Whelp, can’t say we didn’t see this coming. Timbaland is facing heavy scrutiny after a viral clip surfaced accusing the iconic producer of lifting a young creator’s beat to power an AI-generated song without permission.
In the now widely circulated clip, Timbaland is seen feeding a TikTok instrumental made by up-and-coming producer KFresh into Suno, an artificial intelligence music platform. The platform then recreated the beat, complete with KFresh’s distinct producer tag, and generated a new track featuring rapper C-Red under Timbaland’s “Baby Timbo” AI concept.
Indie rapper and content creator Curtiss King didn’t hold back. Taking to X, he called out both Timbaland and Suno for what he believes was a clear case of using another artist’s work without consent. King emphasized the importance of ethics in music creation, particularly in the emerging field of AI-generated art. He pointed out that Suno’s platform didn’t just recreate the beat but kept KFresh’s tag fully intact, making authorship obvious.
As expected, Timbaland pushed back against the backlash. He labeled the track a remix and stated that it was created for Ghostface Killah, who had expressed interest in the instrumental. According to him, the AI version was simply a new opportunity rooted in collaboration. But KFresh insists no one from Timbaland’s camp reached out or gave him a heads-up. He said that despite Timbaland’s reputation for championing younger talent online, this time there was no communication.
The moment has reignited a larger discussion inside the hip-hop world about how artificial intelligence fits into its creative foundation.
At the end of the day, AI in music is becoming more common. How it’s used and monetized is a hot button but one thing is for sure Timbaland is at the forefront of the conversation. At least for now.