NEWS
Young Guru, Jay-Z's engineer, joined fans and industry veterans alike bashing superproducer Timabaland announcement of launching an A.I. entertiainment label.
While longtime friends, Guru would share his thoughts on Timbo's involvement with artifical intelligance in a Instagram cover. Respectfully in disagreeance, Young Guru wrote the following:
"I'm going to say it again. I swear I love you bro but this ain't it. Do you not realize what is going on in the world. Your voice is powerful and way too important to do anything like this. I have students who worship you. They are going to say 'if Tim can do it, then it is ok for me to do it.' These are the times, right here, that history is defined.. Human expression can never be reduced to this!!! This is way bigger than music!!! I say this in all love."
In response, Timbaland shared a video featuring an AI-generated character who mocked critics. “Y’all crying about AI taking your spot, but your songs barely mix,” it joked, drawing more heat for its tone. Rapper Rexx Life Raj said, “Unc went out sad,” while Lauren Speed-Hamilton questioned AI’s growing grip on entertainment.
Doubling down, Timbaland posted a clip of music exec Ray Daniels defending the concept. Comparing Tata to cartoon icons like Mickey Mouse, Daniels claimed AI artists can sell music just like animated characters sell toys. Timbaland later clarified that he still collaborates with real artists and doesn’t train AI models on their work.
Despite his reassurances, the controversy continues. For critics like Guru, the debate isn’t just about tech—it’s about preserving the soul of music.
A.I. been creepin’ into hip-hop for a minute now. At first, it was just helpin' producers cook up beats and melodies with apps like Amper and Magenta. Then came the next-gen Auto-Tune, flippin’ voices like magic.
By the late 2010s, bots were spittin’ bars, copyin’ legends like ‘Pac and Em. Deepfakes took it further—fans makin’ ghost verses from dead or livin’ rappers. Kanye and Timbo tapped in heavy, but not everybody’s feelin’ it.
When Ghostwriter and Timbaland’s AI artist Tata dropped in 2023, it sparked real talk
NEWS
James Acaster has officially introduced his new band, The Wow! Scenario, alongside their debut song, ‘Zacuti’, featuring BC Camplight. More information about the project can be found below.
The Wow! Scenario began two decades ago and has now been brought to life by Acaster with his friend Graeme Wicks, BC Camplight and Emma Daman.
Their first album, ‘Stand in the Star. A Verse and a Chorus’, will arrive through Bella Union on October 23. Preorders are available here.
Listeners have also been given an early preview of the album through the jazz inspired lead single ‘Zacuti’, which is available to hear below.
Acaster and Wicks formed the group in Kettering in 2004. According to a press statement, they had already chosen to end the band by the time they recorded their full collection of songs with producer Chris Hamilton in December 2007.
The statement also revealed that the group’s name was inspired by an intoxicated audience member who tried to say they lacked “the X factor”. However, the person repeatedly used the wrong phrase and told them: “You don’t have the wow scenario, guys. You need to get the wow scenario”.
The musicians revisited the recordings with Hamilton in 2018, removing the original singing and replacing the vocal melodies with saxophone, clarinet and fiddle. At that stage, they planned to release the material as an instrumental record.
After deciding they were not satisfied with that version, the group returned to the studio for a third attempt in March 2023. BC Camplight and Emma Daman provided vocals for the new sessions, while the album was eventually mixed and finished in March 2025.
1. ‘Diving!’
2. ‘Once More!’
3. ‘Golf Socks!’
4. ‘Alpaca Spinner!’
5. ‘Reality!’
6. ‘Instructions!’
7. ‘Zacuti!’
8. ‘The Curse!’
Acaster previously created the music project Temps, which brought together a collective of 40 performers, including Quelle Chris, Xenia Rubinos, Shamir, NNAMDÏ and Seb Rochford.
When the collective was first revealed, the comedian and Off Menu podcast host discussed its origins during NME’s ‘In Conversation’ interview series.
“I was doing bands when I was a teenager into my early 20s, and I was like, ‘This is gonna be my entire life, all I’m gonna do is music,’” Acaster said. “When the band split up I started doing stand-up as a placeholder, and then I fell in love with stand-up and got really obsessed with that.
“I’d never made an album from scratch that didn’t exist yet – recording it and writing it at the same time – and I’d never produced anything before, or mixed something as intensely as this one. There’s a lot of new things – if I had been doing it on my own, I don’t know how long I would have lasted.”
