Tyga has confirmed that he used the AI music generator Suno on his album $tarface, telling VIBE magazine that the tool supplied elements including '80s-style synths and a guitar solo. The admission, reported by Billboard on 6 August 2026, settles speculation that had been building across the summer.

The rapper said the writing and all vocals on the album are his own, and that there is nothing wrong with using technology as a tool. He drew a direct comparison to Auto-Tune, the pitch-correction software that swept through hip-hop and R&B in the mid-2000s and drew its own share of controversy before becoming a standard studio fixture.

$tarface is described as a character-driven project rooted in 1980s synth-wave, pop, R&B and funk, according to Billboard. In his VIBE interview, Tyga framed the record around that alter ego and its retro aesthetic.

The AI questions began earlier in the summer, when Shoreline Mafia's Fenix Flexin released his '80s-inspired single "RUBBERZ." Footage then surfaced of Fenix Flexin and Tyga in the studio recording a song called "Lavish," prompting listeners to question whether AI was involved. Tyga said the two artists happened to be experimenting with the '80s-pop sound at the same time, and that "Lavish" simply did not fit the aesthetic of $tarface, so it was left off the project.

Suno, the tool Tyga named, is one of several AI platforms that generate music from text prompts — a user types a description, and the software produces instrumental or vocal tracks. Major labels including Universal Music Group have filed lawsuits against Suno and a competitor, Udio, alleging that the companies trained their models on copyrighted recordings without permission. Those cases are ongoing.

Tyga's use of AI for instrumental elements, while keeping writing and vocals human, sits at the centre of an industry argument over where the line falls. Some artists and rights holders argue that AI-generated music trained on existing recordings is built on unauthorised copying. Others, including Tyga, see it as a new instrument — a tool that shapes sound rather than replaces the person making creative decisions.

In the same VIBE interview, reported on 6 August 2026, Tyga also spoke about the passing of his mother, a personal note that ran alongside the album's creative discussion.