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Label drops virtual rapper over stereotype accusations
The company faced mushrooming backlash over the project, with critics saying the virtual rapper FN Meka insults Black people and their culture.
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Capitol Music Group has dropped a Tik-Tok famous, artificially designed (Capitol Records/Factory New)
Capitol Music Group has dropped a Tik-Tok famous, artificially designed "rapper" over accusations of racial insensitivity.
The company faced mushrooming backlash over the project, with critics saying the virtual rapper FN Meka insults Black people and their culture.
Earlier this month Capitol Records -- a division of Universal Music Group -- had teased FN Meka as the first augmented reality artist to sign to a major label -- "a preview of what's to come."
But in a statement obtained by AFP Wednesday the company backtracked, announcing it had "severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately."
"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," read Capitol's statement, which offered thanks for "constructive feedback" that it called "invaluable."
Just before Capitol announced the move, the nonprofit activist group Industry Blackout posted an open letter to social media: "While we applaud innovation in tech that connects listeners to music and enhances the experience, we find fault in the lack of awareness in how offensive this caricature is."
"It is a direct insult to the Black community and our culture," the letter continued. "An amalgamation of gross stereotypes, appropriative mannerisms that derive from Black artists, complete with slurs infused in lyrics."
According to the trade website Music Business Worldwide, the "robot rapper" FN Meka -- who has face tattoos along with green braids and a semi-shaven head -- is technically voiced by a human, but the artist's music is based on artificial intelligence.
FN Meka's first single was entitled "Florida Water," and was released by Capitol earlier this month.
Its credits include features by the Fortnite gamer Clix, as well as the Atlanta rapper Gunna -- who is currently behind bars and faces a felony racketeering charge.
Industry Blackout dubbed FN Meka a "digital effigy" that is "a careless abomination and disrespectful to real people who face real consequences in real life," before pointing out Gunna's situation.
