Drake Takes Down Kendrick Lamar Diss After Legal Threat From 2Pac Estate

Drake, December 2022 (Prince Williams/Wireimage)

After posting “Taylor Made Freestyle” on social media last week, Drake has seemingly taken down the Kendrick Lamar diss track, Billboard notes. The song, which included AI renderings of 2Pac and Snoop Dogg’s voices, was subject to a legal letter from 2Pac’s estate, which cited the “misappropriation and misuse of Tupac Shakur personality rights.” The estate, the letter noted, was “deeply dismayed and disappointed” by the unauthorized usage, adding that it was “a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time.” A Drake representative declined to comment, and Drake gave no reason for the song’s removal.

The letter also noted Lamar’s longstanding affinity with the late rapper, calling Lamar “a good friend to the Estate who has given nothing but respect to Tupac and his legacy publicly and privately.” In “Taylor Made Freestyle,” Drake had portrayed 2Pac egging on Lamar to respond to his diss. “Kendrick, we need ya, the West Coast savior/Engraving your name in some hip-hop history,” the voice raps. “Fuck this Canadian light-skin, Dot/We need a no-debated West Coast victory, man.”

In his own verse in the track, Drake draws Taylor Swift into the back-and-forth. “But now we gotta wait a fucking week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new Top,” he raps, referring to Anthony “Top Dawg” Tiffith, the head of Lamar’s former label, Top Dawg Entertainment. “And if you ’bout to drop, she gotta approve.”

Future? Drake?? Nav??? Who comes out on top in what really, *really* wants to be hip-hop’s most memorable beef in years?

Originally Appeared on Pitchfork