There isn’t a such factor as a common “tune of the summer time” anymore, however for those who’re into rap music, Fenix Flexin’s “Rubberz” is a fairly robust contender.
Formally launched in June, it at the moment sits at No. 58 within the Billboard Scorching 100 and has a music video with 7 million views. Lyrically, it’s received all the things you’d need: boasts about money and jewellery, and bars that work as a double entendre for braggadocio and melancholy.
However there are two fascinating twists to “Rubberz.” First, it isn’t a rap tune in any respect; it’s a synth-pop tune that might be at house in a moody ’80s playlist. Additionally, because it dropped, it’s been the main target of accusations that it was fully or partially AI-generated.
The argument reached a peak this weekend after an impartial music producer claimed he’d discovered not solely how Fenix had made “Rubberz” however that the rapper’s labelmate, Tyga, additionally appears to have used a little-known generative AI music app to create some ’80s-themed tunes of his personal.
And now, the creators of that very same AI music app have successfully snitched on each: The service’s new built-in detector is now flagging the songs made by each Fenix and Tyga as seemingly AI-generated.
This will likely lastly settle the argument followers have been having all summer time. It received’t settle the one they’re about to begin.
Tune Up
Folks had been suspicious of Fenix from the start; “Rubberz” shouldn’t be solely an uncommon style shift for the artist, it additionally doesn’t sound like his voice within the tune.
Fenix Flexin grew up in East Hollywood, and he sounds prefer it, and when he debuted as a part of the group Shoreline Mafia within the late 2010s, you may at all times acknowledge which bars had been his due to his considerably nasally, congested voice. The voice on his June 5 launch of “Rubberz,” nonetheless, is totally unrecognizable. It’s so much brighter and crisper, and the accent sounds nearer to a really chipper Morrissey.
Each he and the credited producer, Purps on the Beat, have denied utilizing AI at each flip. Fenix informed Channel 5 that he “freestyled” the lyrics, and within the feedback of an On the Radar efficiency, he replied to individuals accusing him of utilizing AI: “No sirrrrrrr, recorded identical as all music I do! Solely distinction is auto-tune reverb and me utilizing my faux uk accent lol.”
Not everybody purchased his rationalization, however there was no proof in any other case. Because the summer time continued, music media debated whether or not “Rubberz” had been AI-generated. However not one of the well-known AI music detectors flagged it, Fenix denied it, and the tune continued to rack up performs. Followers had no alternative however to get snug with the query being unresolved.
Then, issues shifted out of the blue. On Thursday, a music producer named Medasin posted a video claiming he’d discovered how Fenix used AI to make the monitor.
It wasn’t Suno, or Udio, the 2 most outstanding generative AI instruments for making music. As a substitute, Medasin says, Flexin had used a lesser-known app known as Treblo. Medasin breaks down his accusation methodically: First, he factors out that the app was once known as Sonauto till two days earlier than “Rubberz” was launched. After which he exhibits a display screen cap of one among Fenix’s outdated Instagram Tales teasing his new ’80s sound. A freeze-frame and zoom reveals {that a} filename being proven on display screen has the suffix “Sonauto.mp3.”
However essentially the most compelling accusation comes when Medasin exhibits how he was in a position to make use of Treblo to create a really related monitor. Through the use of tags like “80s synthwave” and prompting the app to jot down lyrics a few “rapper way of life,” Medasin received a similar-sounding tune. The lyrics even bear greater than a passing resemblance to “Rubberz.”