Grand opening, grand closing!
The “Black community? was about to tear a hole into Capitol Music Group. I saw the writing on the wall. The crazy part is there it look like it was ago. FN Meka was an artificial intelligence rapper, that sparked a ton of controversy in a very short time. The rapper, who looked like a white male, immediately draw the ire of the black community and more because he clearly was a robot that appropriated black culture. This fn thing used racial slurs! So what if it has 10 million followers!
“CMG has severed ties with the FN Meka project, effective immediately,” a Capitol Music Group spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter. “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. 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.”
I know this may sound funny, because dude he’s clearly not a real human. But, after people started to break down and deconstruct what he was, it was clear he was a walking stereotype. He actually looked more like Tekashi69, but it wasn’t a real being.
The crazy thing is they had a song with Gunna (yes, the dude in jail!) all lined up with this guy. This was the first major deal with a virtual character. Obviously, there were two people behind this artificial MC. But, a group of industry professionals called the Industry Blackout stepped up and were about to slam everything about Capitol Music Group!
The said the following on social media:
DEAR CAPITOL RECORDS,
IT HAS COME TO OUR ATTENTION THAT YOUR COMPANY HAS DECIDED TO PARTNER WITH
FACTORY NEW ON SIGNING THE ARTIFICIALLY DESIGNED «RAPPER” FN MEKA. 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.
AN AMALGAMATION OF GROSS STEREOTYPES, APPROPRIATIVE MANNERISMS THAT
DERIVE FROM BLACK ARTISTS, COMPLETE WITH SLURS INFUSED IN LYRICS.THIS DIGITAL EFFIGY IS A CARELESS ABOMINATION AND DISRESPECTFUL TO REAL
PEOPLE WHO FACE REAL CONSEQUENCES IN REAL LIFE. FOR EXAMPLE, GUNNA, A BLACK
ARTIST WHO IS FEATURED ON A SONG WITH FN MEKA, IS CURRENTLY INCARCERATED
FOR RAPPING THE SAME TYPE OF LYRICS THIS ROBOT MIMICS. THE DIFFERENCE IS, YOUR
ARTIFICIAL RAPPER WILL NOT BE SUBJECT TO FEDERAL CHARGES FOR SUCH.
FOR YOUR COMPANY TO APPROVE THIS SHOWS A SERIOUS LACK OF DIVERSITY AND
RESOUNDING AMOUNT OF TONE DEAF LEADERSHIP. THIS IS SIMPLY UNACCEPTABLE AND
WILL NOT BE TOLERATED.WE DEMAND THIS PARTNERSHIP BE TERMINATED. A FORMAL PUBLIC APOLOGY BE
ISSUED, FN MEKA REMOVED FROM ALL PLATFORMS. FURTHERMORE, ALL MONIES SPENT
BY CAPITOL RECORDS AND FACTORY NEW FOR THIS PROJECT WILL BE ALLOCATED TO
CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS THAT DIRECTLY SUPPORT BLACK YOUTH IN
THE ARTS. AS WELL AS MARKETING BUDGETS FOR BLACK ARTISTS SIGNED
TO CAPITOL RECORDS. WE LOOK FORWARD TO YOUR RESPONSE AND COMPLIANCE.
Have you lost your FN minds? @capitolrecords @capitolmusic pic.twitter.com/TxbqDhJmv0
— Industry Blackout #IndustryBlackout (@industryblkout) August 23, 2022
Capitol Records responded immediately and dropped this “rapper” which is more like a crapper. It has to be the first and fastest drop in the history of artists. I’m glad they did it. They even removed FN Meka from their website and even the original press release was taken down. On top of that, the single that they dropped has been removed from all streaming platforms.
That was wonderful.