Rapper Tyga says AI helped produce parts of his album $TARFACE

Tyga confirmed to VIBE that the AI program Suno helped create parts of $TARFACE, ending weeks of speculation over whether the '80s-inspired album's synth-pop sound came entirely from conventional studio work. He said the tool helped create specific elements, including retro synthesizers and a guitar solo, while he wrote and recorded all the vocals himself. "We definitely used AI as a tool," he said. "And I know people are going to be mad about me saying this, but it's where technology is going."

Tyga compared the backlash to the skepticism that greeted Auto-Tune in the 2000s, saying real artists eventually took the technology and used it, and that he had stayed quiet about his process because discussing it felt "similar to a magician explaining how he does his tricks."

$TARFACE builds an alter ego around '80s pop and synth-wave. Before this admission, Tyga had emphasized to PEOPLE his use of vintage equipment, including old harmonizers, saying the goal was to create music that felt native to 1983 rather than apply a nostalgic filter to modern rap production.

The admission places Tyga alongside Fenix Flexin in a wider debate over AI in hip-hop; producer Medasin has questioned elements of Flexin's production, which Flexin's producer Purp On The Beat disputed, and Flexin, a past Tyga collaborator, has continued denying AI use on his own viral single. Tyga has not identified which songs on $TARFACE feature AI-assisted production or how much of the album came from Suno.

The album's throwback sound had already drawn attention: $TARFACE missed the chart entirely and sold under 2,000 units amid the wider AI backlash. The episode has become one of the clearer flashpoints over AI's place in hip-hop.