advertisement
Rb Hip Hop

Drake Removes ‘Taylor Made Freestyle,’ With AI Tupac & Snoop Vocals, From Social Media

Tupac Shakur's estate issued a cease-and-desist letter to Drake demanding that the song be taken down within 24 hours.

Drake

Drake

Courtesy OVO/Republic Records

A day after Tupac Shakur‘s estate threatened to sue over the use of AI-generated vocals from the late rapper, Drake has pulled his “Taylor Made Freestyle” down from social media.

Last Friday, Drake posted the Kendrick Lamar diss track — which also includes AI Snoop Dogg vocals — to his social accounts. The song made headlines for its controversial use of AI vocals from both the West Coast legends as well as for lyrics aimed at Lamar in an ongoing feud between the rappers, plus some shots taken at Taylor Swift as well.


On Wednesday, in a cease-and-desist letter obtained exclusively by Billboard, Howard King — a lawyer for the Tupac Shakur estate — told Drake (Aubrey Drake Graham) that he had to confirm he would pull down his “Taylor Made Freestyle” in less than 24 hours.

advertisement

“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” King wrote in the letter. “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.” (Read more of the letter here.)

King went on to point out that the use of Tupac’s voice in a diss track against Lamar was particularly egregious. “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 wrote.

Billboard reached out to reps for both Drake and the Tupac estate on Thursday (April 24) following the removal of the song, and both declined to comment.

“Taylor Made Freestyle,” the follow-up to Drake’s “Push Ups” diss track from earlier this month, is part of a feud that was seemingly ignited by Lamar’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s “Like That,” which takes aim at both Drake and J. Cole. “Like That” has spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100.

advertisement

This article was first posted by Billboard U.S.

advertisement
Justin Bieber
Evan Paterakis

Justin Bieber

Chart Beat

Every Canadian Artist Who Has Had More Than One No. 1 Hit on the Billboard Hot 100

Since the chart launched in 1959, dozens of Canadian songs have climbed to the top spot — but only eight Canadian stars have ever hit No. 1 more than once, including Drake, Justin Bieber, The Weeknd and Paul Anka.

Canadians have had their share of No. 1 hits since the Billboard Hot 100 first launched in 1959, but only a select group of Canadian artists have ever done it twice.

Number one on the Billboard Hot 100 is a coveted spot, with artists and their teams battling it out to claim the placement. Teen idol Paul Anka was the first Canadian to hit that height in July of 1959 with "Lonely Boy," (also the title of an influential Canadian documentary about him).

keep readingShow less
advertisement