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On April 19, 2024, Drake released a track dissing Kendrick Lamar called Taylor Made Freestyle, featuring the AI-generation version of the late Tupac Shakur's voice. While the track has since been taken down from Drizzy's Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) accounts after a cease-and-desist letter from the late Tupac's estate, Real Gone singer Sheryl Crow recently spoke about the same.
In a recent interview with BBC dated June 22, 2024, Sheryl Crow talked about the impact of AI calling it a "slippery slope" and "betrayal" which goes against the principles humanity is based on. The title track of her latest album, Evolution, also talks about the impact of AI on the planet and the people.
Commenting on the incident of Drake using the AI-generated voice of the late Tupac Shakur in his track, Sheryl told BBC:
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"You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that. I'm sure Drake thought, 'Yeah, I shouldn't do it, but I'll say sorry later.' But it's already done, and people will find even if he takes it down."
"It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us"— Sheryl Crow on Drake's AI resurrection of Tupac Shakur's voice
Drake's track Taylor Made Freestyle featured the AI-resurrected voices of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur. The track aimed to diss Kendrick Lamar and the One Dance rapper used Tupac's voice for the lyrics:
“Kendrick we need ya, the West Coast savior / Engraving your name in some hip-hop history/ Call him a b***h for me / Talk about him liking young girls as a gift for me.”
Giving her opinion on Drizzy using the late rapper's voice in his diss track using AI, Sheryl Crow commented on the act stating:
“It's hateful. It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us.”
Shortly after the track was released, Tupac Shakur's estate sent a cease-and-desist notice to Drizzy, the details of which were obtained by Billboard. Howard King, the attorney representing Tupac's estate, requested Drizzy to remove the track from the platforms where it is publicly available.
As per a Billboard exclusive dated April 24, 2024, the legal notice also mentions that Tupac's estate is dismayed concerning the topic of the track stating that they are disappointed in Drake's "unauthorized use of Tupac's voice and personality".
In the notice, attorney Howard King mentioned:
"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 also reportedly mentioned that Kendrick Lamar is a "good friend to the estate" who has always respected Tupac's legacy privately and publicly and that Drizzy's track "compounds the insult".
While Drake had to take down Taylor Made Freestyle from all streaming platforms owing to the legal notice, Snoop Dogg's response to his AI-resurrected voice being used was casual. He just posted an Instagram story at the time asking "what's going on" and that he's "going back to bed."
Moreover, in 2023, Drake's voice was cloned alongside The Weeknd's by a musician called the Ghostwriter using AI filters. However, the Heart on My Sleeve track was removed from YouTube and Spotify due to rightsholder Universal Music Group issues.
