{"id":56025,"date":"2022-08-25T13:21:01","date_gmt":"2022-08-25T13:21:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/man-claiming-to-voice-controversial-ai-rapper-fn-meka-speaks-out\/"},"modified":"2022-08-25T13:21:01","modified_gmt":"2022-08-25T13:21:01","slug":"man-claiming-to-voice-controversial-ai-rapper-fn-meka-speaks-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/man-claiming-to-voice-controversial-ai-rapper-fn-meka-speaks-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Man claiming to voice controversial AI rapper FN Meka speaks out"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>An Atlanta-based rapper has alleged that he is the voice behind AI star FN Meka and in turn has accused Capitol Records of ghosting him after he was promised equity in the label.<\/p>\n<ul class=\"post-content-read-more\">\n<li><b>READ MORE: Burning Banksys and rubbish tweets: these are the most WTF NFTs so far<\/b><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Kyle The Hooligan has posted notes and videos in which he claims that the Universal-owned label have left him \u201chigh and dry\u201d and shared information that purports to prove that he is the formerly unknown voice behind the viral robot rapper.<\/p>\n<p>FN Meka, made in collaboration with Factory New, was dropped by Capitol less than a fortnight after launching after its critics highlighted the way the project trivialised elements of Black culture and used them for shock value.  The label alluded to this in a formal apology shared online earlier this week by <em>The New York Times<\/em>&#8216; Joe Coscarelli.<\/p>\n<p>Meka was marketed as the \u201cworld&#8217;s first\u201d AI rapper to sign to a major label, with Ryan Ruden, Capitol Music Group&#8217;s executive vice president of experiential marketing and business development, saying that the project \u201cmeets at the intersection of music, technology and gaming culture\u201d and \u201cis just a preview of what&#8217;s to come\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Capitol released its first FN Meka single, &#8216;Florida Water&#8217;, on August 12, which featured guest vocals from real life rapper Gunna and ancillary involvement from gaming streamer Clix.<\/p>\n<p>But controversy followed when Meka, who&#8217;d garnered more than 10million TikTok followers, was seen to use the N word and appeared to make light of police brutality.  As one of his creators, E.Town Concrete vocalist Anthony Martini explained to Music Business Worldwide, \u201clyrical content, chords, melody, tempo, sounds, etc\u201d for Meka were all determined by artificial intelligence but he was voiced by a human.<\/p>\n<p>Now, Kyle the Hooligan has broken his silence to claim that Capitol \u201cused me for my voice my likeness and the culture got 10million TikTok followers and a big record deal off what I created then ghosted me\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Chnyhb4JuUn\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThey came to me with this AI shit and was like would I want to be the voice of it, and I thought it was going to be some collaboration,\u201d Kyle wrote in a caption for a video.<\/p>\n<p>In the clip he alleged: \u201cThey promised me equity in the company, percentages, all this stuff, so I&#8217;m thinking, &#8216;OK, this about to be some collab, something different for me, so I can do my music and do some AI stuff with this FN Meka character.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSo everything going good,\u201d he continued.  \u201cNext thing I know, n**** just ghosted me.  Use my voice, use my sound, use the culture and literally just left me high and dry.  I ain&#8217;t get a dime off of nothing, and they got record deals, all this stuff.  I wasn&#8217;t involved in no meetings or none of that, which is fucked up.  So, I&#8217;m glad they ass got canceled &#8217;cause that&#8217;s karma for they ass &#8217;cause God don&#8217;t play with me.  I&#8217;m gonna tell you that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In a second clip, Kyle claimed that one of FN Meka&#8217;s songs, &#8216;Moonwalkin&#8217;, is his.  \u201cJust to prove to y&#8217;all this was my music and me Moonwalking and Internet,\u201d he wrote in a caption.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" style=\"background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);\" data-instgrm-captioned=\"\" data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/Chn7sjZj-60\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><em>NME<\/em> has approached Capitol Records for comment.<\/p>\n<p>Meanwhile, as journalist Coscarelli noted in his own <em>New York Times<\/em> report on Capitol ditching the FN Meka project, Factory New&#8217;s founder (and E.Town Concrete singer) Martini, predicted that would happen.<\/p>\n<p>Martini blamed the impending cancellation on \u201cblogs that have latched onto a clickbait headline and created this narrative\u201d, seemingly alluding to the notion that Meka as a character is primarily developed by artificial intelligence (a narrative that Factory New championed themselves last year).<\/p>\n<p>The founder told Coscarelli that the project was \u201cnot this malicious plan of white executives\u201d, and that the FN Meka character was primarily the work of an anonymous human rapper \u2013 who Martini described only as \u201ca black guy\u201d \u2013 with Factory New&#8217;s role being \u201cliterally no different from managing a human artist, except that it&#8217;s digital\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Martini also argued that the expanded team behind FN Meka is \u201cactually one of the most diverse teams you can get\u201d, with Martini himself being \u201cthe only white person involved\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Additionally, he argued that Capitol had not pledged any financial commitment to the project, and did not pay Factory New an advance in finalising the deal.  the <em>New York Times<\/em> reportedly confirmed this with the label.<\/p>\n<p>In a statement via the <em>NY Times<\/em> after culling the project, Capitol Records wrote: \u201cWe offer our deepest apologies to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about equity and the creative process behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><script>\n  !function(f,b,e,v,n,t,s)\n  {if(f.fbq)return;n=f.fbq=function(){n.callMethod?