Virtual rapper FN Meka dropped from Capitol Records

In a statement, Capitol Records said it offered its ‘deepest apologies’ and admitted that it did not undergo the due research before organising the signing.

At the time of writing, FN Meka has only released one song under Capitol Records with real-life artist Gunna called ‘Florida Water’. The AI rapper has found significant success on TikTok, generating over one billion combined views in viral dance and song videos.

FN Meka isn’t the first example of this type of tech. Imitating other artists using AI and robots has been on the rise for several years. A good example of just how convincing it can be is the ‘Travis Bott’ created by technology agency Space150. Check out this song – released in early 2020 – that sounds eerily close to a genuine Travis track.

The Instagram account for FN Meka has been made private since Capitol Records dropped it from its label.

Mere hours before the decision was made, a Black activist group called Industry Blackout released a statement urging for action to be taken. It described FN Meka’s appropriation of genuine social struggle from real artists as ‘offensive’ and a ‘direct insult’ to Black communities and culture. It should be noted that FN Meka’s creators are white.

‘Your artificial rapper will not be subject to federal charges’, they said, with regard to human artists currently facing prison time for their lyrics.

So it seems that – at least for now – FN Meka has been put on hold as far as industry backing goes. But this won’t be the last of AI artistry. More deep fakes, metaverse creators, and impersonations are sure to come.

It’s more a question of when, not if.