Digital analogue of blackface: why the virtual rapper FN Meka lost his contract with the label

An unusual hip-hop artist appeared on the World Wide Web in 2019 - on YouTube and in TiKTok, which is reaching the peak of demand all over the world.

Then the startup Factory New, positioning itself as a "virtual record label", "signed" its artist, whose work is almost entirely created with the help of a neural network that composes beats, music and words.

The only "human" thing in FN Meka is the voice.

Who exactly it belongs to is unknown, although FN bosses claim that their artist is voiced by a black performer.

One of the founders of Factory New, Anthony Martini, is convinced that successful "stars" should not be sought, but created.

“Even with all the money that labels spend on finding (new. -

) talents, a miserable 1% succeeds.

Now we can literally create artists that meet specific parameters, using proven and effective elements, thereby multiplying the chances of success, ”says Anthony Martini.

“The robot that the world does not accept” quickly “became viral” in social networks.

At the time of writing, Meka has 10.3 million followers on TiKToK and has over a billion video views.

In a personal account, the “artist” does things typical for this social network: “shoots” videos, participates in challenges, dances.

As in the case of very real celebrity bloggers, users' opinions about Meka's work were divided: some sincerely admired the product of modern technologies, while others desperately "hatted", flooding the rapper's account with negative comments.

Of particular resonance were videos in which Meka shot from a “shotgun” loaded with AirPods headphones, the character of the game Among Us and a turkey.

Relevant videos scored tens of millions of views on TikTok and many perplexed and negative comments.

However, FN Meka's songs, like the rest of his content, gradually gained popularity.

Interest from the audience has generated interest from major players in the industry: on August 14, 2022, FN Meka became "the world's first AR artist signed to a major label", namely Capitol Records.

The record company noted that Meka is a combination of music, technology and gaming culture, and their collaboration is just the beginning, designed to show the world the future.

To celebrate the signing of the contract, FN Meka released a new single - Florida Water, featuring rapper Gunna and game streamer Clix.

However, the triumph did not last long.

Skeptical listeners and critics said that Meka is a digital analogue of blackface (a kind of theatrical makeup used by comedians for their shows and vaudevilles and was a caricature of the face of a black person), and its content simplifies and demonstrates a frivolous attitude to real-life black problems. the US population.

Later, the well-known NPO Industry Blackout in America, created in 2020 to "participate in the music business", joined the game and demanded in an ultimatum from Capitol Records to stop cooperation with FN Meka, noting, among other things, the fact that the virtual dark-skinned creature uses in its songs start with the letter "n".

"This digital image is a thoughtless abomination that is offensive to real people who are facing real real life consequences," Industry Blackout said in a statement.

Gunna, who recorded a joint track with FN Meka and is currently under arrest on racketeering charges, is cited as such a “real person”.

Activists called on the label not only to terminate the deal with FN, but also to make a public apology, and then donate the money spent by Capitol on the project to charity and to the budget of black artists of the record company.

Some of the requirements were immediately satisfied.

“We offer our deepest apologies to the black community for being tactless when signing (contract. -

) with this project, not asking enough questions about fairness and the underlying creative process.

We thank those who have reached out to us with constructive criticism in the past few days - you have made an invaluable contribution to our decision to end cooperation with this project, ”the record company said in a statement.

Factory New co-creator Anthony Martini stated that Capitol Records did not pay an advance for signing a contract with Meka.

The label confirmed this information.

Well, whether a very real “cancellation” awaits the virtual rapper in the future is an open question.