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Artificial intelligence is increasingly entering the music world, with AI-generated artists gaining attention on charts and in media coverage. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Telisha “Nikki” Jones, a poet and entrepreneur from Mississippi, has made headlines for her AI creation, Xania Monet. The artist’s debut single, “How Was I Supposed to Know?,” has already secured Jones a multi-million-dollar recording contract with Hallwood Media following a competitive bidding process that reached $3 million. In an interview with “CBS Mornings” co-host Gayle King, Jones discussed her approach to creating Xania Monet. The 31-year-old emphasized that she writes all of the lyrics herself, often drawing from poems she has been composing since she was 24. “There’s real emotions and soul put into those lyrics,” Jones said. She added that “How Was I Supposed to Know?” was inspired by the death of her father when she was 8 years old. After writing the lyrics, Jones uses the AI platform Suno to...
At 21 years old, Brooklyn Frost brings her creativity to her streams, social media, and music, engaging millions of fans across Twitch, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube with her voice, energy, and perspective. Streaming Success Brooklyn Frost has built an audience that spans 1.3 million Instagram followers, 2.2 million TikTok followers, over 600,000 Twitch followers, and more than 1 million YouTube subscribers. Per Essence Girls United, watching her brother create content first, she said she was drawn to the energy, creativity, and connection that streaming offered. Stepping in front of the camera herself, she realized she could tell her own story. “Streaming gave me a space to be myself in real time, to laugh, to talk, and to build a genuine community that grew with me,” Frost told AFROTECH™. Her first Twitch subathon in December 2024 was a milestone, earning her 10,000 new subscribers and averaging 13,000 views per stream, according to Complex. Frost celebrated the achievement with...
AI-generated and AI-assisted music has appeared on Billboard charts across various genres, including gospel, rock, and country. In recent months, according to Billboard, at least six AI or AI-assisted artists have debuted on these rankings, though the total number of songs or artists using AI is not yet clear. Some artists disclose their involvement with AI on streaming platforms, while Billboard reports using detection tools, such as Deezer’s identification system, to verify AI-generated or AI-assisted content. Billboard Entries And Commercial Performance Xania Monet, an AI-powered artist created by Mississippi-based songwriter Telisha “Nikki” Jones, has charted on multiple Billboard listings. Jones produces Xania Monet’s music by blending her own lyrics with live recordings and the AI platform Suno, as AFROTECH™ previously reported. According to Billboard, Xania Monet’s “Let Go, Let Go” reached No. 3 on Hot Gospel Songs, and “How Was I Supposed to Know?” peaked at No. 20 on Hot...
There is no better time to engage with technology than now. Chris Lyons, the president of Web3 Media at a16z crypto, has taken the stage at the AFROTECH™ Conference 2025 in Houston, which is reaching students, founders, technologists, and creators from all walks of life. He encouraged attendees to embrace today’s advancements in tech. Drawing from his roots in the music industry, where he once worked as a sound engineer, he references Soulja Boy as a prime example of embracing technology. The rapper used music production software Fruity Loops, now known as FL Studio, to release his debut hit “Crank That (Soulja Boy),” which was created using the program’s stock sounds, notes VICE. “I grew up in Atlanta, and I remember hearing Soulja Boy first coming out for this. He was recording literally in his bathroom. And when I used to work in a studio, you literally had to go to a physical recording studio,” Lyons explained. “But by having the software and having the equipment makes things 10...
50 Cent is joining a growing number of musicians experimenting with artificial intelligence to reimagine their music. According to Complex, the rap veteran recently transformed two of his hits, “21 Questions” and “God Gave Me Style,” into old-school R&B tracks. He explained that AI allows his older songs to reach listeners who may have missed the original releases. “Look, if it will reach someone that I missed, someone who couldn’t hear what I was trying to say to them in the writing, they can hear it now in that format,” he told Jordan Rose for Complex in an interview. By converting his classics into new styles, 50 Cent is exploring how technology can broaden his audience while keeping the original songwriting intact. The rapper also highlighted the quality of AI-generated voices, noting that they rival the singers of the original era. “I don’t know where the AI got these voices from, but these are some good voices,” he said. “Like, if these guys came out in that time period, they...