\n  n.callMethod.apply(n,arguments):n.queue.push(arguments)};\n  if(!f._fbq)f._fbq=n;n.push=n;n.loaded=!0;n.version='2.0';\n  n.queue=[];t=b.createElement(e);t.async=!0;\n  t.src=v;s=b.getElementsByTagName(e)[0];\n  s.parentNode.insertBefore(t,s)}(window, document,'script',\n  'https:\/\/connect.facebook.net\/en_US\/fbevents.js');\n  fbq('consent', 'revoke');\n  fbq('init', '2300206660218433');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n  fbq('init', '370979561341328');\n  fbq('track', 'PageView');\n<\/script><script async defer src=\"https:\/\/platform.instagram.com\/en_US\/embeds.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An Atlanta-based rapper has alleged that he is the voice behind AI star FN Meka and in turn has accused Capitol Records of ghosting him after he was promised equity in the label. READ MORE: Burning Banksys and rubbish tweets: these are the most WTF NFTs so far Kyle The Hooligan has posted notes and &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/man-claiming-to-voice-controversial-ai-rapper-fn-meka-speaks-out\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Man claiming to voice controversial AI rapper FN Meka speaks out<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":55041,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/label-drops-racist-ai-rapper-who-made-music-with-fortnite-pro\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":0},"title":"Label Drops &#8216;Racist&#8217; AI Rapper Who Made Music With Fortnite Pro","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"screenshot: FN Meka TiktokOne week ago, headlines were abuzz with the news that Capitol Music Group had signed a digital rapper called FN Meka whose lyrics were generated by artificial intelligence. Now, after much backlash and criticism from around the internet, Capitol Music Group is undoing that decision, instead axing\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"Babbel","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/i.kinja-img.com\/gawker-media\/image\/upload\/c_fill,fl_progressive,g_center,h_180,q_80,w_320\/1ba140f35ed6ffd2ba8ef0d808ad8394.png?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":54372,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/capitol-records-drops-virtual-ai-rapper-fn-meka-after-backlash\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":1},"title":"Capitol Records Drops Virtual AI Rapper FN Meka After Backlash","date":"August 23, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"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 has announced it has dropped the 'bot following backlash.On Tuesday (Aug. 23), a rep for Capitol released a statement to XXL confirming its decision to part\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":56019,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alt-metal-vocalist-helped-launch-controversial-ai-rapper\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":2},"title":"Alt-Metal Vocalist Helped Launch Controversial AI Rapper","date":"August 25, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Anthony Martini, vocalist for New Jersey alternative metal band E.Town Concrete is a co-creator of the controversial AI (artificial intelligence) rapper FN Meka.After amassing 10 million followers on TikTok, Capitol Records signed FN Meka, making the bot the world's first AI rapper to sign to a deal with a major\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54810,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/capitol-records-severs-ties-with-ai-rapper-fn-meka-after-backlash-the-hollywood-reporter\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":3},"title":"Capitol Records Severs Ties With AI Rapper FN Meka After Backlash \u2013 The Hollywood Reporter","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Capitol Music Group on Tuesday said it had \u201csevered ties\u201d with the AI \u200b\u200brapper FN Meka after facing pushback from activist groups and observers that the virtual rapper was a stereotypical caricature of Black artists. \u201cCMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,\u201d a Capitol Music Group\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54836,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/capitol-records-severs-ties-with-ai-rapper-fn-meka-apologizes-to-black-community-for-insensitivity\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":4},"title":"Capitol Records Severs Ties With AI Rapper FN Meka, Apologizes to Black Community for \u201cInsensitivity\u201d","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Capitol Music Group on Tuesday said it had \u201csevered ties\u201d with the AI \u200b\u200brapper FN Meka after facing pushback from activist groups and observers that the virtual rapper was a stereotypical caricature of Black artists.\u201cCMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,\u201d a Capitol Music Group spokesperson\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":54969,"url":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/capitol-records-severs-ties-with-virtual-rapper-fn-meka-offers-deepest-apologies-to-the-black-community\/","url_meta":{"origin":56025,"position":5},"title":"Capitol Records \u201csevers ties\u201d with virtual rapper FN Meka, offers \u201cdeepest apologies to the Black community\u201d","date":"August 24, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Weeks after Capitol Records announced the \u201csigning\u201d of FN Meka \u2013 a virtual \u201crobot rapper\u201d launched by creative start-up Factory New \u2013 the Universal-owned label has shared a statement confirming it has \u201csevered ties\u201d with the project. Capitol Music Group announced their partnership with Factory New on August 12, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Entertainment&quot;","img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/FN-MEKA-PRESS-PIC.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56025"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=56025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/56025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=56025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=56025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=56025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}