Lupe Fiasco Shows Acceptance Of AI As An Artist, Says 'Rap Is Born Out Of Technology'

According to a recent Google Labs Sessions, the Chicago, IL, emcee joined forces with the search engine giant to develop a program, TextFX, which helps artists during the songwriting process through the use of generating alternate meanings, spellings, and phrases to the words initially chosen by the user.

“Rap is born out of technology,” Lupe Fiasco said during the Google video. “Rap wouldn’t exist if it wasn’t for these technological advancements.”

On the other hand, the “Kick, Push” emcee did share that although TextFX can be a resource during the song-making process, it won’t actually do all the work.

“Depending on what you want to get out of it, it is there for you to get it,” he said. “It does require you to do the work, it’s not doing the work for you. It’s just providing you with different opportunities and workflow, and being efficient, and you know, offloading certain things so your mind can focus on other things.”

In collaborating with the technology for his new “Glass Of Water” track, Lupe Fiasco did say that he was shocked at just how impactful TextFX was with only a small amount of information when making the song.

At one point in the clip, he walks viewers through the songwriting process and reveals exactly how TextFX helped to bring the piece of art to life.

At the conclusion of the video, he performs the song.

“Initially, we thought that maybe Lupe would want an A.I. system to write lyrics for him, verses and raps. But it turns out that he didn’t want that at all,” Aaron Wade, a creative technologist at Google, said. “What he wanted was a tool that helped him explore the universe of possibilities that can arise from any given word, or phrase, or concept.”

Lupe Fiasco is just one of a handful of artists leaning into technology to enhance the work they’re already doing.

The million-dollar question now is, will others be willing to do the same?