Young Guru has made it abundantly clear he is against the use of artificial intelligence as it pertains to particular elements in music, and now he’s speaking out further about what he feels it will do to late rappers’ legacies like that of Biggie Smalls.
In a conversation with Okayplayer published on Tuesday (June 6), the legendary producer expounded on the thoughts he’s shared to social media in recent months about the dangers of AI.
“When I first saw the JAY-Z [AI song], not only is it not his expression, it’s dangerous because of the fact that people will accept something that is lesser just to have it,” Guru said. “People were joking about, “Hey, now I can have the JAY-Z feature that I’ve always wanted,” but you’re not going to write the way that he writes and he’s not writing the way that he wrote in ’96.”
He continued: “When you take Big’s voice and you have him saying things that he would have never said, or it’s your interpretation or some other writer’s interpretation of what you think Big would have said, this kind of violates him and his legacy. How do you think his daughter felt? How do you think CJ felt hearing their dad’s voice? How do you think Faith feels? How do you think Big’s mom feels? They’re not getting paid from any of these things that are being put out.”
“I think about those things when I hear the Timbaland thing, and the reason that I said something to Tim, number one, is because me and Tim have worked together and we have a relationship and that’s why I started in love. I was like, “Tim, I love you, but this is dangerous because of who you are. If you set the precedent that this is okay, then every other kid is going to feel like, ‘Oh, well Tim did it.’”
Regarding auto-tune, which has been around for many years and is a form of AI, Young Guru noted that while he does support its use, it’s how it’s used that adds or takes away from the actual art form.
“If I’m going to run a…
Read the full article here
