The Atlanta-based rapper claimed to be the voice behind it AI star FN Meka He in turn accused Capitol Records of cheating on him after promising fairness in the label.
Kyle The Hooligan has posted notes and videos claiming that the Universal-owned label has left him “loud and dry” and sharing information claiming to prove he’s the previously unknown voice behind the viral robot rapper.
FN Meka, made in collaboration with Factory New, It was brought down by the Capitol less than two weeks after its release After its critics highlighted the way the project downplays elements of black culture and uses them for shock value. The label referred to this in an official apology shared online earlier this week by New York timesJoe Coscarelli.
Meka was marketed as the “world’s first” rapper to sign to a major brand, with Ryan Ruden, Executive Vice President of Experimental Marketing and Business Development at Capitol Music Group, saying the project “meets at the intersection of music, technology, gaming and culture” and “merely Preview of what’s to come.”
Capitol released FN Meka’s first single, Florida Water, on August 12, which featured guest vocals from real rappers. jonah and additional sharing from the Clix game streaming device.
But controversy ensued when Meka, who has garnered more than 10 million TikTok followers, was seen using the N word and appearing to belittle police brutality. As one of its composers, e-Tone Concrete vocalist Anthony Martini explained to Music Business Worldwide, “The lyrical content, the chords, the melody, the rhythm, the sounds, etc.” for Meka are all determined by artificial intelligence but expressed by a human .
Now, Kyle the Hooligan has broken his silence claiming that Capitol “used me for my voice in my likeness and culture got 10 million followers on TikTok and a big record deal than I made and then ghosted me…”
“They came to me with this AI shit and it was like I wanted to be his voice, and I thought it would be some kind of collaboration,” Kyle wrote in a video commentary.
In the video he claimed: “They promised me equality in the company, percentages, all that stuff, so I’m thinking, ‘Okay, this is about to be some collaboration, something different for me, so I can play my own music and do some AI stuff. With this FN Meka character.”
He continued, “Everything is going well.” “Next thing I know, n**** just shadowed me. Use my voice, use my voice, use the culture and it literally left me high and dry. I didn’t get a cent out of nothing, and they got record deals, all of those things. I didn’t participate in any meetings Or none of that, which is wrong. So, I’m glad they canceled “because that’s karma because they hurt them” because God doesn’t play with me. I’ll tell you this now.”
In a second clip, Kyle claimed that one of FN Meka’s songs, Moonwalkin, is his. He wrote in a comment: “Just to prove to you that this was my music walking on the moon and the internet.”
NME Approach Capitol Records for comment.
Meanwhile, as noted by journalist Coscarelli in owned by him The New York Times Report On the Capitol after dropping the FN Meka project, Factory New founder Martini (and E.Town Concrete singer) predicted this would happen.
Martini blamed the impending cancellation on “the blogs that commented on the clickbait title and created this novel,” apparently referring to the notion that Meka as a character was primarily developed by artificial intelligence (a novel that Factory New defended themselves last year).
Founder Cozcarelli told the project that the project “wasn’t that malicious plan of white CEOs”, and that FN Meka’s character was primarily the work of an anonymous human rapper – described by Martini as a “black man” – with the role of Factory Neo “literally no different from managing a human artist.” But it’s digital.
Martini also claimed that the extended team behind FN Meka is “actually one of the most diverse you can get,” with Martini himself being “the only white person involved”.
In addition, he claimed that Capitol did not make any financial commitment to the project, and did not pay Factory New a down payment in finalizing the deal. The The New York Times He reportedly confirmed it with the poster.
In a statement via The New York Times After the project was completed, Capitol Records wrote, “We offer our deepest apologies to the black community for our indifference to signing on to this project without asking enough questions about the fairness and creative process behind it.”
