to Kendrick to respond with a better diss against Drake. Drizzy finally enters the chat on the third verse, coming for K-Dot by calling him a coward and insinuating that he’s irrelevant. He then notes the drop of Taylor Swift’s album, “The Tortured Poets Department”, and alludes that Kendrick’s irrelevancy compared to Swift will halt him from dropping a track in response due to all the attention being on Swift.
“But now we gotta wait a f—ing week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new top, and if you ’bout to drop, she gotta approve,” he raps.
According to supporters of “Taylor Made Freestyle” the purpose of using AI Pac and Snoop were to portray this story of Kendrick dreaming of two West Coast icons that-in Drake’s mind-he has difficulty measuring up to. Unfortunately to Drake and his PR team, not everybody found this song to be so witful-including Tupac’s estate.
The following Friday, April 26, Drake was forced to take “Taylor Made Freestyle” off all platforms due to a threat of a lawsuit from Tupac’s estate. According to Billboard, a cease-and-desist letter was sent to Drake by litigator and representative of the Shakur estate, Howard King.
“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” King wrote. “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.”
King goes on to explain how this AI use of Tupac’s voice is a wrongful representation of him that Tupac himself couldn’t approve of, and that they would seek damages from the song which includes all profits and also damages for any harm caused by this song to the Shakur estate.
King also highlights an instance where Drake himself approved of taking down an AI song called “Heart On My Sleeve,” which replicated his voice along with R&B/Pop singer, The Weeknd’s vocals. The song was taken off all platforms last year, and King notes this irony.
Lastly, King also adds the estate’s amicable affiliation with Kendrick Lamar.
“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,” he wrote.
This latest occasion of AI misuse in music showcases a bigger issue: How are artists (alive or dead) supposed to protect their voice and brand in a fast-paced growing age of manipulative computer technology? What sanctions should be placed on AI use in the music industry?
At the beginning of April, over 200 artists signed an open letter demanding the stop of AI usage in music “to infringe upon and devalue the rights of human artists.” Signees include Nicki Minaj, Billie Eilish, Smokey Robinson and more. The letter-which was made by nonprofit, Artist Rights Alliance-highlights that while in some instances when used appropriately, AI can be a positive tool but it also threatens the livelihoods, music, privacy and identities of artists.
“This assault on human creativity must be stopped. We must protect against the predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights and destroy the music ecosystem,” the letter ends with.
Do you think it was fair for Drake to use AI Pac and Snoop in his diss track? Does he deserve a lawsuit? Let us know in the comments!
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