World Music Views asked the sons of Freddie McGregor, who is recovering from an illness if they would use AI to assist him in performing after the their recent Reggae Sumfest performance. The Mcgregor brothers and Chino responded, “He definitely won’t be up for that, because it’s cheating and anything we do, we want to give out our best and true selves.” Stephen then chimed in, “Especially coming from the school he is coming from, he is coming from the realest of the real.”
The captain of the Big Ship label was wheeled on stage on a huge white chair, making his first public appearance in Jamaica since suffering a stroke eight months ago.
“Through the Spirit of Christ, I am here tonight, so I thank you for your prayers and your well wishes.” Freddie paused to tell the audience to resounding cheers of support as Stephen shouted out “One Ship.”
Stephen and Chino’s comments come in light of Meta, the company that owns Facebook introducing AudioCraft, a novel suite of AI utilities designed to produce what the technology powerhouse asserts as ‘top-notch, lifelike audio and music from textual prompts.’ For instance, it can generate a music sequence inspired by the text input ‘Make A Roots Rock Freddie McGregor Set.’
In a blog post discussing AudioCraft, Meta envisions scenarios where ‘a professional musician can explore new musical compositions without needing to physically play an instrument.’
The AudioCraft toolkit comprises three models: MusicGen (for musical compositions), AudioGen (for sound effects), and EnCodec (a generative AI decoder). MusicGen underwent training on approximately 400,000 recordings accompanied by textual descriptions and metadata, amounting to a cumulative 20,000 hours of music content owned by Meta or specifically licensed for this purpose. ‘Generating cohesive samples with long-term structural integrity is especially vital for crafting innovative musical pieces due to the intricate nature of music tracks compared to environmental sounds,’ explains the company.
Meta envisions a future where MusicGen evolves into ‘a new kind of instrument, much like synthesizers upon their initial emergence,’ as highlighted in the blog post.
Meta has shared a sample showcasing the music created by MusicGen. In addition to the reggae-themed excerpt, the demonstrations encompass instances such as ‘A movie scene set in a desert with percussive elements,’ ‘1980s electronic vibe with rhythmic drum patterns,’ ‘Medium-tempo jazz instrumental featuring spirited piano,’ and ‘Laid-back hip-hop with vinyl scratching and deep bass.’
Gold selling Philadelphia artist, Beanie Sigel has said he is open to using AI on an upcoming project. The Feel It In The Air rapper revealed that he is “using AI to emulate how his voice used to sound.” In a recent interview with DJUTV, Sigel expressed his enthusiasm for this novel technique, stating, “I think I found a good friend with this AI thing… A lot of people frown on AI, but I think that’s gonna work for me… I’ve had a colorful life, so I’ve been through things that hindered my [voice].”
The former Roc-A-Fella Records front man further detailed his intentions, confirming, “I was talking to somebody and they told me how you program the AI—you run the vocals through this… Y’all want, what they say, the ‘old Beans’ back? ‘Cause the pen’s still there. It’s just the voice. If y’all want that, I’ma shoot y’all something. So I’m gonna use AI on myself.”