Long live D’Angelo. The “king of neo-soul,” born Michael Eugene Archer in Virginia, was one of a kind, and this was clear in his upbringing in his father’s church. At age 16, he even had his own choir and formed a singing group with his cousins, according to his interview with Wax Poetics in 2020. He continued to nurture his craft and looked to the blueprint of pioneers such as Stevie Wonder. “When it comes to songwriting, I modeled myself after Stevie Wonder. Sometimes you put poetry to beautiful music, and other times you got to come direct,” D’Angelo said, according to Wax Poetics. D’Angelo knew he had talent, and others around him did, too. This recognition likely explains why he dropped out of school as a teenager to break into the music business, CBS News reports. The risk paid off. After being signed to EMI Records, he co-produced Black Men United’s 1994 single “U Will Know,” Variety reports. In 1995, he changed the industry with his debut album “Brown Sugar,” which is...
Decades after its release, Prince’s 1984 album and film soundtrack, “Purple Rain,” is seeing renewed momentum. According to Forbes, U.S. sales for the album more than doubled over a one-week period as it returned to multiple Billboard charts. Luminate, a leading entertainment data and analytics company providing trends, behaviors, and insights across music, film, and television, reported that “Purple Rain” sold just over 3,100 copies in the latest U.S. tracking week, up from about 1,400 the week before — a 119% increase, according to Forbes. The outlet reports that the surge helped the album return to Billboard’s Vinyl Albums chart at No. 13 and the Top Album Sales chart at No. 38. The increase suggests that many of the recent purchases came from vinyl sales. “Purple Rain” has remained a consistent favorite among fans of physical records and is often mentioned alongside albums such as “The Dark Side of the Moon” by Pink Floyd and “Legend” by Bob Marley & the Wailers as essential...
Rodarius Marcell Green, better known as Rod Wave, revealed on “The Joe Budden Podcast” how taking charge of his merchandise business transformed a six-figure side hustle into a multi-million-dollar operation. According to his podcast appearance, the platinum-selling artist said he manages all aspects of his merchandise himself. “It all started when my uncle told me, ‘You can go buy your own clothes, and pay these folks to print it up, pay these folks to transport it, and we gon’ do that,’” Rod Wave said. That approach helped him grow his merchandise revenue from $200,000 to $14 million. “If you can make it in the street, you can make it anywhere. If you can make a million dollars on the street illegally, your brain can work,” he added. Rod Wave said that taking control of his merchandise allowed him to retain more of the revenue coming from his work. He added that artists often receive only a fraction of the money they help generate for music labels. He also described the business...
Travis Scott is supporting students in STEM. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the rapper launched the Cactus Jack Foundation in November 2020, and its pillars center on education and creativity. One of its earliest initiatives included a scholarship for HBCU students to pay their tuition fees, and it was named in honor of Scott’s grandfather, the late Dr. Waymon Webster, a Prairie View A&M University (Texas) graduate and dean, according to Variety. “Waymon Webster was a dean of the Prairie View A&M graduate school,” Scott said at the time, per Variety. “My grandfather wanted me to take it all the way through college. I feel there is a power in education so to be able to give someone the opportunity to fulfill that dream as my papa thought for me is amazing.” Partnership With Space Center Houston One year after the foundation’s inception, it launched the 60,000-square-foot Cact.us Design Center at TXRX Labs, which caters to at-risk middle and high school students. The center will...
After shaping the sound and style of generations, MTV is preparing to close a major chapter in its history. According to E! News, the network will shut down five of its music channels in the United Kingdom, including MTV Music, MTV 80s, MTV 90s, Club MTV, and MTV Live, on Dec. 31, 2025. While this has raised questions among fans wondering, “Is MTV shutting down?” its main channel, MTV HD, will continue broadcasting, focusing on reality programming, the outlet reports. The decision comes more than four decades after MTV revolutionized television by becoming the world’s first 24-hour music video channel. When it launched in the United States in 1981, it famously opened with The Buggles’ “Video Killed the Radio Star.” Six years later, MTV Europe expanded the brand’s reach, and by 1997, the U.K.’s MTV channel became a cultural staple for audiences. Why MTV Is Ending Its UK Music Channels As BBC News reports, the shutdown reflects the ongoing shift in how audiences consume music. Viewers...
