Artificial intelligence, AI for short, has quickly taken over several spaces, but few people have embraced the technology in music more than Timbaland. He recently faced heavy criticism for launching an AI music label, and responded by trolling his naysayers with an AI video.
The 53-year-old artist shared an Instagram video where animals are wearing human clothing and doing human activity while talking down 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,” another animal said. “Timbo ain’t the villain he’s just not babysitting y’all no more… you worried about AI stealing your sound, bro you ain’t got one.”
Essentially, he feels that the only people threatened by this are those who are already inadequate, and his legendary status should permit him some grace in taking this unprecedented step. Per the comments on the video, several artists and industry figures do not see things that way. “Lmao why u gotta diss real artists to promote your AI, just do your AI,” one artist wrote.
In another video, Timbaland seriously addressed the criticism and opened himself up for feedback. “I know I’m trolling but let’s have real conversation,” he said. “I love my independent artists. This doesn’t mean I’m not working with real artists anymore. And nah I don’t train ai off y’all music. This just means more creativity for creators. Going Live tomorrow. Let’s talk about it.”
Young Guru has been one of the biggest names to oppose the Virginia producer, and AI overall. In an Instagram comment, he wrote “I swear I love you bro but this ain’t it. Do you not realize what is going on in the world. Your voice is powerful and way too important to do anything like this. I have students who worship you. They are going to say ‘if Tim can do it, then it is ok for me to do it.’ […] Human expression can never be reduced to this!!! This is way bigger than music!!!”
The legendary engineer also took the time to speak with Timbaland on his live stream. “What we’re trying to do is make sure that the human emotion is still in [the music],” Guru told Timbo. He presented him with a salient point related to JAY-Z, an artist with whom they both worked. “Jay at 27 years old for Reasonable Doubt is different than a Jay-Z on a 4:44, but if I were to [leave it up] to AI, and yall only had Reasonable Doubt, you would’ve never got to 4:44, that’s the point.” Watch the full explanation below.
This was all sparked by Timbaland announcing his AI music label Stage Zero and his first signee, AI artist TaTa. He co-founded Stage Zero with Rocky Mudaliar and Zayd Portillo and created TaTa with Suno AI. With TaTa, he plans to create a genre called “A-pop” and shared his excitement for this venture in a press release.
“I’m not just producing tracks anymore. I’m producing systems, stories, and stars from scratch,” he said. “[TaTa] is not an avatar. She is not a character. TaTa is a living, learning, autonomous music artist built with AI. TaTa is the start of something bigger. She’s the first artist of a new generation. A-Pop is the next cultural evolution, and TaTa is its first icon.”
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