Many things were promised to us for this future dystopian society we now find ourselves in: flying cars, off-world colonies, robot workforces, android Ryan Goslings. Unfortunately, the least-fun of those seems to be the only one accurately predicated for 2021: automated A.I. replacing both industrial workers as well as our most human of endeavors, the arts. So far, they’ve come for our books, our operas, and our Garfields. Now, they are setting their sights on their newest target: those annoying-as-hell-yet-still-somehow-catchy SoundCloud mumble rappers. Is nothing sacred?
Allow us to “introduce” everyone to FN Meka, a TikTok influencer/musician who apparently also just happens to be the “first A.I. powered robot-rapper.” Described as a“virtual influencer, AR sneakerhead,” FN Meka purportedly “blends eclectic with electric. When not flexing his augmented reality fashion sense, MEKA crafts his next Soundcloud single.” So, uh, that’s a thing now.
As you can see from the above video for Meka’s new single, “Speed Demon,” he certainly sounds like the 1,767,898 other hard-to-parse, extremely online rapper—meaning he currently boasts 9 million TikTok followers and has racked up over 1 billion views. According to Meka’s PR reps, an A.I. program generates “lyrics and song elements—sounds, tempos, chords etc.,” but a human is doing the actual rapping “for now.” Currently, programmers are “working towards fully autonomous vocalists and even AI ‘co-writes’ between different computers,” so get ready for that long-awaited Siri x Alexa collab coming to our devices soon (whether we want it to, or not).
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