Starface

Tyga created an alter ego named Starface (stylized as $tarface), who lives in a fictional world inspired by the 1983 film Scarface, including its "mythology and visual language". The world in which he lives draws parallelisms to Miami during the 1980s.^[1] Tyga played the film repeatedly on the studio while recording the album.^[2]

Tyga collaborated with Fenix Flexin on the unreleased song "Lavish", which features elements heard in 1983, including synthesizers and high vocals.^[1] Flexin had previously released "Rubberz", a song created using artificial intelligence (AI) allegedly using the program Treblo.^[3]

Starface is a concept album.^[3] It has influences of "synth-wave, pop, R&B, funk" sounds.^[1] Tyga said the production team used recording equipment from the 1980s "to recreate the tone of the era", adding, "Even down to the mixing, we used a lot of the old hardware". Tyga was inspired by his mother, who died in 2025, and the 1980s were "her era".^[2] He also said he had drawn inspiration from musicians of that time, including Prince, Michael Jackson, and Hall & Oates, among many others.^[4]

After being questioned whether Starface had an AI production,^[5] Tyga disclosed his use of the AI platform Suno, adding that "it's where technology is going". He compared it to AutoTune and indicated that several elements that needed to be completed quickly, including synth and guitar tracks, were generated by the platform.^[4]

The first single, "Gave U Racks", was released on July 3, 2026.^[6] Starface was released on July 31.^[7]

The album has been heavily criticized for Tyga's use of AI in production. Pitchfork gave Starface a score of 0.0. It was the first Pitchfork 0.0 score since its 2007 review of This Is Next, a compilation album.^[9] Its critic Drew Millard compared Starface to Rebirth (2010) by Lil Wayne, because both rappers made experiments with genres different from theirs in an attempt to reinvent their music. However, Millard was critical of Tyga's use of AI platforms, leading Millard to imitate Tyga in using an AI platform and generated "a song that sounded exactly like" one of Starface tracks. He also questioned whether Tyga sings on the album, and whether the musicians who inspired it can even be heard on the record. Millard concluded that the album "is smug and complacent, an amalgam of '80s synth-pop and disco slapped together by someone who's seemingly never cared to listen to one synth-pop or disco record in his life".^[3]

All titles are written in all caps.