Artificial intelligence has infiltrated hip-hop. The number of rap songs that have popped up in recent months using A.I.-generated versions of hip-hop’s biggest names is staggering. The advanced technology is now allowing fans to create songs using the voices of their favorite artists by typing with a few clicks of the mouse.
In 2023, rap superstars like Drake and Kanye West, who are typically very protective of their artistry, have fallen victim to having their voices used to train A.I. software, which in turn makes way for their sound to be used on songs that they were never involved in creating.
For example, the voice-generated A.I. track “Heart On My Sleeve,” created by the mysterious TikTok user Ghostwriter977, features the fake singing voices of Drake and The Weeknd. Unlike other robotic-sounding voice-generated songs, this A.I.-created collabo tune sounds so realistic, but it’s completely fake.
The Jay-Z-cloned song “Savage” by French rap group AllttA has the billionaire rhymer’s go-to engineer Young Guru concerned about the long-term implications of this A.I. technology on music artists’ copyrights. “People should not be able to take your name, image and likeness without permission. We have to add the voice to [copyright] law,” he wrote in an Instagram post in early April.
Even deceased artists are getting the A.I. treatment. TikTok user @adamxuptown used the voices of late rappers XXXTentacion and Juice Wrld to fake sing a cover song of Your Anxiety Buddy’s tune “Chamber of Reflection.” The A.I.-generated song has garnered over 1.7 million views on TikTok.
As the music industry attempts to pinpoint exactly how A.I.-generated songs will affect creativity and finances in the long run, XXL looks at some of the most eyebrow-raising music that has been created using deep-fake versions of artists’ voices including Drizzy, the late Pop Smoke and more.
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Jay-Z
“Savages”
Created by production duo AllttA, an A.I.-generated Jay-Z bounces verse for verse with another rapper on “Savages” with lyrics that never crossed the Brooklyn MC’s mind. However, Young Guru is not a fan.
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The Notorious B.I.G.
Nas’ “The Message”
This deep fake iteration of Nas’ 1996 track “The Message” offers listeners the chance to hear what the late Notorious B.I.G. would’ve sounded like if he recorded the song.
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XXXTentacion
A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie’s “Drowning”
Given the somber nature of A Boogie Wit Da Hoodie‘s breakthrough 2017 single “Drowning,” artificial intelligence makes it sound like it could have come directly from XXXTentacion‘s catalog.
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Kanye West
Hit-Boy’s “2 Certified”
Hit-Boy couldn’t have been more amazed by listening to A.I. Kanye West rap the lyrics to “2 Certified.”
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Drake and The Weeknd
“Heart on My Sleeve”
Drake, The Weeknd and the song’s subject, Selena Gomez, went completely viral off the strength of a track none of them had anything to do with, “Heart On My Sleeve.”
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XXXTentacion and Juice Wrld
Your Anxiety Buddy’s “Chamber of Reflection”
While both XXXTentacion and Juice Wrld are no longer with us, A.I. technology allows for a new collab as their voices were used cover Your Anxiety Buddy’s “Chamber of Reflection.”
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Drake
Ice Spice’s “Munch (Feelin’ U)”
Drake didn’t take too kindly to his voice being used for an A.I.-generated version of Ice Spice’s “Munch (Feelin’ U).” Champagne Papi hit up Instagram last week to declare, “This is the last Straw, A.I.”
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Pop Smoke
Ice Spice’s “Munch (Feelin’ U)”
The late Pop Smoke also gets the Ice Spice treatment in a computer-generated version of “Munch (Feelin’ U),” a viral track that Ice didn’t even record until after Pop was killed.
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Juice Wrld
“We Gon’ Be Alright”
Two otherwise common Juice Wrld fans, Sam Haberman and Ben Paschke, used A.I. to compose an entirely new song using the late rap-crooner’s voice and musical style.
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Drake and Kanye West
Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP”
While humor is a quality typically reserved for humans, even the computers that used fake versions of Kanye West and Drake to recreate Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s “WAP” likely got a laugh out of this one.
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Ariana Grande
Drake’s “Controlla”
While the real Drake scored a hit on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with 2016’s “Controlla,” here’s an A.I.-driven cut of what Ariana Grande would’ve sounded like if the record was written for her.
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