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Will Lupe Fiasco’s New Google AI Tool Help Hip-Hop?

The rapper and producer stated that AI can help boost creativity in rap music.

Rapper, producer and educator Lupe Fiasco has always taken his role as a hip-hop advocate very seriously. Last year, he pioneered a rap class at MIT that explored the meaning behind classic lyrics from legendary emcees. Now, Lupe has entered the AI conversationโ€”but will it do more harm than good?

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The โ€œKick, Pushโ€ artist has partnered with Google for an AI tool called TextFX that will help with the โ€œwriting process of creating raps.โ€ Fiasco stated in a Google Lab Sessions video, โ€œRap is born out of technology. Rap wouldnโ€™t exist if it wasnโ€™t for these technological advancements.โ€

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yYp18JAvKkQ

โ€œDJing, for example, and direct drive turntables, so youโ€™re able to be very accurate with breakbeats and stuff like that. Microphones, recording studios, now youโ€™re able to lay more ideas.โ€ Lupe then remarked that AI will also be an instrument to propel the genre forward.

โ€œWhatโ€™s next?โ€ he asked. โ€œArtificial Intelligence, large language modelsโ€”rapโ€™s optimal for it.โ€ Lupe teamed up with creative technologist Aaron Wade and his crew to provide songwriters with resources to boost creativity. During the session, Wade explained their collaborative process.

โ€œSo, initially, we thought that maybe Lupe would want an AI system to write lyrics for him, verses and raps. But it turns out he didnโ€™t want that at all,โ€ Wade explained. โ€œWhat he wanted was a tool that helped him explore the universe of possibilities that can arise from any given word or phrase or concept.โ€

By providing TextFX a list of certain words, users will be able to find different rhymes, metaphors, meanings and syllables. Artificial Intelligence has been an incredibly complex topic in hip-hop, as it has already been used to emulate the voices of several prominent artists with Drake, Kendrick Lamar and The Notorious B.I.G. being examples.

While the onset of AI is inevitable, itโ€™ll be interesting to see how it affects the art form going forward.

Straight From The Root

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