Pitchfork gave Tyga's album $TARFACE a 0.0 out of 10, the lowest score the site has published in 19 years. The review was written by Drew Millard, and it landed after the rapper had already confirmed using generative AI on parts of the record.
Tyga's response came by video call to TMZ on 13 August 2026, and it went at the logo rather than the verdict. "I don't really know what Pitchfork is," he said. "All I know is that the devil uses a pitchfork."
He used the same call to revisit the AI accusations, blaming a comprehension failure. What he said, he explained, was that he used AI-assisted things in the production, that all the vocals are him and that he wrote all the songs. His view of why that got misread was that Gen Z cannot read.
He was more specific about what the tools actually did. The 1980s synths and the guitar solos were AI, he said, but it is not a full AI album, and he was in the studio for three months working on it.
That last detail is a strange thing to lead with. Three months is not a long stretch to spend on a record, and offering it as a defence of an album this comprehensively dismissed invites the obvious question of why a musician who cannot play or program synths and guitars would not simply hire someone who can.
The score itself is the historical part. Pitchfork hands out a 0.0 roughly never, and doing it to a working major-label rapper in the middle of an argument about generative AI reads as a verdict on more than one album. We covered Tyga confirming the AI use, his line that he does not care how fans feel about it, and the record missing the chart with under 2,000 units sold. More is on our hip-hop hub.
The facts
- Pitchfork rated $TARFACE 0.0, its lowest score in 19 years
- Drew Millard wrote the review
- Tyga responded by video call to TMZ on 13 August 2026
- He said all he knows is that the devil uses a pitchfork
- He said he used AI-assisted production but wrote and sang everything himself
- He said the 1980s synths and guitar solos were AI-made
- He said he spent three months in the studio on the album
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