Kendrick Lamar blasts Drake’s use of AI Tupac on lengthy new diss track

After Drake used AI versions of Tupac and Snoop Dogg on a since-deleted diss track, Lamar asks: ‘Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?’

Kendrick Lamar has taken aim at Drake once again on a new diss track, mocking the Canadian superstar for resorting to using AI versions of Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg on a since-deleted song.

Lamar’s new track, titled “Euphoria”, was released via his social media platforms on Tuesday (30 April).

It makes several lyrical references to Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle”, which was released on 19 April before being taken down after Shakur’s estate threatened legal action over the unsanctioned use of an AI-generated impersonation of the late rap icon’s vocals.

On “Euphoria”, Lamar raps: “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**** make ’Pac turn in his grave.”

He later asks: “Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?”

Lamar also makes a number of other digs at Drake, punning on his name and the Draco Pistol as he raps: “The very first time I shot me a Drac’, the homie had told me to aim it this way/I didn’t point down enough/Today, I show you I learned from those mistakes.”

Kendrick Lamar (left) and Drake (Getty)

Drake took “Taylor Made Freestyle” down after receiving a cease-and-desist letter from Shakur’s estate.

“The Estate is deeply dismayed and disappointed by your unauthorized use of Tupac’s voice and personality,” litigator Howard King wrote in the letter. “Not only is the record a flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and the estate’s legal rights, it is also a blatant abuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. The Estate would never have given its approval for this use.”

King added that the estate took a particularly dim view of the disses aimed at Lamar, writing: “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”.

Drake and Lamar have been involved in a long-simmering feud for many years.

Last month, Lamar took aim at Drake and fellow rap rival J Cole on a new track, claiming that rather than representing the genre’s “big three” it’s just “big me”.

The song, “Like That”, appeared on Future and Metro Boomin’s collaborative album We Don’t Trust You.

Lamar was directly responding to J Cole’s verse on “First Person Shooter” from Drake’s 2023 album For All The Dogs.

On that song, Cole rapped: “Love when they argue the hardest MC / Is it K-Dot? Is it Aubrey? Or me? / We the big three like we started a league, but right now, I feel like Muhammad Ali.”

Lamar is known by his nickname K-Dot, while Aubrey is Drake’s birth name.