PRESS RELEASE: World’s First Deep Fake Hip Hop Music Video Created For Atlantic Records
DADAESQUE DEEPFAKE MUSIC VIDEO PARODIES LIFE UNDER LOCKDOWN
From the artist who sparked global debate with the viral Mark Zuckerberg deepfake [1], Bill Posters collaborates with Atlantic record’s multi-platinum selling artist Lil Uzi Vert to produce the world’s first Hip-hop music video that uses deep fake technologies.
Directed by Grammy nominated Yasha Gruben [2], the music video for ‘Whassup’ feat. Future is from Lil Uzi Vert’s second US number-one album Eternal Atake and uses deep fake technologies to parody life on lockdown. The concept is centred on Lil Uzi Vert appearing as Dadaesque reincarnations of influential celebrities from the fields of art, music and culture. Celebrities including famous artists, musicians and politicians are also reincarnated as deep fakes throughout the music video.
Director Yasha Gruben stated that:
“we hoped we could create something really timely and unique and attempt to push the boundary of digital storytelling using this kind of technology within a Hip Hop music video. All around the world people are on lockdown and each day we all disappear into the rabbit hole of the internet looking for stimulation, connection and entertainment whilst feeling not quite like our normal selves. So this became the central concept for the video”
Bill Posters says:
“to support Yasha’s vision for the video, my company established an international team of world-class developers including Dr. Fakenstein, Ali Aliev and Karim Iskakov and we had a lot of fun producing the content that sees Lil Uzi Vert reincarnated as a whole host of Dadaesque celebrities – both past and present, including leading figures from art history such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Frida Kahlo and Salvador Dali”
The music video is produced by Bill Posters new company Big Dada Limited which is the UK’s – and possibly the world’s – first creative company specialising in broadcast-quality, synthesised media content for the arts, heritage and TV sectors. Launched this year, their client list already includes Atlantic Records, Massive Attack and Privacy International. This year Big Dada also plans to reveal a secret TV project that has been in development since late 2019.
Bill Posters says:
“after all the global press exposure when we trolled Instagram and Facebook with our deep fake of Mark Zuckerberg, Big Dada was established to bring together leading deep fake artists and developers from around the world in order to explore the forefront of digital storytelling. We only work with a select roster of clients from across various sectors so you won’t see a public facing website for the company just yet but you never know, if companies or charities get in touch we may be interested in supporting a concept or project”
Produced over the course of a month, the music video incorporates two forms of synthesised media or deep fake as it is more commonly termed. The first is a traditional method which places the whole face of another celebrity onto existing video footage and the second is a groundbreaking method called the First Order Motion Model that creates animated video content from a single still image. The international team performed lip sync videos that were used to create thousands of AI-generated animations from portrait photographs of celebrities. From this huge dataset the final AI animations were selected for the different parts of the lyrics with over 40 celebrities and cultural icons making the final cut. In a sign of solidarity, the entire budget for the music video has been donated to Protect The Heroes Foundation [3], a charity supporting doctors and nurseson the frontline of the Covid-19 pandemic response in New York City.
Yasha also added:
“to me, Hip Hop has always been about innovation, using whatever resources are available in the present moment and making the most creative dope shit out of it. Weather it was boom boxes in the 80’s, streams in the 2000’s or deep fake in the 2020’s – this Music Video shares the spirit and DNA of all the trailblazing projects throughout the decades that have made this genre what it is. Hip Hop is about showing solidarity whilst setting trends and not following the status quo, this piece is just that – a trendsetter.”
ENDS
For further information contact:
Bill Posters
bill@billposters.ch
[1] https://www.instagram.com/p/ByaVigGFP2U/
[2] Yasha Gruben’s music video for Kehlani’s ‘Distraction’ was nominated for best RnB performance at the 60th Grammy Awards, 2018.
[3] The goal of the Protect The Heroes campaign is to encourage individuals to donate directly to the local hospital of their choice in support of efforts to fight COVID-19 in the US https://www.protecttheheroes.org/
About Bill Posters
Bill Posters (real name Barnaby Francis) is an artist, author and activist who rose to notoriety last summer when he and fellow artist Daniel Howe released a provocative deep fake of Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg [https://www.instagram.com/p/ByaVigGFP2U/] on Instagram as a digital intervention. The viral intervention sought to draw attention to Facebook and Instagram’s lack of clear policies concerning deep fake content on their platforms and ignited a global conversation concerning data, privacy and democracy. Official – and contradictory public statements from Instagram, Facebook and Youtube showed that the artists were successful in trolling the owner of the largest tech company in human history.
Recently Posters has been the recipient of the 2019 Alternate Realities Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest, 2020 SXSW Artist Commission and shortlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize, NEM Art Prize and Columbia University’s ‘Digital Dozen: Breakthroughs in Digital Storytelling’ award.
www.billposters.ch
About Big Dada:
Founded by Bill Posters in mid 2019, Big Dada – named after both big data and the surrealist art movement Dadaism – is a multi-disciplinary arts production company that specializes in the creation of AI-driven, synthesized media for the arts, heritage, TV and film sectors. With an international team of some of the world’s leading deep fake practitioners, Big Dada positions itself at the tip of new techniques in digital storytelling that incorporate AI and Machine Learning processes. Big Dada is currently the only UK-based and European company specializing in these services with clients including Atlantic Records, Massive Attack and Privacy International.
About Yasha Gruben
Grammy-nominated director Yasha Gruben has worked with the likes of Lil Uzi Vert, Kehlani, Gucci Mane, Trey Songz, Wiz Khalifa, Marshmello, Lupe Fiasco, Wale, Smoke Purpp and many more. Getting his start with The Underachievers, an act from his hometown of Brooklyn, NY – Yasha’s career was kickstarted by his first music video getting over 12M views on Youtube (The Underachievers – Gold Soul Theory). Off to a pretty good start, he continued to sharpen his craft and make the most out of each and every opportunity – never compromising quality for quantity. He started a directing duo as well, directing a number of classic videos between under the alias YASHXANA. His Music Video for Kehlani’s Distraction for nominated for best RnB performance at the 60th Grammy Awards in 2018.