Have you ever listened to a song and wished it was made by an algorithm? Well, thanks to Capitol Records, you won’t have to. In a surprise turn of events, the music giant has signed its first AI rapper.
Capitol Records signs AI rapper
Via MBW, the first ever artificial intelligence rapper has been signed by the record label. After reaching a solid social media following, the robot rapper has been acquired by the music company.
Known as FN Meka, the AI program was created by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le, the owners of a virtual record label. The pair created the rapper alongside virtual platforms to display its avatar and music videos.
Technically, Meka still has a human component, arguably its most important one: its voice. However, the AI program is able to create its own lyrics, tempo, beat and more.
"Technically speaking, FN Meka is voiced by a human,"Martini said. "But everything else about him—from his lyrics to the chords and tempo underpinning his music—is based on AI."
While that may be underwhelming — it is to us — the AI rapper voice actor does get to sound fairly robotic. It turns out that auto tune will do that for you.
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The first song
After signing the AI Rapper, Capitol Records released FN Meka’s first song. Called Florida Water, the AI generated song is now available on most streaming services.
A collaboration between FN Meka and Gunna as well as streamer Clix. After listening to the song, it’s rather formulaic — an issue with a lot of AI — but it does sound like contemporary rap.
However, there’s nothing special about Florida Water. Then again, if this is just the start of the AI rapper’s career then maybe there will be better songs in the future.