Drake’s ‘Taylor Made’ Freestyle Disappears Following Tupac Estate Legal Threats

Photo Credit: musicentropy / CC by 2.0

Following legal threats from the Tupac Estate, Drake has removed his AI-created “Taylor Made Freestyle” that included bars in Tupac and Snoop Dogg’s voices.The song’s first two bars feature AI-generated lyrics mimicking the sound of Tupac’s voice, while the second features Snoop Dogg. While the latter remained mostly quiet about the use of his voice, the Tupac Estate responded quickly with a cease and desist to remove the offending track, citing “misappropriation and misuse of Tupac Shakur’s personality rights.”

The AI-voice mimicry was an attempt to goad Kendrick Lamar into a speedy response for their rap beef—using the voice of one of Lamar’s idols to do so. “Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior/Engraving your name in some hip-hop history,” a voice mimicking Tupac raps. “Fuck this Canadian light-skin, Dot/We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man.”

Drizzy’s actual verse also contained mentions of Taylor Swift and having to wait a week to continue their beef because The Tortured Poets Department dropped. While Drake has deleted the track from his Instagram where it was originally posted—nothing is ever truly scrubbed from the internet once it is released.Fans have made copies of the “Taylor Made Freestyle” and are currently sharing it across YouTube. It will be interesting to see how the Tupac Estate responds to these YouTube uploads, since it’s a bit like playing whack-a-mole amongst fans who want to hear what all the hubbub is about.

Drake’s release of this freestyle featuring an AI-assisted soundalike of Tupac would violate Tennesee’s ELVIS Act, were its provisions adopted nationally. That law has updated the existing rights of publicity law in Tennessee to include voice—and expands the application of such law beyond commercial use—i.e., even though Drake didn’t upload the track to DSPs for profit—it’s still an illegal use of Tupac’s right of publicity.