Seemingly petty microphone squabbles have been a staple of hip-hop, but it's never quite been like this. J.Cole, Kendrick Lamar, Rick Ross, and Drake are currently engaged in a battle for rap supremacy. I'll spare you the timeline and the minutia to get to the weird part: Drake enlisted AI versions of Tupac and Snoop Dogg to get at K-Dot on his "leaked" "Taylor Made Freestyle."
Drake – Taylor Made Freestyle (Kendrick Lamar Diss) (New Official Audio)
While Snoop responded, "They did what? When? How? Are you sure? … I'm going back to bed," Tupac's estate is threatening litigation. That seems to be the spectrum of the responses online as well, from abject apathy to questioning the legality.
Old battle raps were essential to the craft, and cipher battles are the true test of emcee skills. Whoever comes correct with the wildest disses and punchlines wins. While that is still true, we're a long way from KRS-One vs MC Shan, Ice-T vs LL Cool J, Ice Cube vs NWA, or even Jay-Z vs Nas. Bringing out AI adversaries is definitely a new level of weird rap warfare. As Jay-Z once said, "How I'm supposed to win? They got me fighting ghosts."
Previously on bOING-bOING: Punk rocker Jenny Toomey takes stand against AI music
