Virtual Rapper FN Meka has spoken out after being dropped by Capitol Records, and blamed its short-lived major label career on “racist reporters.”
It was reported last week that Capitol signed the AI robot following its explosive independent success on TikTok. The digital rapper had garnered over a billion views and accrued 10 million followers on TikTok alone, making it the No. 1 virtual being on the platform.
In the days that followed, the label received significant backlash, especially from the Black community, for signing the virtual rapper powered by artificial intelligence leading to Capitol cutting ties with FN Meka.
“CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,” the label 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.”
The virtual rapper looks to have now responded to being dropped after YouTuber Jarvis Johnson reached out on social media to offer his support after hearing the news.
“Hey fam. i just heard the news. you’ll bounce back from this stronger than ever,” Johnson wrote in his message to FN Meka.
In a screenshot of an apparent reply from the rapper, Meka replied: “Ty Jarvis!!! Honestly its algorithems controlling people. FnMeka is made by a black lady and a asian guy w/ a black voice. Racist reporters just want to report clickbait.
“Literally weve told reporters this, and they ignore it just to get headlines. Its desperate and sad society we live in now.”
i asked FN Meka about being dropped from Capital Records and their response couldn't have been worse pic.twitter.com/QEDdzIKcIN
— jarvis johnson (@jarvis) August 24, 2022
Johnson then asked for clarity on the real-life people behind the virtual entity, wondering if FN Meka’s voice was an asian person putting on a Blaccent. “haha like an asian dude that sounds black or a voice actor?”
“Lady came up w/ idea, asian modeled it to give a rapper a voice,” FN Meka replied. “Its a simple business cooperation lmao. Rapper is black as you can tell by his voice. Idk why people cant tell. The asians voice is lighter.
The virtual rapper concluded: “But its fine, people just want clout and rather report false narratives.”
FN Meka then sent a follow-up DM to Johnson to further clarify that its voice was “a black guy” and not an asian person putting on a Blaccent. “Btw just to clarify. The voice is a black guy,” FN Meka’s message read.
fn meka just dm'd me to clarify pic.twitter.com/dltdy2duZX
— jarvis johnson (@jarvis) August 24, 2022
The authenticity of the message exchange between FN Meka and Johnson has not been confirmed; neither has the identity of the person sending the messages.
Hours before Capitol Records announced that it had ended its partnership with FN Meka, activist group Industry Blackout called for a public apology from the label.
“This digital effigy is a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life,” the group wrote.
A number of rappers also voiced their frustrations with labels putting resources into this kind of project rather than behind 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.
Meanwhile, Krayzie Bone wished he thought of the idea first, but warned rappers they could be replaced by A.I. at some point in the future.
“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 will tell rappers one thing – you better watch out,” he said. “They’re trying to take your jobs.”
[via]
