What is a "cease and desist"? Kendrick Lamar accuses Drake of trying to prevent Like That from releasing in his new diss track

Kendrick Lamar has seemingly turned the tables against Drake after dropping his newest diss track, Euphoria, on April 30. The six-minute-long track is entirely dedicated to calling out Drake, with Lamar laying some serious allegations at his feet.

One such allegation included Kendrick Lamar accusing the Canadian rapper of trying to send a "cease and desist" to prevent his track Like That from releasing, rapping:

“Try cease and desist on the ‘Like That’ record / Oh, what? You ain't like that record."

A "cease and desist" is a legal term for when a formal warning is issued to an alleged party to stop engaging in a particular activity immediately.

Like That, released on March 26, saw Kendrick Lamar team up with Metro Boomin and Future. In the song, Lamar drops a verse directed towards Drake and J. Cole's line about the trio being the "big three" of the hip-hop industry in First Person Shooter in 2023.

He dismissed all notions of the "big three," saying there was just "big me," which kicked off the back-and-forth diss tracks between the three rappers.

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Kendrick Lamar alluded to Drake trying to "cease and desist" Like That in new diss track

Eleven days after Drake released his diss track, Push Ups, targeting several rappers like Kendrick Lamar, Future, and Metro Boomin, Lamar took it upon himself to address the Canadian rapper with a scathing track titled Euphoria. Many believe the name alludes to the HBO teen drama starring Zendaya, in which Drake is an executive producer.

The six minutes of Euphoria are fuelled with pointed accusations against Drake, calling him a "master manipulator" and "a liar." Kendrick Lamar also accuses the rapper of trying to send a "cease and desist" to prevent his track Like That from releasing.

According to the Legan Information Institute, "cease and desist" is defined as:

"A cease and desist letter is a cautionary letter sent to an alleged wrongdoer describing the alleged misconduct and demanding that the alleged misconduct be stopped. A cease and desist letter provides notice that legal action may and will be taken if the conduct in question continues."

A cease-and-desist letter is usually sent to stop the infringement of intellectual property rights, warning the wrongdoer that legal action will be taken if the alleged misconduct is not stopped.

According to Hot New Hip Hop, fans speculate that Kendrick Lamar is talking about the Like That remix by Kanye West, which came out on April 22. However, there is no confirmation about which Like That track he referred to in Euphoria.

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Drake took down second Lamar diss track after "cease and desist" from Tupac estate

Kendrick Lamar's verse in Like That spawned three diss tracks aimed back at him, two of which were soon taken down. One was J. Cole's diss track, 7 Minute Drill, from his new mixtape, Might Delete Later, which, as the name suggested, he took down after expressing regret.

The second was Taylor Made Freestyle, a second diss track that Drake released after Push Ups. Drake mocked Kendrick Lamar for not responding to Push Ups, claiming that he was waiting to release new music to not take away attention from Taylor Swift's new album, The Tortured Poets Department, released on April 19. Lamar and Swift previously collaborated on the latter's 1989 track, Bad Blood.

"But now we gotta wait a f*ckin' week 'cause Taylor Swift is your new Top/And if you 'bout to drop, she gotta approve/This girl really 'bout to make you act like you not in a feud/She tailor-made your schedule with Ant, you out of the loop."

The track also used the AI-generated voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur to diss Kendrick Lamar. According to Vulture, Drake was hit with a "cease and desist" from the estate of Tupac Shakur on April 24, demanding that the song be pulled from all streaming services.

“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality. 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,” the letter stated.

The estate's attorney, Howard King, also demanded a "detailed explanation" as to how the AI-generated voice was created. Drake, who had 24 hours to comply before legal action would be taken, promptly took down the song.