Hit-Boy continues to embrace today’s technology. The producer, born Chauncey Hollis Jr., has been in the music industry for nearly two decades. He made his foray into music by releasing mixes on Myspace and selling burned CDs outside a mall for only $5, according to The New York Times. At age 19, he secured a $50,000 co-publishing deal with Universal Music Publishing Group, which he later learned had no end date, The Times notes. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, he was in a vulnerable position, raised by a teenage single mother. His father spent most of his life in prison, so, at the time, Hit-Boy had little mentorship or knowledge of music contracts and how to navigate the business. Hit-Boy went on to experience great success, collaborating with industry titans such as Drake, Lil Wayne, Beyoncé, Mariah Carey, and even Jay-Z, producing the song “N-ggas in Paris” in 2011. In an interview with AFROTECH™, Hit-Boy credited the song and partnership with Jay-Z with changing his earning...
Lil Jon said he will forever be indebted to Too $hort for setting him free from a lifetime contract. Lil John was first a DJ, making waves in the Atlanta music scene, he explained in a podcast interview with “Bringing Down The Band.” He had become interested in DJing while throwing house parties in his home, carrying on the tradition of one of his high school friends who went away to the Navy. Lil John’s rise in the city then caught the attention of Jermaine Dupri, who enlisted him for A&R and street promotions at his label, So So Def Recordings. Lil Jon gained momentum in the area as a producer. He admitted his claim to fame was executive producing all three compilations of the “So So Def Bass All-Stars” albums, which featured one of today’s enduring classics, Ghost Town DJs’ “My Boo.” He also formed a group called the East Side Boyz during this period, with Big Sam and Lil Bo , according to Franchise Record Pool . Escaping Lifetime Deal Lil Jon worked with the label from 1993 to...
A casino backed by Nas will be making its way to Queens, NY. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, the “If I Ruled the World” artist teamed up with Resorts World Casino New York City and its parent company, Genting Americas East, to open a $5.5 billion “Las Vegas-style casino” in his neighborhood. Project plans include a performance space that can seat 7,000, a partnership with 30 new food and beverage vendors, and 1,600 new hotel rooms inside the Hyatt Regency at John F. Kennedy International Airport. Beyond revenue-generating additions, the proposal includes housing units that could serve up to 3,000 employees and a 10-acre park space for commuters. “This is an ambitious project that will give new opportunities to the hard-working families who call Queens home, attract top-tier talent, and build up the next generation of leaders. Clearly, with this project, the world is ours,” Nas said in a February 2024 Instagram post. View this post on Instagram A post shared by Nasir Jones (@nas)...
After retiring from the music industry, Teyana Taylor wanted to improve the landscape for other creatives. Retiring From Music In 2020, the “Wake Up Love” singer and actor shocked the entertainment space when she announced her departure. In an Instagram post, she said she felt “underappreciated” and received “little to no real push from the ‘machine.'” “I’m retiring this chapter of my story with the comfort that i can depart with peace of mind seeing that all the hard work & passion put in was indeed loved & supported somewhere in the world,” she wrote on Instagram. “To all my supporters from day 1 & all my new ones I love you and I thank you for everything & don’t worry y’all know all hustlers have the understanding that when one door closes another will open.” View this post on Instagram A post shared by Jimmy Neutch (@teyanataylor) The Aunties Production The following month, Taylor expanded her all-women-led production company, The Aunties, with Coco Gilbert, who started as her...
AI artist Xania Monet has signed a lucrative deal. AI has permanently changed the landscape. In the music industry, it is used to create song lyrics or beats. Some have used it further, creating entire artists utilizing the technology. One named Xania Monet is an R&B artist created by Mississippi poet and design studio owner Telisha Jones, who made Monet’s music using her own lyrics as well as live elements and Suno. As AFROTECH™ previously reported, Suno is a leading AI music creation tool, also used by Timbaland, its strategic advisor. The company has also faced a copyright infringement lawsuit in 2024. Timbaland himself has signed an AI artist, named TaTa, under his AI-focused entertainment company Stage Zero, as mentioned in a separate AFROTECH™ story. So, it should be no surprise that he is a Xania Monet fan. “You better check out xania monet who’s killing it good music,” Timbaland said in a post promoting his interview with Billboard. PC: Instagram/ Timbaland Romel Murphy, a...
