All is fair in love and rap battles. In 2024, that apparently includes the use of artificial intelligence. Drake using A.I. voices of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg to taunt Kendrick Lamar in their ongoing beef on Drizzy’s “Taylor Made Freestyle” was a polarizing move. It even angered some fans. However, the choice isn’t necessarily a bad thing.
Drake’s move was very strategic. The OVO lyricist rapped as West Coast legends ’Pac and Snoop in an attempt to goad reclusive Cali rap savior K-Dot into a response.
“Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior,” Tupac’s likeness can be heard in the opening lines of the new Drake song below. “Engraving your name in some hip-hop history, if you deal with this viciously/You seem a little nervous about all the publicity/F**k this Canadian lightskin, Dot.”
The song even had historically accurate lines. A.I. Snoop raps: “Nephew, what the f**k you really ’bout to do?/We passed you the torch at the House of Blues and now you gotta do some dirty work/You know how to move, right?”
Creativity and bars. That’s what fans want from a rap battle, right?
Fans Weigh In on “Taylor Made Freestyle”
Reactions to the track online have been mixed, with many people praising the inventive strategy.
“I loved it! Super creative! And it was still him rappin!” one fan opined on social media.
“Think it was genuis n amazing being three people one being hiself great hearing anything pac and hearing uncle snoop anytime is a good timw way to think outside the box n a battle….,” another post reads.
“It was clever and creative,” another person wrote. “But big picture it’s corny and going to make it easier for AI to take over and nobody will be getting rich off of rap in the near future.”
Rappers React to Drake’s A.I. Diss
Snoop Dogg was unfazed by Drake using his voice on the track.
“They did what? When? How? Are you sure? [Sigh] Y’all have a good night,” the rap veteran sarcastically said in a video he put on Instagram. “Why everybody calling my phone, blowing me up? What the f**k— what happened? What’s going on? I’m going back to bed. Good night.”
50 Cent, the king of hip-hop beef, also weighed in on the song. Fif was understanding of Drake’s strategy.
“Ok in my professional expert opinion on this matter, leave this man alone,” the Queens, N.Y. rapper commented on a clip of the freestyle on Instagram. “I’ve seen this movie before, it will not end well. You disagree ok, then where is your s**t at boy.”
“The Taylor Made Freestyle” Detractors
While the song in itself is creatively sound, the track’s morality is being questioned. Suge Knight called out Drake over the track. Tupac’s brother Mopreme Shakur blasted the move. Tupac’s estate has even threatened Drake with a lawsuit, with an attorney sending the Canadian rap star a cease-and-desist 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 letter reads. “The Estate would never have given its approval for this use. 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.”
It’s clear at this point that artificial intelligence will be a part of music for the foreseeable future, for better or worse. While there are issues abound that can come as the result of this practice, Drake’s move shows, if used creatively, it’s not all bad. What a time to be alive.
