Tupac Shakur’s estate has threatened to sue rapper Drake for using Artificial Intelligence (AI) to represent the dead rapper’s voice in his Diss Song to Kendrick Lamar.
The song titled Taylor Made featured AI-generated verses using Tupac and Snoop Dogg’s voices without their permission.
However, Tupac’s estate issued Drake a cease-and-desist letter on April 24, 2024, threatening to “pursue all of its legal remedies” if he does not take down the song within 24 hours.
“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” litigator Howard 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,” the letter stated.
“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.”
Drake’s most recent response to the continuing beef with Kendrick Lamar was the release of Taylor Made last Friday, April 19. “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,” was one of the lines that used Pac’s fictitious voice.
The late rap legend Tupac Shakur’s brother, Mopreme Shakur, also blasted the God’s Plan rapper for releasing a song that used a family member’s voice.
Mopreme said he was upset with Drake for using Tupac’s voice as a weapon in a rap battle, comparing the action to using a tank or nuclear bomb in a one-on-one fight. He also agreed with Suge Knight when he said that Tupac should not be treated as a “pawn” in a conflict he isn’t involved in.