a duo of musicians recreates the voice of rapper Jay-Z using artificial intelligence and sparks debate

It is to be mistaken, the sound illusion works perfectly. Jay-Z’s voice, his memorable rhythmic flow, and yet he’s not the one rapping!

The text is by Mr J. Medeiros, the production of 20syl. Both form the Alltta duo, and by tinkering with both voice and sound on artificial intelligence software, they created the title Savagesa year ago. “For us, we were really experimenting, questioning these technologies, so there was no question of releasing it commercially”explains 20syl.

“The idea was really not to appropriate the image of Jay-Z, for us there was above all an anecdotal side to show ‘attention, look at this technology, it’s phew what we can do, It’s freaking out, but it stopped there!”

20syl, from the Alltta duo

at franceinfo

But they ended up posting the song last week, amid positive comments, others much more acerbic. Jay-Z’s historic sound engineer, Young Guru, was even alarmed by the process. “There are more than 4,000 comments under his Instagram post, so we were a little overwhelmed there”recognizes 20syl.

Possible new business models

However, artificial intelligence has been shaking up music for years. Now, Internet users can recreate Kanye West’s voice using software. And even David Guetta, in concert, recreated Eminem’s flow. Week by week, technology is improving.

“It escapes us all, whether in the image or in the sound. Yesterday, I tested a new model of voice synthesis, and there it is in one click!”

20syl, from the duo Alltaa

at franceinfo

But beyond the debate, for 20syl, the future may not be so scary. “There is always this stage where we are all afraid when a new technology arrives, we say to ourselves that our know-how will be stolen, and then afterwards we appropriate it and it evolves towards positive things”he develops. “And then maybe there are new economic models that will be created on this basis?” Like being paid to make your voice available, for example.

In the meantime, Alltta has managed to stir up debate, and their album, expected next month, is announced as very different, and guaranteed without artificial intelligence.