Drake May Go to Court Over AI-Generated Tupac

Drake released a diss track against Kendrick Lamar over the weekend featuring AI-generated versions of West Coast legends Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur. Tupac’s estate sent Drake a letter on Wednesday threatening to sue him for using the late rapper’s voice in a “blatant abuse” of his legacy, according to Billboard.

“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” Howard King, attorney for the estate, wrote in the letter, obtained by Billboard. “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.”

Drake posted “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Instagram Friday, amassing more than 2.2 million likes. It’s the latest in an ongoing rap beef between Lamar and the Toronto rapper. The diss track features AI versions of Snoop and Tupac, two West Coast legends idolized by the LA-based Lamar, who offer advice on how to navigate this rap beef with Drake. The AI voices are followed by a real verse from Drake himself, who released another diss track against Lamar, “Push Ups,” on Spotify earlier on Friday.

Tupac’s estate asked Drake to remove the track from social media or its lawyers would use “all of its legal remedies” to address this alleged copyright violation. The letter claims that the intellectual property of Tupac’s record label was likely scraped to create the AI Tupac verse. The late rapper’s estate could bring up the latest copyright lawsuit related to AI training, joining Universal Music Group in the music industry and The New York Times in journalism, who have brought similar copyright claims.

It wasn’t long ago that Drake was embroiled in an AI-generated song fiasco with his voice. In April 2023, Universal Music Group demanded an AI version of Drake’s voice in the viral song “Heart on My Sleeve” be removed from streaming services. Since then, AI-generated versions of Frank Ocean, Travis Scott, and countless other musicians have gone viral on the internet, muddying the music industry.

Drake must have known using AI versions of Lamar’s West Coast heroes would antagonize him. This is all in response to Lamar’s verse on Future and Metro Boomin’s song “Like That,” which called out Drake earlier last month. But of course, Drake had to up the stakes by getting these California legends on the track. “Taylor Made Freestyle” mentions Taylor Swift when Drake claims Lamar held off on a response track to not interfere with the release of Swift’s “The Tortured Poets Department.”

It’s unclear at this time if Snoop Dogg will bring a similar complaint. Notably, Drake has not released this track on streaming services, which could mean that he’s not monetizing the song. Even if Drake removes the track at this point, the song probably had exactly the intended effect he wanted: to stir the pot.