Platinum-selling rapper Drake has revived the late Tupac Shakur by using artificial intelligence technology in a new diss track against rival artist Kendrick Lamar.
Drake released the new track titled “Taylor Made Freestyle” on Friday via his social media channels. The single uses AI to imitate the voices of Tupac as well as Snoop Dogg (who is still living), with each realistic robot voice rapping its own verse.
Listen below:
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The new track features a number of taunts aimed at Kendrick Lamar, a Compton-based rapper who has been in a long-running feud with the Canadian Degrassi: The Next Generation actor.
The lyrics delivered as Tupac and Snoop insinuate Lamar, who they call “Dot,” has taken too long to respond to a diss track from Drake — and may have delayed his reply due to the massive popularity of Taylor Swift‘s new album The Tortured Poets Department.
Rapper Snoop Dogg (L) and a hologram of deceased rapper Tupac Shakur perform onstage during Coachella. (Christopher Polk/Getty Images for Coachella)
Drake’s foray into AI comes after an AI-generated song imitating Drake and The Weeknd was pulled from streaming services last year. The anonymously written “Heart On My Sleeve” went viral and reportedly attracted millions of listens before Universal Music Group asked for its removal.
AI is creating a lot of legal headaches for the music industry over copyright concerns.
As Breitbart New reported, Universal Music and other music publishers took legal action last year against the artificial intelligence startup Anthropic, accusing it of unlawfully using copyrighted song lyrics from artists ranging from Beyonce to Don McLean to enhance its chatbot technology.
Earlier this month, more than 200 musical artists — including Billie Eilish, Katy Perry, and Nicki Minaj — signed an open letter urging AI developers and other tech companies to “cease” the use of AI.
The letter was from the trade group Artist Rights Alliance (ARA), which has called on AI developers and tech firms to stop the “predatory use of AI to steal professional artists’ voices and likenesses, violate creators’ rights, and destroy the music ecosystem.”
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