2Pac and Biggie have been dead since the 1990s, but their voices have been kept alive thanks to the magic (or curse) of AI — and after a classic 50 Cent track got this very treatment, retired heavyweight boxing champ Mike Tyson was left in awe.
Tony Yayo stopped by the Hotboxin’ with Mike Tyson podcast on Saturday (May 20), where he shared a variety of stories from the height of G-Unit‘s heyday.
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But then, the conversation turned to more modern matters — such as the rise of AI voice technology in the music industry.
“Let me tell you how ill computers is takin’ over. You ever heard of AI music?” Yayo asked Tyson and his co-host DJ Whoo Kid. “Do me a favor: play ‘Many Men’ by 50 Cent, 2Pac and Biggie.”
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After Whoo Kid queued up the song, everyone listened to the track — and while it wasn’t a precise replica of what ‘Pac, B.I.G. and Fif would sound like had they collaborated on a song together, it was certainly enough to blow Mike Tyson’s mind.
“That’s fucked up, bruh,” the champ told Yayo, his mouth agape, as he heard Biggie rap 50’s hook and 2Pac spit his opening verse, before adding: “Woah.”
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“Yo! This is crazy! This is insane. That don’t even make no sense,” Whoo Kid chimed in.
“Doesn’t it sound just like him?” Yayo agreed.
While Tony Yayo might be impressed with an AI-driven future, other artists — like Snoop Dogg — aren’t as keen on the technology.
Baller Alert caught up with Tha Doggfather last month, and asked him about the possibility of a proposed joint album between Biggie and 2Pac using artificial intelligence.
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While Snoop wasn’t wholly opposed to the collaboration, he made it clear he isn’t into the idea of a AI-generated project featuring his late Death Row labelmate and the King of New York.
“I don’t really know about that, with the AI,” he said. “Because that’s kinda like computerized voices, you know? [But] I think if they can find some old tracks with their vocals and put them together, that sounds better to me.”
Another rap veteran who isn’t keen on AI technology is Ice Cube, who recently told the Full Send podcast that he’s a man who will be quite litigious if someone tries to make AI-generated songs featuring his voice.
“I don’t wanna hear an AI Drake song,” Cube said to the host, who asked him if he’d heard Drizzy and The Weeknd’s viral AI collaboration “Heart on My Sleeve.”
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When the host countered by saying that “everyone on the Internet” was listening to it, Ice Cube doubled down on his anti-AI stance.
“Yeah, I don’t wanna hear that bullshit,” he dryly replied. “He should sue whoever made it.”
Undeterred, the host tried again. “AI’s coming for you too, bro,” he said.
“Yeah,” replied Cube. “And I’mma sue the muthafucka who made it and the people and the platform who play it. It’s like a sample, you know what I mean? Somebody can’t take your original voice and manipulate it without having to pay.”
