Canadian rapper Drake removed his song ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ from his networks, in which he used a voice generated with Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, after the late rapper’s legal team threatened him with a complaint.
The managers of Tupac’s estate – who died at the age of 25 without having children – gave Drake 24 hours to withdraw the song or face a lawsuit, Billboard reported on Wednesday.
And, as can be seen, the Canadian rapper opted for the first option, since he removed the song from his X profile.
Because ‘Taylor Made’ was never officially released on any music platform, it is unclear if Drake directly made money from creating the song.
Drake had used AI to recreate Tupac’s voice, and also that of rapper Snoop Dogg, in a ‘tiraera’ (a song made to attack another person) against another icon of the genre, Kendrick Lamar, winner of a Pulitzer.
Following the release of the song, which came out on April 19, Snoop Dogg uploaded a video to Instagram with a variety of emoticons, apparently indicating bewilderment.
Despite using this technology in his latest work, Drake has in the past been very critical of creators who have used AI to duplicate his voice and musical style.
