Fenix Flexin took up most of the oxygen on this week’s episode of “Is this AI or not?,” but labelmate Tyga pulled his share too. Like “Rubberz,” the “Rack City” rapper’s latest album, the ’80s-indebted $tarface, has faced multiple accusations of being at least partially made with artificial intelligence. Not only does Tyga admit the accusations are true, but he is using the current go-to explanation (excuse?) favored by other generative AI-friendly artists: Adapt or die.
“I’ve never spoken on this with anybody because I always felt like it’s similar to a magician explaining how he does his tricks,” he told Mikey Fresh of Vibe. “Like why are people overexplaining how they make shit that’s good? If you like it, you like it; if you don’t, you don’t. I don’t care. It’s supposed to give you an experience and a feeling. But we definitely used AI as a [tool]. And I know people are going to be mad about me saying this, but it’s where technology is going. It’s no different than when Auto-Tune came out. Some people were opposed to it, but real artists took it and used it.”
If you didn’t love that quote, you won’t love the part where Tyga further explains his recording process: “We were like, ‘You know what? I need some ‘80 synths for a certain part of this song. I need a guitar solo done ASAP.’ It is what it is. But as far as the writing, all the vocals are all me.”
Anyway, feel free revisit our 3.3 review of Tyga’s 2018 album Kyoto.
