Source: Carmen Mandato/Getty
Drake may be willing to fight the likes of Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross and anyone else who might have a problem with him, but he wants no smoke with the Tupac Shakur estate.
Less than a week after releasing “Taylor Made Freestyle” featuring an AI version of the late great Makaveli, Tupac Shakur's estate threatened Drizzy with a lawsuit over the use of Pac's “vocals” on his Kendrick Lamar diss record. He was given 24 hours to take down the song or face legal consequences. Sho'nuff, the song has now been removed from Drizzy's Instagram page without any explanation (not that it was needed).
Last weekend, Drake shocked the Hip-Hop world when he released the aforementioned song, which not only featured an AI-generated verse from Tupac, but also Snoop Dogg who is alive and well. With many fans bemoaning the artificially created verse from one of Hip-Hop's biggest icons of all time, others praised Drake for the surprise move and crowned him the GOAT for bringing rap battles into the digital age.
Needless to say, Snoop Dogg was shocked that he somehow ended up on a new record without knowing it. Tupac Shakur's estate was not amused and slapped Drake with a cease and desist letter, which threatened him with a lawsuit if he didn't take the song off his page.
According USA Todaythe message was received, and the song is now as much a ghost as the spirit of the man who appeared in it.
Per USA Today:
In a letter obtained by USA TODAY on Wednesday, Tupac's estate and his mother, Afeni Shakur, say they are “deeply disappointed and dismayed by the unauthorized use of Tupac's voice and persona on the record 'Taylor Made (Freestyle )”.
The letter continues, “We demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication and exploitation of the Record, and immediately take ALL NECESSARY steps to remove it from all platforms where it is publicly available.”
The release is a “flagrant violation of Tupac's publicity and the legal rights of the Estate. … The Estate would never have given its approval for this use,” the letter states. “The unauthorized, equally terrifying use of Tupac's voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend of the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately, adds insult to injury.”
And with that, the King of the North had to bow to the rap legend's representatives as he had no desire to take this battle to court.
Meanwhile, the Hip-Hop world continues to wait for an answer from Kendrick Lamar. His silence has fans wondering if he'll continue the battle he started with his verse on Future and Metro Boomin's “Like That” just last month.
We're starting to lose faith that he will, but to each their own.
What do you think about this situation? Did you like the song? Let us know in the comments section below.
