Be Me
Lil Wayne has joined the ranks of musicians who’ve weighed in on AI — and his take is as self-assured and potty-mouthed as his rhymes.
In an interview with Billboard, Dwayne Michael Carter, Jr. — better known by his stage name Lil Wayne — admitted that he’s not all that worried about AI “replacing” him because, well, it’s not him.
“Someone asked me about [AI] recently,” Weezy told his interviewer. “And they were trying to tell me that AI could make a voice that sounds just like me. But it’s not me, because I’m amazing.”
“I’m like, is this AI thing going to be amazing too?” Tunechi continued. “Because I am naturally, organically amazing. I’m one of a kind. So actually, I would love to see that thing try to duplicate this motherf*ker.”
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The New Orleans legend has a point. Although AI can mimic human artists’ voices pretty convincingly, they’re not “naturally, organically amazing” because they’re not, you know, organic. Moreover, Wayne’s skilled wordplay would be particularly difficult to surpass for an AI chatbot, which tend to be pretty derivative.
Bravado is nothing new in the rap game, but Weezy’s remarks were so braggadocious that The Root has already declared his “beef” with AI “the best of the year.”
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Interestingly, this isn’t the first time Wayne has commented on AI — not exactly, at least.
In a 2019’s mostly-forgotten track “A.I. with the Braids,” both The Game and Weezy are heard rapping the titular line repeatedly, though the latter’s reference to Georgetown — and the “Iverson” jersey worn by one of the glitchy Second Life-esque characters in its music video — suggests that the “AI” in question is Allen Iverson.
Though not quite as outrageous as Wayne’s latest remarks, Ice Cube’s claims that he thinks AI is “demonic” earlier this year came pretty close in terms of hilarity. He, too, followed it up with some real talk.
“I think AI is gonna get a backlash from real people, real authentic people,” the rapper-turned-actor told the “Full Send Podcast” back in May. He also weighed in on a then-viral AI track that imitated fellow rapper Drake’s flow and royally pissed off his record label.
“I think that’s terrible,” Cube remarked. “I don’t wanna hear that bullshit. [Drake] should sue whoever made it.”
More on AI “music”: Rejoice, Drake! AI Barred From Winning a Grammy