Rapper Denies That His Billboard-Charting Song Is…

In June 2024, LA-based rapper Fenix Flexin faced intense scrutiny after his single "Rubberz" reached number 58 on the Billboard Hot 100, with many critics and listeners alleging the track was produced using artificial intelligence. Despite the artist's denials, industry experts and fans have pointed to numerous technical anomalies and stylistic inconsistencies as evidence of AI involvement.

What happened

Public suspicion grew rapidly following the song's release due to vocal quality issues, including the artist hitting notes outside his known range and inexplicably singing in a British accent. Critics noted that the song featured genre choices and vocal performances inconsistent with Fenix's established career. Technical analysis from producer Medasin and music podcaster Charlie Harding identified several "artifacts" typical of generative AI, such as brittle hi-hats, unnatural reverb tails, and ghostly backing vocals characteristic of low-bitrate MP3s.

Further fueling allegations, Medasin noted that an early snippet of the track shared by the artist contained the filename "Sonauto," a reference to an AI music generation platform. While Fenix attempted to refute the claims by posting a video of himself navigating a Pro Tools project file to demonstrate manual production, critics argued the footage could easily be faked by importing AI-generated stems into a digital audio workstation. Fenix subsequently deleted the video. While the artist maintains the song is original, the presence of specific digital artifacts and the use of AI-associated software in the production process have left the music community largely unconvinced.