After responding to Kendrick Lamar and his other foes with "Push Ups," Drake unleashed a second diss track at K.dot over the weekend. This one, known as the "Taylor Made Freestyle," features AI vocals from the late Tupac Shakur (a Kendrick hero who appears in sampled form in the interview at the end of To Pimp A Butterfly) and Snoop Dogg (who also shows up on TPAB). As you might expect, 2Pac's estate is not thrilled about this unauthorized use of his voice.
Billboard reports that the estate's lawyer Howard King sent Drake a cease-and-desist letter today demanding that he pull "Taylor Made Freestyle" off the internet within 24 hours or else the estate will "pursue all of its legal remedies" against him. An excerpt from the letter:
The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality. 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 Estate would never have given its approval for this use.
The letter also argues that Drake's imitation of 2Pac's voice clearly violates California state law. In Drake's flow, Shakur's voice says on the song, "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."
UPDATE: Drake removed the song post on Thursday evening.
