FN Meka, an AI-Powered Virtual Rapper, Has Been Signed by Capitol Records

FN Meka, an artificial intelligence-powered ‘robot rapper’ with over 10 million followers on TikTok and more than a billion views, has signed a deal with Capitol Records.

Last week, Music Business Worldwide announced the new deal on the same day FN Meka released his debut track for the label, a track called ‘Florida Water,’ which also includes (real-life) rapper Gunna and gaming streamer Clix. Turbo, whose previous work includes tracks with Travis Scott, Young Thug and Lil Baby, produced it.

On the song, FN delivers verses like, “Tesla, Gucci, Cybertruck / I wreck that s***, don’t give a f***.” Though the vocals are performed by a real human being, those lyrics have apparently been generated by AI, according to its creators. Listen below:

Factory New, a “virtual” record label that was the first to “sign” FN, created FN Meka. Anthony Martini, the co-founder, described the company’s operation to MBW last year and said that they had developed AI technology that analyses well-known songs from particular genres. Based on that, he claimed, the system provides recommendations for the “lyrical content, chords, melody [and] tempo” of new songs.

Martini claimed that the business later merged these components to create a song.

“As of now, a human voice performs the vocals, but we are working towards the ability to have a computer come up with and perform its own words – and even collaborate with other computers as ‘co-writers’.”

It’s unclear as to who contributed to the vocals on ‘Florida Water’ above. The junction of music, technology and gaming culture is where FN Meka meets, according to Ryan Ruden, Executive Vice President of Experiential Marketing & Business Development at Capitol Music Group.

—Silviya.Y