Tell us how you really feel, Cube.
That’s Terrible
During a recent interview, rapper-turned-actor O’Shea “Ice Cube” Jackson Sr. pulled no punches while trashing the use of artificial intelligence in music.
“I think AI is demonic,” the NWA star told the Full Send podcast during a recent episode. “I think AI is gonna get a backlash from real people, real authentic people.”
Ice Cube specifically called out the controversial and viral track called “heart on my sleeve,” which made use of AI-generated vocals imitating the voices of Aubrey “Drake” Graham and Abel Makkonen “the Weeknd” Tesfaye.
“I think that’s terrible,” Ice Cube said. “I don’t wanna hear that bullshit. [Drake] should sue whoever made it.”
While Drake has yet to comment on the song himself, his record label Universal Music Group most certainly has, telling Billboard in a statement that the song — which has since been removed from streaming services at the label’s request — amounts to copyright infringement.
Though he hasn’t discussed “heart on my sleeve” directly [are we 100 on this?], Drake did call out another track that cloned the voice of his protegée Isis Naija “Ice Spice” Gaston last month.
“This is the last straw,” Drake wrote in an Instagram story at the time, referring to the song.
Sound Off
Even as some artists like Claire “Grimes” Boucher have chosen to embrace the use of AI in music, others are using their platforms to trash the practice.
Earlier this month, rapper Robert Rihmeek “Meek Mill” Williams rightfully issued a “WTF” after someone used an AI to clone his late father’s voice.
“I died in a shootout, just tryin’ to feed my fam,” the AI-generated version of Mill’s father Robert Parker raps on the track. “But death couldn’t stop me, I’m back in the lab.”
Whether hearing an AI mimic your voice or, even more disrespectfully, using your dead parent’s voice without anyone’s consent, it’s not surprising that artists are coming out against generative AI — but until the music industry begins adopting effective regulations against the practice, as some have argued, we’ll likely see more examples of AI-generated songs making their rounds online in the future.
More on freaky AI: AI Company Says It’ll Perform a Seance on Your Dead Loved Ones