Nobody is more invested in the Drake and Kendrick Lamar feud than creators. In the past few days, social media has been flooded with memes, reaction videos, hot takes, and even AI diss tracks related to the drama.
With so many AI-generated diss tracks in the midst, it’s hard to tell what’s actually real. Which isn’t helped by the fact that even the rappers at the center of this controversy are using AI.
You see, Drake and Lamar have been swapping insults verse-by-verse with some good old-fashioned diss tracks. Yet, this age-old hip-hop tradition has been given a digital update amid the growing role of AI in every aspect of our lives.
Ghosts and AI
Just last month, over 200 of the world’s biggest artists lambasted the use of “predatory” AI in the music industry. But it looks like Drake didn’t get the memo. With his diss track “Taylor Made Freestyle,” he used deepfakes of Snoop Dogg and the late Tupac Shakur.
This didn’t end well, with Drake pulling the track after Shakur’s estate threatened to sue him. But Kendrick Lamar reignited the outrage with his diss track “Euphoria.” In it, he rapped the line, “Am I battling ghosts or AI?”
Coupled with the fact that “One Shot,” a purported response track by Lamar, was proven to be an AI-generated fake by another creator, it’s clear that AI is here to stay in the music industry whether we like it or not. But just because it is present, that doesn’t mean it will be respected.
And if we go by Lamar’s and Shakur’s estate’s response to Drake’s use of AI, it’s a sign of weakness for an artist rather than something that should be celebrated.
