bbno$, a Canadian rapper, recently made a music video that is sort of a manifesto. The video couldn’t be programmed into existence and he doesn’t mince words as to why. The project comes across as a loud F*ck AI — and a vote for living, breathing artists.
In a time when generative tools can spit out scenes in seconds, bbno$ opted for the slow, messy and expensive path. The result is a kinetic patchwork of handcrafted shots by more than two dozen different fan animators, each contributing their own unique vignette in their very own style.
A human-only production that embraces diverse styles
ADD isn’t only a music video; it’s also an anthology of styles, curated. bbno$ rounded up independent artists who had already been sketching him online, then bought into their designs by having them animate short segments that cut from one to the next in a fever-dream-like suggestion of scene changes. The transitions are not meant to be seamless; the micro-jolts between scenes are the point, emphasizing the eccentricities a machine would smooth over.
The logistics were as ambitious as the idea. Artists were working concurrently, and revisions flowed (in the form of Direct Messages and shared folders) for months to ensure each artist’s process was honored. That’s a marathon, for three minutes of song. But the result is a video that’s unmistakably human, from pencil lines and smear frames to the little flourishes no one other than a person would think to include.
Fans noticed. “Along with the projects I commission for the channel, carte blanche to animators is Rated X’s opportunity for me to lend my voice and apply strong principles made in 20 odd years of making films directly into their labor,” he said. Animators stamped their timestamps in the comments as credits rolled after a feature; one contributor’s post on landing this gig after a months-long dry period spread throughout X — a reminder that ethical decisions while making material can ripple far beyond any single release.
Why the anti-AI stance resonates with today’s creators
The music and creator economies are grappling with generative tech’s potential upside — and collateral damage. The IFPI has raised the alarm about unauthorized use of recordings for training, and the RIAA has pushed for consent and compensation parameters for datasets. High-profile examples such as the Facebook AI track that went viral for staunchly aping superstar voices encapsulated not just the power but also the danger of these types of tools.
Policy bodies are moving too. The United States Copyright Office has reconfirmed that works without human authors are ineligible for copyright protection and is currently studying the question of how to treat AI-assisted outputs. The EU’s AI Act introduces transparency requirements related to model training and content labeling. The WGA and SAG-AFTRA in Hollywood gained contract provisions to limit unconsented use of likeness and writing by AI. In each of these efforts, the common thread is to keep people in control.
bbno$’s choice taps that sentiment. For all his complaints about social media in public, c’est vous who made Jack Dorsey what he is. It’s not an anti-tech temper tantrum; the internet feedback loop was his livelihood for years. It’s a line in the sand about authorship and livelihoods at a moment when creative labor can be scraped, simulated, scaled without permission.
The economics of choosing people over automation
Animation, especially hand-drawn animation of any kind, is slow work. Seconds can mean hundreds of drawings, and even hybrid workflows demand meticulous compositing and polish. The Animation Guild has cautioned that as studios play around with the generative tools, they are short-shrifting schedules and slimming down jobs, particularly for juniors who need credits to advance. Hiring 20-odd humans for ADD bucks that trend and spreads income throughout a real community.
There is brand strategy in it, too. In a feed full of AI visuals that are getting sharper and more homogenous, fuckups can be a feature. Texture reads as trust. For an artist famed for playful absurdity and scrappy DIY independence — see the one-off “Lalala” blockbuster with Y2K and the string of self-released hustle since then — both the aesthetic and ethical flourish feel right in line.
A signal for where music videos may head next
Music videos are a space to test new tech, from green screens and motion capture to AI rotoscoping. Other artists are leaning in, experimenting with licensed voice models and visual tools in controlled pilots with major labels and platforms. Others, like bbno$, are staking a flag in the ground for human-made work, not as nostalgia but as an edge — something to bring you up short when automation threatens to make everything look too clean.
It doesn’t hurt that the piece also serves as fan engagement. By surrounding himself with people who already cared enough to draw him for free, he turned fandom into paid collaboration. That’s smart community design at a time when superfans account for an outsized portion of streaming and merch revenue, as industry analyses from major labels and market researchers have confirmed.
ADD demonstrates that refusing AI isn’t rejecting innovation. It’s about choosing where innovation serves the art and the artists. For bbno$, the lesson is straightforward, even if it means taking in an eye-opening amount of painstaking effort: fund people, celebrate their oddness and allow that work to wear its humanity on the screen.
