If your timeline has been full of the same two-man performance with new faces lately, you have met the Hotel Lobby AI trend. People are using AI apps to paste their own faces, their friends’ faces, and famous faces onto Quavo and Takeoff’s 2022 COLORS performance of “Hotel Lobby.” It is funny, it is everywhere, and it has started a real argument about grief, consent and what happens to the photos we hand over to apps.

Before you make one, here is what you should know.

What the Hotel Lobby AI trend actually is

The source material is a 2022 episode of A COLORS SHOW, where uncle and nephew Quavo and Takeoff performed “Hotel Lobby” together against the platform’s signature solid-color backdrop. The Source reports the performance was released in June 2022 and has passed 100 million YouTube views.

This month, that clip became a template. Complex reports that creators are using Starrd, Summrs and CapCut templates to swap in everyone from Barack and Michelle Obama to Walter White and Jesse Pinkman, soccer stars, and cats, while keeping the original movements and audio. XXL reported that users upload “two clear, front-facing photos” and that Starrd was charging $5 per 15-second video.

In other words, the app needs your face to work. That is the part most people skip.

Quavo’s response and why fans love it

On Sept. 23, 2026, Quavo reposted the original performance. According to Complex, his message read: “Aye Take we viral again The original!!! #HOTELLOBBY.” The Source reported his caption as “The Original #HotelLobby.”

For a lot of fans, that settled it. Quavo seemed to be pointing people back to the source while celebrating that Takeoff’s moment was reaching a new generation. Black America Web put it simply: “this ‘HOTEL LOBBY’ AI flip has legs.” Many people making these clips are clearly doing it out of love for a performance that still hits.

Why critics call it “digital necromancy”

Takeoff, born Kirshnik Khari Ball, was shot and killed in Houston on Nov. 1, 2022, at 28. The COLORS performance was released only months earlier. For many viewers, watching his body move under a stranger’s face is not a joke.

The Root published a piece on Sept. 29 on why many Black Americans dislike the trend. It quotes actor Jay Jurden: “You’re committing digital necromancy.” The piece also raises the environmental cost of powering AI and notes that Takeoff’s family has not publicly weighed in on this use of his likeness. Complex noted concerns about using his likeness without consent, alongside broader worries about how these apps collect images.

Both things can be true. You can love the song and still feel uneasy about a dead man’s performance becoming a fill-in-the-blank template. And putting a public figure’s face in a clip they never agreed to raises its own consent questions.

What these AI face-swap apps say they do with your face

We read the privacy policies for the three tools named in the coverage. Here is what they say as of Sept. 29, 2026. Policies change, so check the current version yourself.

• Starrd. Its privacy policy (updated July 16, 2026) says it and its AI processors “analyze facial features to recreate a person’s likeness,” and it asks for express consent first. It says it does not sell that data or use it to train its own facial-recognition models. But your photos go to outside AI providers it names, including ByteDance and Kuaishou, and the policy admits “we cannot guarantee how long any provider retains data.” It asks you to upload only photos of yourself or people who consented.
• Summrs. The Summrs privacy policy (updated Feb. 11, 2026) says uploaded images and videos are used for editing and AI generation, and that after you delete your data “we remove your data within 30 days,” with some legal exceptions. It also says it uses information to “improve our AI models,” without spelling out whether your uploads are part of that. We did not find language specifically about face or biometric data. If that matters to you, ask the company before uploading.
• CapCut. The CapCut U.S. privacy policy (updated April 15, 2026) says it does not use face or body information to identify you, and that after an effect is applied “that information is deleted and not retained.” Separately, it says it uses information to “train, test, and improve technology,” including machine learning models. Templates made by other creators may work differently, so read what you are agreeing to.

Why the fuss about faces? Your face is not a password you can reset. The Federal Trade Commission has warned companies about misusing biometric information, noting facial recognition “may have higher rates of error for certain populations than for others.”

Support the real thing

If the trend sent you back to “Hotel Lobby,” go to the source. Here is where to find the originals:

• Quavo & Takeoff, “HOTEL LOBBY | A COLORS SHOW”, the real performance, on the official COLORS channel.
• “Hotel Lobby” (Official Video) on QuavoVEVO.
• Takeoff’s official artist page on Apple Music, home to his 2018 solo album The Last Rocket and 2022’s Only Built for Infinity Links with Quavo. Search the same titles on your streaming app of choice.
• The Migos catalog, including the Culture albums, on any major streaming service. Official streams pay the rights holders; AI remakes do not.

So, make one or skip it?

That is your call. If you do join in, use your own face, read the policy first, and skip photos of kids or anyone who has not said yes. And whatever you post, point people back to the original, the way Quavo did. Takeoff’s legacy is the music, not the meme.

Want more from Black creators doing it the real way? See our list of Black YouTube creators to watch in 2026, and if you are building your own channel, our guide to making money on YouTube.