It would be difficult to find anyone who supports Timbaland and his new AI ventures, including a label with an AI artist signee. However, his longtime friend and Verzuz collaborator, Swizz Beatz, stepped up to his defense amid all of the fierce backlash he is receiving.
“I’m happy that Tim is into AI,” he said during a long monologue on a live stream featuring Timbo, Young Guru, and 19Keys. “Because all the white people in it. Why we can’t get in it? I don’t care how. It’s not how you start; it’s how you finish. So this is Tim’s entry point into AI. Whether we like it or not, it’s an entry point.”
The legendary producer continued his rant by using a metaphor, adding, “Now we can go in the house and rearrange the furniture.” He did offer one critique, though; Swizz emphasized the need to be transparent with the music space so that they can gain a better understanding of what the Virginia artist is trying to accomplish.
“That’s a hell of an announcement,” Swizz Beatz said. “When I seen it, people hit me I’m like ‘God damn. I ain’t speak to Tim about this. I would’ve given him a couple different [ways] to go about it.’ […] I respect you as your own boss but we can always communicate. Our people are delicate and we have to be patient with our people because they act like they know but they really don’t know.” Check out the full live stream above, which also featured Illmind and Ray Daniels.
Timbaland was receptive to his friend’s thoughts, but he decided to troll everyone else on the internet who took issue with his Stage Zero label, new AI artist TaTa, and his newly coined genre “A-pop.” The 53-year-old artist shared an AI video on his Instagram where animals dressed in human clothing and doing human activities shared brutal commentary on the current music landscape.
“AI is ruining music.’ Whatever, go ahead and cry me a river since Timbo’s stamp is on that too,” a giraffe wearing overalls said. “Autotune is AI baby, yall just didn’t complain until it started writing better hooks than you,” a fox said. “Timbo ain’t the villain he’s just not babysitting y’all no more. You want an opportunity but ain’t got output,” a rhinoceros said. Watch the video below.
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