Page 14 - IAV Digital Magazine #553

iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine
Capitol Records Drops Virtual AI Rapper FN Meka Following Backlash
Grand opening. Grand closing. Just days after news broke
that AI-powered virtual rapper FN Meka had signed a deal with Capitol Records, the label announced it has dropped the
’bot following backlash.
On Tuesday (Aug. 23), a rep for Capitol Records released a state- ment to XXL con- firming its deci- sion to part ways with the "rapper."
"CMG has sev- ered ties with
the FN Meka proj- ect, effectively immediately," the statement reads. "We offer our deepest apologies to the Black com- munity for our insensitivity in signing this proj- ect without asking enough question about equity and the creative process behind it. We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive feedback in the past couple of days—your input
was invaluable as we came to the decision to end our associate with the project."
The opposition to FN Meka appar- ently received a strong push
from @industry- blkout, a "unified body of Black people in the industry commit- ted to changing the community" on Twitter, who published a hard stance statement against Capitol Records and the Meka project on Tuesday calling it
an "abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life."
The announce- ment arrives after backlash the label received from recently signing the virtual rapper to a recording contract. FN Meka is the cre- ation of Anthony Martini and Brandon Le, cofounders of Factory New, a virtual record label who were the first to ink the
virtual rhymer to a deal. FN Meka's voice is based off a real human, but everything else about the
rapper including his rhymes are based off artifi- cial intelligence te chnology, accord- ing to its creators. In appearance, Meka looks like to a caricature of a racially ambigu- ous Soundcloud rapper, complete with colored dreads and face tats. Meka even has a new single with Gunna titled "Florida Water."
However, the Meka "project" has received backlash. For one, Meka uses the N-word in lyrics. On the 2019 track "Moonwalkin'," he spits the lines, "Moonwalkin’ with a shawty in the lobby/Feel like Hank Hill when I raise the Bobby (Bobby)/I don’t see no niggas like we playin’ hockey (Hockey)."
"FN Meka is an AI generated rapper,
it already has a record deal with a major label and 500k monthly Spotify listeners, also uses the n word in its song," a Twitter user posted Monday (Aug. 22). "Shut that thing down."
Another issue came after its cre- ators were called out for perpetuat- ing stereotypes on social media. One Instagram post on Meka's official Instagram account shows the rapper being beaten up by a police officer in a jail cell because he "won't snitch." This didn't sit well with people either.
"An AI rapper that says the n-word fabricating police brutality... literally every single thing about this is so off-key," a Twitter user recently opined.
FN Meka has over 10 million followers
on TikTok and over 135 million likes.
iAV - Antelope Valley Digital Magazine