The Tupac Shakur’s estate has sent Drake, a cease-and-desist letter. The Nice For What rapper apparently used AI-generated voice imitation of the late rapper in his new song Taylor Made.
The Rapper recently shared the song on his Instagram and it garnered the attention of many people, including Tupac Shakur’s estate. The estate called it, “a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.” Read ahead to learn more about the letter.
What did the cease-and-desist letter say?
As per USA Today, the letter sent by the estate of Tupac Shakur and his mother, Afeni Shakur stated, “deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality in the ‘Taylor Made (Freestyle)’ record.”
The letter further requested an immediate cessation of the song’s publication and exploitation, emphasizing the need for prompt action to remove it from all publicly accessible platforms.
It was also written in the letter that, the song’s release is, “a flagrant violation” of the late rapper’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights. The estate stated that they would have never given approval for such use.
The estate mentioned Kendrick Lamar’s name in it, stating,” 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.”
More about the estate’s letter and Taylor Made Freestyle
According to USA Today, the letter by Shakur’s estate also states that Drake is required to provide written confirmation by Thursday afternoon stating that Taylor Made has been taken down from all platforms and an explanation of how the “sound-alike was created and the persons or company that created it, including all recordings and other data ‘scraped’ or used.”
Taylor Made Freestyle is allegedly directed towards rapper Kendrick Lamar. The lyrics of the diss track included, “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.”
The lyrics further included,” F**k this Canadian lightskin/Dot We need a no-debated West Coast victory/ man Call him a b***h for me.”
The song also seemingly featured Snoop Dogg’s voice imitation. As per the outlet, Snoop later reacted to this song via an Instagram video. He wrote, “They did what? When? How? Are you sure?” He added, “Why everybody calling my phone, blowing me up?”
