Virtual rapper FN Meka underscores how AI perpetuates racial stereotyping

The first digital artist to sign with a major label was FN Meka. The New York Times reported that the deal was terminated because the character promoted "gross stereotypes" of Black culture.

The voice behind the character has said that he has never been paid for his work on the project.

The virtual rapper has a large digital presence. Factory New was founded by Anthony Martini and Brandon Le. The two men told Music Business News that they used a lot of data from video games and social media. While the character's voice comes from a real human, his lyrics and all other elements of his rap are created by the computer.

FN Meka has been criticized for his mannerisms and online presence since the digital rapper's recent online attention. Many people objected to the character using the N-word in his lyrics and others objected to depictions of police brutality on the rapper's social media.

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Capitol Records signed FN Meka and he released a song called "Florida Water." An activist group called for Capitol Records to cut ties with the rapper due to his character being a direct insult to the black community.

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This digital effigy is a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life. Gunna, a Black artist who is featured on a song with FN Meka, is currently imprisoned for raping the same type of lyrics this robot mimics. Your artificial rapper won't be subject to federal charges. According to the indictment, Gunna was involved with the YSL gang.

Capitol Records said it would be severing ties with FN Meka. 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. The feedback we received in the past couple of days was valuable as we decided to end the project.

Kyle the Hooligan took to social media to condemn Factory New. Kyle claims that Factory New never paid him for his work despite promises of equity in the company. Kyle claims that the FN Meka team ghosted him after the project took off.

The saga is an example of how Black culture is often stolen for clout and financial gain without proper compensation and credit, as well as an example of how Artificial Intelligence frequently parrots racist stereotypes as an excuse for language learning. While the development of digital music and digital artists remains an exciting frontier, FN Meka demonstrates a much needed examination into how artificial intelligence and augmented reality characters should be created.