Capitol Records has severed all ties with viral A.I. rapper FN Meka, per the New York Times.
Capitol has received serious backlash regarding the signing of the virtual rapper powered by artificial intelligence.
Cutting Ties
“CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,” Capitol Music Group relayed in a statement. “We offer our deepest condolences to the Black community for our insensitivity in signing this project without asking enough questions about the 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.”
Activist group Industry Blackout called for an immediate public apology from Capitol Records only hours prior to the announcement that they were ending their partnership with the project.
“This digital effigy is a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life,” the group wrote.
Viral Outrage From FN Meka’s Deal
Reports surfaced early this week that FN Meka has signed to Capitol Records. It was also the first A.I. rapper to reach 10 million followers on TikTok. Many artists and rappers took to social media to voice their frustration with record labels putting their resources into a project like this rather than actual human artists.
“Like it ain’t a million real human artists out here who giving a deal to would change their families’ lives FOH,” The Game wrote in an Instagram comment.
Krayzie Bone took to social media to state how he wish he had thought of the idea first. However, he warned other rappers that the possibility of them being replaced by A.I. is becoming stronger every day.
“First thing I said was damn, I wish I would’ve thought of this first,” he said. “I think it could be genius, I think they got something. I think they might be going somewhere with this. I’ll tell rappers one thing – you better watch out,” he said. “They’re trying to take your jobs.”
