Source: Virtual Humans / Virtual Humans
The controversy over the “world’s first” artificial intelligence rapper FN Meka has grown after another rapper who was hired to do their voice is now blasting Capitol Records, claiming they never paid him for his work.
According to reports, Kyle The Hooligan revealed that he was the voice of FN Meka, who was billed as the “world’s first A.I. rapper. The news comes shortly after Capitol Records announced that they dropped FN Meka just a week after introducing him as the newest artist signed to their label. The Atlanta, Georgia-based artist went on his Instagram page to reveal that he was contracted to be FN Meka’s voice and explained how everything came about.
“They came to me with this A.I. s*** and was like would I want to be the voice of it, and I thought it was going to be some collaboration,” Kyle said in the clip. “They promised me equity in the company, percentages, all this stuff, so I’m thinking, ‘OK, this about to be some collab, something different for me, so I can do my music and do some A.I. stuff with this FN Meka character.”
Unfortunately, Factory New and Capitol Records apparently went silent and left Kyle without any further information as to what would be next. “Next thing I know, n***** just ghosted me. Use my voice, use my sound, use the culture, and literally just left me high and dry,” he continued in the clip. “I ain’t get a dime off of nothing, and they got record deals, all this stuff. I wasn’t involved in no meetings or none of that, which is f****** up. So, I’m glad they a** got canceled ‘cause that’s karma for they a** ‘cause God don’t play with me. I’m gonna tell you that right now.”
FN Meka proved to be a popular creation, amassing a little over 10 million followers on the TikTok social media platform through two songs, “Speed Demon” and “Internet”. But it also garnered serious backlash online and offline, with the social justice organization group Industry Blackout issuing a statement via Twitter on Monday (August 23rd) with the caption, “Have you lost your FN minds?”
Capitol Records would then announce that they were dropping FN Meka hours later. “CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately. We 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,” their statement read.
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