When a fan just lately posted on X, “bbno$ is my favourite rapper why does he must be so imply to AI artists? 🥺🥺,” the Canadian musician did not provide a mild clarification. As an alternative, he fired again with a easy, unambiguous response: “FUCK AI.”
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It is the sort of blunt sincerity that defines bbno$ (pronounced “child no cash”) — the viral rapper referred to as a lot for his absurdist humor as his meticulous method to impartial artistry. However behind the all-caps expletive is a transparent philosophy: In an period when algorithms can churn out songs, photographs, and movies sooner than any human hand, he’s selecting to wager on individuals.
That alternative is on full show in his current video for “ADD,” a hyper-colorful, kinetic collage constructed solely from fan-made animation. As an alternative of outsourcing to a studio or feeding prompts into generative software program, bbno$ tapped over 20 impartial artists — a lot of whom had already created fan artwork of him on-line — to carry the visible to life. The result’s a whirlwind of distinct animation types stitched collectively, every section a small love letter from one creator to a different.
“There’s two issues to it,” he informed Mashable at TwitchCon 2025, on the day of the discharge of his self-titled ninth studio album. “One, when individuals spend their complete life getting good at one thing, it sort of sucks when you may click on a button and make one thing that’s extra impactful. So I simply wished to present again to the neighborhood that is proven me a lot love.”
The opposite purpose is even less complicated: bbno$ feels higher supporting individuals and human-made artwork. “It sort of makes me really feel good after I’m supporting different artists, as a result of I’m an artist too,” he explains. “I keep in mind after I wasn’t making a living — it is such an exhilarating feeling whenever you lastly can. So if I can assist different artists get that, I wish to.”
The “ADD” venture took six months to finish, which is a herculean effort for a three-minute tune. However the payoff was each a visible spectacle and a inventive assertion: proof that collaboration throughout 23 totally different minds, every bringing their very own idiosyncrasies and inventive POVs, might create one thing no machine might replicate.
“I do not know if I am going to ever get one other piece of visible content material that is that stimulating ever once more,” he admits. “As a result of it was 20 totally different individuals, twenty totally different minds.”
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That sort of enthusiasm has lengthy been a part of bbno$’s attraction. His catalog, which spans goofy hits like “Lalala” with Y2K and extra experimental cuts, thrives on a way of human chaos that algorithms cannot fairly faux. Even when he leans into web virality, there’s a pulse of self-awareness. He is in on the joke, however he’s additionally lifeless critical in regards to the craft.
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His mistrust of AI is not rooted in concern of change a lot as empathy for working artists. In an age when tech corporations are pouring billions into AI music and video instruments, and when artists’ work is being scraped to coach these methods, bbno$ is considering the individuals behind the artwork.
“Huge organizations are beginning to make the most of AI and software program to take individuals’s jobs away,” he says. “Considered one of my finest mates works at Amazon, and he was like, ‘I’ve a name with India. I’m presenting one thing that’s sadly going to take lots of people’s jobs.’ He is aware of it sucks, however he additionally must make a residing. That is simply the place issues are progressing. I’m simply making an attempt to do my half as a lot as I probably can.”
It is not a campaign in opposition to know-how — bbno$ constructed his profession on the web, in spite of everything — however slightly a push to protect a sort of inventive integrity that is changing into more and more endangered. As of late, artwork is information, and he is making an attempt to maintain the human half alive. “To maintain individuals going, to maintain the prepare on the opposite facet,” he says, “it’s a must to fund them. That is the one method.”
There’s additionally a philosophical throughline right here: bbno$ has all the time thrived on collaboration. His early success got here from meme-driven partnerships with producers like Y2K and Diamond Pistols, and extra just lately, his output has ramped as much as near-weekly releases that depend on a worldwide net of creators, artists, editors, and followers. His whole profession is a case examine within the inventive prospects of the digital age, the place artwork is constructed by individuals, not applications.
“I’ve by no means actually been one to place lots of results in my movies,” he says. “If I do, it’s obtained to be one thing that took a yr to make, not simply one thing you plug in.” That ethos extends past visuals; it is in the way in which he approaches songwriting, content material creation, and even his signature humor. Every part feels a bit tough across the edges, however that is what makes it human.
The irony, in fact, is that AI might simply imitate bbno$’s extra surface-level quirks and offbeat circulation, however it will probably’t replicate the sincerity that drives them. Creativity, for him, is an act of care.
On YouTube, the feedback beneath “ADD” learn like a digital roll name of collaboration. Followers and animators tagged their timestamps, celebrating one another’s work. “I animated 0:00–0:09! Everybody did such a incredible job
Over on X, an animator named Kenzie shared a clip of bbno$ commissioning them for a venture after they’d been “unemployed within the animation trade for 2 years due to AI.” The put up has since racked up greater than 350,000 likes — a glimpse at how deeply the gesture resonated.
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For a video that might’ve been made by a single generative mannequin, “ADD” as a substitute turned a showcase of neighborhood. It is the sort of messy, vibrant collaboration that solely people might pull off.
“I simply wished to present again,” he repeats. “That’s actually it.”
