Kendrick Lamar humbles Drake with an assist from Tupac's estate
Carmen Mandato/Getty Images// Mitchell Gerber/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images // Pierre Suu/Getty Images
- Drake deleted his "Taylor Made Freestyle" diss tracks aimed at Kendrick Lamar on social media.
- Tupac Shakur's estate took issue with an AI-generated version of his voice on Drake's track.
- Shakur's estate also came to the defense of Lamar.
It's safe to say that Kendrick Lamar successfully one-upped Drake in their ongoing feud — and it's mainly because he has a dead legend on his side.
On April 19, Drake released two tracks in response to a diss track dropped by Lamar that reignited long-standing feuds between himself and Drake and J. Cole. The second track, "Taylor Made Freestyle," used an AI-recreated Tupac voice to rap and mock Lamar.
However, on Thursday, Drake quietly removed "Taylor Made Freestyle" from social media.
The Canadian rapper did not publicly disclose why he pulled the track, which was aimed at Lamar, but it may have to do with a very public and blistering condemnation from the estate of Tupac Shakur.
In a cease-and-desist letter obtained by Business Insider, the estate demanded that Drake remove the song and called Drake's use of Tupac's likeness a "blatant abuse" of his legacy.
On top of that, the estate came to Lamar's defense, expressing its dismay that Tupac's likeness was used to diss, of all people, K-Dot — a rapper who evokes comparisons to Shakur from fans and critics alike.
"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," Tupac's estate wrote in the letter.
One of Kendrick's arguments in "Like That" was that, unlike Drake, he is an incomparable living legend walking among his less adept peers. To have the estate of the socially conscious and Grammy-nominated rap icon behind one of the most memorable disses in hip hop —"Hit 'Em Up" — cosign Lamar's influence is brutal for Drake, who was already feeling the heat from many of his industry peers.
The one guy who was supposed to be on his side — J. Cole — bowed out by apologizing to Lamar and removing the song from streaming (a welcome act considering the "transphobic bars" Cole thought were doing something for him).
Lamar then released a follow-up single, "Euphoria," on Tuesday, referencing last week's Pac/Drake episode. He also threw shade at the rapper for purchasing Shakur's custom crown ring. The ring, which Shakur wore shortly before he died, sold for over $1 million at auction in 2023.
That price tag is a drop in the bucket for the OVO founder, who, according to Celebrity Net Worth, is worth $250 million — far outshining Lamar, who sits at $85 million.
It doesn't matter for Lamar, who raps in "Euphoria," that Pac would probably not like that he made the purchase.
"Somebody had told me that you got a ring, on God, I'm ready to double the wage/I'd rather do that than let a Canadian [N-word] make Pac turn in his grave," Lamar raps in "Euphoria," per lyrics from Genius.
As one user on X posted after Lamar's quick and precise knockout of the "First Person Shooter" rapper: "It's a bad day to be Drake."
Representatives for Drake and Lamar did not immediately respond to a request for comment.