Tupac Shakur‘s estate has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Drake over his use of an AI-generated imitation of Tupac’s voice in a new song, calling it “a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.”
In a letter obtained by USA TODAY Wednesday, the estate of Tupac and his mother, Afeni Shakur, says it’s “deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality in the ‘Taylor Made (Freestyle)’ record.”
The letter continues, “We demand that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication and exploitation of the Record, and that you immediately take ALL NECESSARY steps to remove it from all platforms where it is publicly available.”
The release is “a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the Estate’s legal rights. … The Estate would never have given its approval for this use,” the letter states. “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.”
USA TODAY has reached out to Drake’s representatives for comment.
Drake released the song, a follow-up diss track aimed at former collaborator Kendrick Lamar, on Instagram on Friday. “While we wait on you I guess,” Drake captioned the clip, seemingly alluding to Lamar’s lack of response to Drake’s leaked “Push Ups” diss track.
