FINDING HIS VOICE AGAIN

Image of Beanie Sigel via @pvtlstd

Guru from Gang Starr once famously rapped “It’s mostly the voice” when it comes to rappers’ popularity (or to being dope, to be exact). But what do you do when said voice suddenly disappears? The latter fate befell Beanie Sigel, aka your favorite rappers’ favorite rapper since the early 2000s: a tragic event rendered the voice of the Philly rap legend – raw and weathered with the struggles and triumphs he rapped about – almost unrecognizable a few years ago. But now a snippet of a brand new song with Beans’ ‘old’ voice has been released, using A.I. to restore his vocal sound after fans thought they’d never hear the Broad Street Bully on wax again:

The road to this moment wasn’t easy: After ruling the billboard charts, mixtapes and Smack DVDs alike throughout the 2000s, the State Property rapper last released a solo album in 2012 with ‘This Time’. Two years later, he was shot in a drive-by shooting which left him with a collapsed lung. After slipping into a coma, he awoke disoriented and instinctively pulled out his breathing tube, tearing his throat in the process.

What followed was months of silence as he fought to regain his ability to speak, only to find his voice permanently altered – a raspy echo of its former self. And while he kept making music, the change seemingly left a void for fans who connected so deeply with the weight his original voice carried.

Now, it sounds like Sigel is turning the page on that chapter: A video surfaced, featuring his original voice on the remix of ‘Ringin’ by State Property fellow Freeway and Jake One. The clip came with a simple but exciting caption: “A.I. Project coming soon…,”, which Beanie Sigel first hinted at in a 2023 interview and now seems palpable:

“I was talking to somebody and they told me how you program the A.I. – you run the vocals through this.” (…) Y’all want, what they say, the ‘old Beans’ back? ‘Cause the pen’s still there. It’s just the voice. If y’all want that, I’ma shoot y’all something. So I’m gonna use A.I. on myself.”

Beanie Sigel in a DJUTV interview (2023)

While the use of artificial intelligence in music in general is rather controversial, to put it mildly, the idea of an AI-powered project by Beanie Sigel – written and recorded by him, voice altered by AI – seems to thrill hip hop heads. To Quote from Instagram comment sections below the video: “AI used responsibly”. “Philly hasn’t been this happy about AI since Allen Iverson” (we love this one).

And the name of another rap legend keeps popping up, along with requests to use the technique: Rapper The D.O.C., who lost his voice in a car accident in the late 1980s and has since worked behind the scenes as a ghostwriter for Dr. Dre and Snoop Dogg, among others.

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