- Drake responded to Kendrick Lamar’s criticism in a track released Friday called “Taylor Made.”
- The track features AI-generated verses from Tupac Shakur and Snoop Dogg.
- Drake also uses Taylor Swift’s latest album, “The Tortured Poet’s Department,” to tease Lamar.
If you thought rap’s latest all-out brawl couldn’t get any more convoluted, enter Taylor Swift, Snoop Dogg and Tupac Shakur.
On Friday, embattled Drake released “Taylor Made,” his second diss track in response to Kendrick Lamar, which mentions the “Fortnight” singer and uses what sounds like an AI-generated Shakur and Snoop Dogg to try to humiliate Lamar.
It all began on March 22, when rapper Future and producer Metro Boomin released the song “Like That”, which featured a long verse from Lamar that reignited the long-standing feuds between Drake and J. Cole.
In “Like That”, Lamar calls himself, Drake and Cole “the Big Three” – a callback to Drake and Cole’s 2023 song “First Person Shooter”, in which Cole uses the same phrase to describe the trio. Lamar, however, makes it clear in “Like That” that he stands out from them (“He’s just a big me”).
Lamar also compares himself to the artist Prince, who “outlived Mike Jack.” Listeners speculated that the phrase referred to Michael Jackson, who had a rivalry with the “Purple Rain” singer. Drake recently tied Jackson as the male solo artist with the most No. 1 songs in the history of the Billboard Hot 100, at 13, and often references the King of Pop in his music.
Jackson died in 2009 from acute propofol poisoning. Prince died in 2016 from an accidental fentanyl overdose.
The feud, for unclear reasons that sparked even more internet speculation, prompted other rappers like Rick Ross, A$AP Rocky and Ye to also release diss tracks and verses targeting Drake and Cole.
“Taylor Made” begins with a potentially AI-generated Shakur speaking to Lamar – somewhat ironic, given that Drake has previously spoken about using his own voice to create AI music.
Fake Tupac gives Lamar advice on how to criticize Drake by referencing rumors that the Canadian rapper “likes young girls.” Notably, Lamar and Shakur are often compared to each other by fans, and the late rapper received praise from Lamar on the anniversary of his death.
To top it all off, the mic is eventually passed to an AI Snoop Dogg, who tells Lamar that he’s “never shot anyone, never stabbed anyone, never did anything violent to anyone.” .
Real human Snoop Dogg humorously responded to the verse in an Instagram video Friday night.
“Everyone is calling me and blowing me up. What the fuck? What happened?” said Snoop in his silk scarf and Death Row Records jacket. Tupac and Snoop have already released records under this label.
Finally, Drake’s verse comes in. He teases Lamar using Swift’s new album and suggests that Lamar didn’t respond to Drake’s other diss track, “Push Ups,” because of Swift and her new album “The Tortured Poet’s Department.” The album was released on Friday.
“But now we have to wait a fucking week ’cause Taylor Swift is your new Top/And if you’re about to give up, she must approve/This girl is really about to make you act like you don’t ‘Wasn’t in a feud,’ the OVO founder raps in “Taylor Made,” according to lyrics published by Genius. Top may be referring to Top Dawg Entertainment, Lamar’s former label.
The song could also be a critique of Lamar’s previous collaboration with Swift on “Bad Blood,” suggesting that the 2014 song boosted Lamar’s popularity. Drake sang the same song for an Apple Music commercial in 2016.
Representatives for Swift, Snoop Dogg, Drake and Lamar, as well as an attorney for Shakur’s estate, did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider.