There many There’s an ongoing fight going on between rappers Drake and Kendrick Lamar, much of which, to put it mildly, we won’t cover here.
But there is one theme that comes to mind in the scorched-earth lyrical battle that is SFW. It’s a way that reveals AI’s increasingly central role in modern music.
In the endless conversation between Drake and Lamar cruel diss track This weekend, record producer Metro Boomin, a key ally of Kendrick’s, posted an anti-Drake beat on Twitter and encouraged his followers to rap for the award.
The track ‘BBL Drizzy’ is the first to reference the derogatory nickname for the Toronto-born pop star. made up A song by fellow rapper Rick Ross.
Like many viral tracks floating around these days, “BBL Drizzy” turns modern references into vintage sounds with AI-generated beats (see also: Fake Frank Sinatra radiohead coveror 1940s big band song About a man who loses control of his bodily functions at work). In this case, Metro Boomin repurposes endless Drake insults into a 1970s soul ballad.
This version of the track was the first. made Last month, it was created by comedian King Willonius, who uses AI to generate cultural commentary.
That guy contributed more to hip hop than Drake
— Fan account (@Asensi20) May 5, 2024
But AI entered the center of Drake and Lamar’s debate long before this weekend. March featured the track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” one of the first scenes Drake shot directly with Lamar. AI-generated vocals Emulating both Snoop Dogg and the late rap legend Tupac Shakur.
Within days, Shakur’s estate threatened to sue Drake, accusing him of unauthorized use of the late rapper’s likeness, specifically to mock Lamar, another prominent West Coast hip-hop star who has long idolized Shakur.
“The unauthorized and equally disappointing use of Tupac’s voice against Kendrick Lamar, a good friend of the Estate who has nothing but respect for Tupac and his legacy both publicly and privately, adds insult to injury.” billboard read.
Two days later, Drake deleted the track from social media. Within a week, Lamar was released. “euphoria,” It’s a scathing anti-Drake accusation that specifically points out the artist’s reliance on artificial intelligence to fight lyrical battles.
“Am I fighting a ghost or an AI?” Lamar rapped after Drake claimed he couldn’t have written the song without the help of a team of 20 people and advanced technology.
Ironically, Drake is also experiencing dramas that use AI. Last year, an AI-powered song that mimicked both his and fellow musician The Weeknd’s voice attracted a lot of attention. Considered for Grammy Award-before legal threats This outlook for Universal Music Group has been put to rest.
Although the track ‘Heart On My Sleeve’ is an artificially enhanced song, Widely acclaimed Some hip hop fans claimed it was better than it actually was.
“Drake hasn’t written or even sung his best song in years,” one YouTube commenter wrote.
Editor: Andrew Hayward
