Tyga has hit back at criticism towards his new album ‘$tarface’, including Doja Cat calling him a “penis for making an AI album” and Pitchfork giving him a 0/10 review.
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The rapper dropped his new album at the end of last month, his ninth studio record and the follow-up to his 2025 album ‘NSFW’. After its release, he later confirmed that he used AI as a “tool” on the LP.
“We definitely used AI as a [tool]. And I know people are going to be mad about me saying this, but it’s where technology is going,” he said at the time. “It’s no different than when Auto-Tune came out. Some people were opposed to it, but real artists took it and used it.”
When asked where the AI was used, he replied: “We were like, you know what? I need some ’80s synths for a certain part of this song. I need a guitar solo done ASAP. It is what it is.” Tyga also clarified that production on the album and “all the vocals” were created without AI.
Since then, there has been some backlash to the album, including from Doja Cat who took aim at him during a recent livestream. Having worked with Tyga on two songs previously, she said on Wednesday (August 12): “Nobody asked me anything about Tyga, but I felt like saying this. Tyga is a penis for making an AI album.”
Doja Cat comments on the recent controversy of Tyga using AI for his new album:
“Tyga is a p*nis for making an AI album.” pic.twitter.com/vWdgPMYyPJ
— Doja HQ (@DojaHQs) August 13, 2026
As well as that, the new album received the lowest possible rating in a Pitchfork review, which gave it 0/10 rating. In the review, Pitchfork described ‘$tarface’ as “smug and complacent and depressing” and wrote that “its very existence has made the world a worse place.”
Now, Tyga has responded to the backlash and defended the album. Speaking about Cat’s comments, Tyga said on TMZ Live: “Listen, I love Doja, but she made a demonic album” – not explicitly clarifying which album of hers he meant. “But I still love her”.
As for the Pitchfork review, he dismissed the criticism and said that he wasn’t aware of the publication beforehand. “I don’t really know what Pitchfork is. All I know is the devil uses a pitchfork,” he added.
The rapper also defended the use of AI in the album again, explaining that he wrote all of the songs himself and was wanting to experiment with a new sound.
“I just feel like there’s no rules anymore,” he said. You don’t have to put yourself in a box on what things have to be creatively. I’ve been in the game for 15 years-plus. So, after a while, you just got to try different stuff.”
“This is the first project that people are seeing that’s completely different than other things that I’ve done,” he continued. “This character, $TARFACE, is a completely separate artist, completely separate aesthetic and everything.”
Tyga defends “$TARFACE” after Pitchfork’s 0/10 rating, and responds to Doja Cat diss.
“I don’t know what Pitchfork is; all I know is the devil uses a pitchfork.” pic.twitter.com/9JxYUbdDZk
— TMZ (@TMZ) August 13, 2026
The use of AI in music creation continues to be a divisive topic in recent years, and Tyga is one of a handful of artists who have admitted to using the technology.
Others include Empire Of The Sun’s Luke Steele, who said that “of course” he uses AI in his music, calling it “just another tool” and comparing it to “a really smart guitar pedal”. Boy George also said he used AI to help write his pro-Israel reggae song ‘We Will Dance Again’, which eventually led to it being removed from Bandcamp for violating its AI rules.
Others, including Mac DeMarco, SZA and Lorde, have been far more critical of the growing influence of AI, with Jack Antonoff slamming musicians who use it as “godless whores”. Daft Punk’s Thomas Bangalter also recently spoke out against it, describing AI as “a way to bypass the creative process”.
In response to the rise of AI-generated music, both Apple Music and Spotify have shared plans to let users know if they were listening to music that had been made using AI.
This followed a study last year that revealed that 97 per cent of people “can’t tell the difference” between real and AI-created music.
The post Tyga hits back at Doja Cat calling him a “penis for making an AI album” with ‘$tarface’, and slams Pitchfork’s 0/10 review appeared first on NME.
