The Tyga AI album backlash has sharpened considerably after it emerged the rapper made conflicting statements about how much artificial intelligence went into his ninth studio album, $tarface, first presenting it as a fully human creation before later admitting AI tools shaped key elements of the record.
In an August interview with Vibe, Tyga disclosed that he had relied on at least one AI music programme while crafting $tarface, an 80s-inspired project that sees him adopt a “Miami Vice”-esque alter ego, complete with Jheri curls, retro Ferraris, and synthpop. He said he used AI to generate certain elements, including period-appropriate synths, whilst performing the vocals and writing the lyrics himself. ‘I’ve never spoken on this with anybody because I always felt like it’s similar to a magician explaining how he does his tricks,’ Tyga told the outlet.
A contradictory account of how $tarface was made
What made the disclosure more contentious was what Tyga had said before it. According to Pitchfork, Tyga had earlier told People that the album was entirely human-made. ‘Even down to the mixing, we used a lot of the old hardware,’ he said at the time, citing specific examples including ‘delays, harmonizers.’ That framing, emphasising analogue craft and vintage equipment, sits at odds with his subsequent Vibe admission, and it did not go unnoticed by critics.
Pitchfork awarded $tarface a score of 0.0 out of 10, the lowest the publication has given an album since the late 2000s, in part because of Tyga’s use of AI. Critic Drew Millard wrote: ‘Given the amount of actual effort or even labor put into $TARFACE (which is to say, about zero) the margins on this thing must be amazing. Stream it out of morbid curiosity if you must, but know that even a single listen runs the risk of making it profitable and therefore encouraging the music industry to commit such atrocities again.’
Tyga’s collaborator on two tracks from the album, Doja Cat, was equally pointed. During a livestream last week she said: ‘Nobody asked me anything about Tyga, but I felt like saying this. Tyga is a penis for making an AI album.’
Tyga AI album backlash met with a defiant response
Despite the criticism, Tyga has not retreated. In an interview with TMZ last week, he doubled down. ‘At the end of the day, I’m better than the AI and I’ve proven that for the last 15 years. So, it doesn’t bother somebody like me, but I think maybe there’s people that are scared that it’s going to, you know, take their position and replace them,’ he said. ‘It’s just a part of technology.’
His broader argument draws a deliberate parallel with Auto-Tune. ‘I know people are going to be mad about me saying this, but it’s where technology is going,’ he told Vibe. ‘It’s no different than when Auto-Tune came out. Some people were opposed to it, but real artists took it and used it.’ The comparison is one that other artists and producers have also reached for as they defend AI-assisted work.
Timbaland, for instance, faced backlash in 2023 after using AI to recreate the voice of The Notorious B.I.G. on a song, but pressed on regardless. He subsequently launched an AI entertainment company, Stage Zero, in 2025, with the aim of pioneering a genre he calls ‘A-Pop.’ His AI artist, TaTa, released a debut music video that October. ‘TaTa is a living, learning, autonomous music artist built with AI. TaTa is the start of something bigger,’ Timbaland told Billboard.
Grimes took a different approach, launching Elf Tech in 2023, an AI software that allows users to create songs using her voice. Artists can release the finished tracks commercially, provided they split 50% of the master-recording royalties with her.
The conversation has also extended to artists with no human originator at all. Tilly Norwood, an AI pop star created by Particle6, has accumulated over 475,000 views on her debut music video, ‘Take the Lead,’ since March. And Fenix Flexin, whose summer track ‘Rubberz’ was met with AI allegations from its release in June, initially distanced himself from those claims before later admitting to using the technology during production, according to Rolling Stone. Even so, ‘Rubberz’ charted on Billboard’s Hot 100, as Stereogum reported.
The Tyga AI album backlash, then, sits within a much wider and unresolved dispute about what constitutes authentic creative labour in music. The contradictory statements around $tarface (old hardware one moment, AI synths the next) have given critics a specific grievance beyond the usual technology debate, one that goes to transparency and trust between an artist and their audience. Pitchfork’s 0.0 score, the most unambiguous verdict in its arsenal, makes clear where at least one corner of the critical establishment stands.