Earlier this month Capitol Records announced that they signed the first ever artificial intelligence rapper, who goes by the name FN Meka. The announcement was met with mixed reactions. However, it looks like FN Meka’s time on the major label has been short-lived.
According to Joe Coscarelli, from the New York Times, Capitol Records released a statement announcing the end of their partnership with the artificial intelligence rapper. In the statement, it reads,
“CMG (Capitol Music Group) 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.”
breaking: Capitol Records “has severed ties” with the A.I. rapper FN Meka, “effective immediately,” following days of backlash over the caricature
the activist group @industryblkout called for a formal public apology about two hours ago pic.twitter.com/arkL2OkTjv pic.twitter.com/BjfjLDfpMO
— Joe Coscarelli (@joecoscarelli) August 23, 2022
Coscarelli also shared that one group that called out the label on their decision to sign the virtual rapper, is the organization Industry Blackout, which said,
“While we applaud innovation in tech that connects listeners to music and enhances the experience, we find fault in the lack of awareness in how offensive this caricature is. It is a direct insult to the Black community and our culture. An amalgamation of gross stereotypes, and appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics.”
View this post on Instagram
As previously reported, FN Meka was created by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le, who co-founded a virtual record label called Factory New.
Yung Bleu, who is an actual human artist, stepped into The Shade Room to react to the news and said,
“S**t was hella lame these people decided to make a fake character and perpetuate every possible known black stereotype for profit and gain. And would have succeeded if we would have been blind to the fact. Had a green haired blue eyed character round here yelling N***a and acting like he getting arrested AND ACTING IGNORANT! THEY JUST SHOWED The world WHAT THEY THINK ABOUT YALL ! They really wish they can have black culture without actual black people.”
TSR STAFF: Jade Ashley @Jade_Ashley94
