With technology infiltrating so much of our lives ‘Speak Up’ aims to hijack technology itself in an attempt to counteract its influence and incite independent thinking. AI innovation was used to help compose a portrait painting of Ice Cube as a wall of cabinet speakers, instantly identifiable symbols of powerful music and thunderous beats. The painting was then digitally transformed into an animation with pixels that appear over the mouth in an attempt to silence Cube’s voice while amplifying social media influences that have become seemingly indispensable to modern society. With each beat the portrait of speakers vibrate forward, one by one, falling out of the painting to finally reveal an animated Ice Cube onstage who’s metamorphosed entirely into woofers, tweeters and drivers. With defiance in his voice AI Cube raps ‘Speak Up’ adding to the complex layers and deeper themes that underpin the artwork. Ice Cube seeks to be heard over the blanket-bombing of digital opinion, censorship, cancel culture and the overwhelming deluge of information that often distracts and divides rather than bridges and unites. His words aim not to control, instead they seek to defy the gatekeepers, to question authority and institutions and to challenge those who would abuse technology and social media to manipulate and influence the people. Together, the painting, the music and the animation creatively and emphatically commandeer technological innovation to present a message of resistance and to empower the individual.