“You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that.”
Sheryl Crow is calling out Drake for using artificial intelligence to recreate late rapper Tupac Shakur’s voice as part of his Kendrick Lamar diss track, “Taylor Made Freestyle.”
The song — which also featured the AI-generated voice of Snoop Dogg — was released in April, but was subsequently taken down from all platforms after Shakur’s estate threatened to sue Drake in a letter over the verse.
“You cannot bring people back from the dead and believe that they would stand for that,” Crow told the BBC. “I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do it, but I’ll say sorry later’. But it’s already done, and people will find it even if he takes it down.”
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She added, “It’s hateful. It is antithetical to the life force that exists in all of us.”
Crow, who has spoken out against the use of AI in music in the past and on her song “Evolution,” noted that she talks to her children about the effects of using the technology.
“I’m like, ‘You’re growing up with this thing and it doesn’t seem dangerous to you because you’re a frog in a pot of water,’” she said. “’But the water is only just starting to boil, and you won’t realize it’s getting hotter until we’re all floating on the top’.”
When it comes to music, however, Crow is grateful that there’s one thing AI hasn’t learned how to replicate just yet. “AI can do lots of things, but it can’t go out and play live,” she says. “So as long as we have live music, as long as we have hands holding a paintbrush, all is not lost.”
“Taylor Made Freestyle” is one of several songs that Drake released amid his contentious rap feud with Lamar. The “Humble” rapper, who has called Shakur one of his inspirations, addressed Drake’s decision to invoke Shakur’s name in several of his responding diss tracks including his song, “Not Like Us.”
Lamar also recently asked that Drake “give me Tupac’s ring back” at his Juneteenth Pop Out concert, a reference to the custom ring that Drake purchased for over $1 million at a 2023 auction.
