Sheryl Crow Calls Out Drake for 'Hateful' Use of AI-Generated Tupac Vocals on 'Taylor Made Freestyle'

Artificial intelligence has no place in music, according to Sheryl Crow.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Famer opened up to the BBC in a new interview about her fears about the music industry’s use of technology — and took aim at Drake’s use of AI-generated vocals from the late Tupac Shakur in his recent song, “Taylor Made Freestyle.” ”

“You can’t bring people back from the dead and believe they would stand for it,” Crow, 62, said of Drake’s release of the Kendrick Lamar diss track (which also features an AI verse from Snoop Dogg) uploaded to social media on April 19. .

Drake Removes ‘Taylor Made Freestyle’ Diss Track From IG After Tupac’s Estate Threatens To Sue Over AI Verse

Drake, Snoop Dogg, Tupac.

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Tupac’s estate quickly took issue with the use of his voice and issued a cease and desist letter demanding the song be removed. Drake, 37, then took the song down on April 26 – but Crow doesn’t think such actions generally solve the problem.

“I’m sure Drake thought, ‘Yeah, I shouldn’t do that, but I’ll apologize later.’ But it’s already been done and people will find it even if he takes it down,” the “If It” Makes You said Happy” singer. “That’s disgusting. It is the opposite of the life force that exists in all of us.”

Crow also recalled that he became especially wary of AI after a young songwriter friend used the technology to insert fake John Mayer vocals into a demo to make the song more catchy after struggling to get people to listen to it.

Sheryl Crow.

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She opined that AI is a “slippery terrain” as well as a “treason” that goes “against everything humanity is based on,” adding that she felt so “terrified” when she heard Mayer’s vocal spoof that she “literally hyperventilated.” ”

“I know John and I know the nuances of his voice,” Crow said. “And there would be no way you could tell he wasn’t singing that song.”

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Drake; Tupac.

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Drake’s “Taylor Made Freestyle” featured an AI verse depicting Tupac as an ally of Lamar, with whom the Canadian rapper had been feuding. The late rapper’s estate took issue with the song, as a letter from attorney Howard King, obtained by PEOPLE, claimed that Drake’s use of his voice was a “flagrant violation of Tupac’s publicity and estate’s legal rights.”

King said at the time that “Taylor Made Freestyle” was “a blatant misuse of the legacy of one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time,” insisting that the estate “would never have given its approval” for the use of Tupac’s vocals.

“You personally are well aware of the rights of publicity and the laws that protect them, as well as the harm that unauthorized AI misrepresentation can cause to artists, including yourself,” King wrote to Drake.

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Source: HIS Education