Beefs in AI Music

Drake, Lamar, and even Tupac and Cope have all been caught up in beefs.

Beef has always been part of music culture, and AI music is no different.

In music, a beef is a battle—not fought with punches, but with sharp, pointed lyrics.

They diss.
They respond.
Back and forth.
Track after track.

Tragic Beef

First up: a look at a key historical beef—with no AI involved.

West Coast vs. East Coast.
Diss tracks turned into headlines.
Headlines turned into funerals.

In the 1990s, the East-West Coast hip-hop rivalry, centered on Tupac and Biggie, escalated from music to real violence.

Both artists were killed in drive-by shootings within a year of each other, turning a lyrical feud into one of music’s most tragic chapters.

That tragic beef set the stage for a new kind of beef powered by AI.

Decades after Tupac's death, his voice resurfaced in an AI-generated diss track by Drake.

Deepfake Beef

On April 19, 2024, Drake released a diss track called 'Taylor Made Freestyle' aimed at Kendrick Lamar.

The song featured AI-generated vocals that mimicked the voices of Tupac and Snoop Dogg.

The estate of Tupac urged Drake to take down the song. A few days after, Drake pulled the track from all platforms.

Well.. not from all platforms. You can listen to the track in the following video:

On April 30, 2024, Kendrick Lamar responded with a diss track titled 'Euphoria'.

He directly addresses Drake’s use of AI: 'Am I battlin’ ghost or AI?'

On May 5, 2024, Metro Boomin dropped a beat titled 'BBL Drizzy'.

He did so shortly after Drake called him out in 'Push Ups': "Metro, shut your hoe ass up and make some drums".

The song’s title references a rumor that Drake (aka Drizzy) had plastic surgery, with "BBL" being slang for Brazilian Butt Lift.

He samples an AI-generated track from Udio, an AI music platform currently facing legal beef from major record labels.

And Metro Boomin turns the track into a contest—$10K for the best diss against Drake. And the internet runs wild.

Drake claps back by rapping over the same beat weeks later with 'U My Everything'.

King Willonius (who created the original track with Udio) is credited as a songwriter of 'U My Everything' as it contains a sample from 'BBL Drizzy'.

Note that King Willonius will be compensated—not Metro Boomin, who popularized the track.

Legal Beef

Major labels vs. Udio & Suno → link, link
Authors Guild vs. OpenAI & Microsoft → link
New York Times vs. OpenAI & Microsoft → link

AI is at the center of a growing legal debate. Right holders argue that their copyrighted works are being used without permission to train AI models.

We've covered this topic enough → link, link
Let's move on to a lesser-known beef in AI music.

Academic Beef

David Cope developed an AI system in the 80s which generated music in the style of Bach, Beethoven, or Chopin.

For those unfamiliar with Cope, he’s one of the early pioneers of AI music. And he sadly passed away this May.

Yet, in 2008, AI music researcher Geraint Wiggins called Cope’s work pseudoscience.

In the paper above, Wiggins argues that Cope’s claims in his book are ‘vague, exaggerated, or untestable’.

I highly recommend reading the paper—it’s my favorite beef in AI music.

Disclaimer. The views expressed are my own and do not reflect the opinions or positions of my employer.