Capitol Records drops AI rapper FN Meka following Backlash
An Artificial Intelligence rapper!? Really!?
Capitol Music Group announced it had “severed ties” with the A.I. rapper FN Meka after facing a backlash that the virtual rapper was a stereotypical caricature of Black artists.
Earlier this month, Capitol Records announced that they were “signing” FN Meka, an artificial intelligence rapper, to their label, making the AI artist the first to be signed by a major label. FN Meka was co-created by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le, who are behind the company Factory New, which specializes in creating virtual music artists.
Capitol Records was releasing his first single “Florida Water” on August 12th which featured Fortnite gamer ‘Clix’ and rapper Gunna.
However, backlash quickly arose following a problematic portrayal of FN Meka on the virtual artist’s social media accounts. One Instagram post even showed the rapper being beaten by a police officer in a jail cell because he “won’t snitch.”
In an open letter to Capitol, an activist non-profit, Industry Blackout, called out the blatant issues from the virtual artist’s portrayal.
“It is a direct insult to the Black community and our culture. An amalgamation of gross stereotypes, appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics,” the statement said. “We find fault in the lack of awareness in how offensive this caricature is.”
A Capital Records representative gave the following statement to The Hollywood Reporter:
“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. 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 association with the project.”
Capitol has since dropped the rapper and removed his music from all streaming platforms.
