8 ms·

A similar situation is going on in the US. Right now the most popular rapper (measured by streams)is Tekashi 6ix9ine, a controversial artist who raised concern

A similar situation is going on in the US. Right now the most popular rapper (measured by streams)is Tekashi 6ix9ine, a controversial artist who raised concerns recently over being cheated out of the #1 Billboard Hot 100 spot. It broke the record for most youtube views in a day (43.5 million) and also fastest to reach 100 million (71 Hours). It also hasn't received ONE radio spin, for comparison every song above it has at least 20 million. It also has been banned from every major Spotify playlist. After questioning the credibility of the Hot 100 ranking methodologies multiple top artists have come to Billboards defense (Ariana Grande, Justin Bieber, etc.) even causing billboard itself to release a statement. It's resulting in a Streisand effect of people wanting to see what's this song/artist that the institutions are trying so hard to suppress from the public.

axaxs 6y ago
Given his history, character, and song content, I can only think it's for the best. If I owned a service, I wouldn't touch his stuff with a 50 ft pole. I think it's in a good spot... it's not outright banned, and people can find it if they want, but kudos to major services for not putting him on a pedestal.
- casefields 6y ago
  If we go down that path how many famous rockstars were banging underage teens as well? Lots.
  - paulryanrogers 6y ago
    And as the allegations are substantiated (such as in court) then they too should be shunned.
  - catalogia 6y ago
    Didn't he also plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and armed robbery, among other things? That's what wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_Nine_Trey_Gangsters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_Nine_Trey_Gangste...
    - ta17711771 6y ago
      Wait til you hear about Jay Z and DMX's rap sheets!
      - catalogia 6y ago
        Both seem to fall short of Takeshi's conspiracy to commit murder (though it seems like Jay-Z probably got pretty close to murder with that stabbing.)
        ta17711771 6y ago
        Both seem to do a slightly better job evading law enforcement, would be my take.
  - lonelappde 6y ago
    This person directly funded a violent criminal gang with his music revenues. Not just having sex on the side.
  - majormajor 6y ago
    Seems like a good reason to go down that path, to discourage more people from doing it in the future.
  - ferzul 6y ago
    well i don't know how many, but if it's two, isn't that two too many?
- zepolen 6y ago
  Except now they are putting him on the biggest pedestal that exists via Streisand effect. Almost every single new genre of music from hip hop, rock and roll, country etc. went through a stage of condemnation by the previous generation that didn't approve of it before being finally accepted. Just history repeating itself. Up to a few decades ago your comment could be referencing a black/gay person instead and no one would bat an eye.
  - anigbrowl 6y ago
    I don't think it has anything to do with the genre or content of his music (which is far from unique), but rather the fact that he's still technically serving a custodial sentence and apparently shot a video violating multiple public health and safety guidelines. I think it's legal for him to engage in commercial activity, but the federal government will probably take most of his profits until his sentence is complete. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/books/curtis-dawkins-graybar-hotel-prisoner-book-deal.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/books/curtis-dawkins-gray...
humaniania 6y ago
YouTube views are easy to fake. From my observation of the "trending" section it seems that some music producers have figured out how to game the algorithms.
- etrabroline 6y ago
  The "trending" section is for paid promotions. No one expects it to reflect view counts at this point. The issue of fake views is separate and probably difficult to do at that scale without being detected. Getting a few thousand fake views past the algorithm is probably easy. Getting 10s of millions is probably close to impossible.
vmception 6y ago
the name of the song being..... ? The most recent? one job
catalogia 6y ago
That seems similar enough to bear noticing, I appreciate you mentioning it because I'd not heard of it. That said, there are also some pretty big differences between the two. Not least of which is that Billboard isn't state run, whereas in Poland the state-run broadcaster has blacklisted the song.
commoner 6y ago
The 6ix9ine case is just a celebrity throwing a tantrum because his song didn't perform as well as he had hoped. Billboard explained its calculations and his song "Gooba", a typical "fuck the haters" number, simply didn't measure up to the competition. https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-responds-to-tekashi-6ix9ines-corruption-claim-after-new-song-debuts-at-no-3/ https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-responds-to-tekashi-6ix... 6ix9ine's songs are not very radio-friendly, and from a quality standpoint, have been universally panned by critics. The fact that he was convicted of a felony (use of a child in a sexual performance) does not help his commercial appeal. On the other hand, Kazik Staszewski's "Your Pain Is Better Than Mine" is a song that criticizes Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the largest Polish political party. It was censored by a state-run radio station. The two incidents are not comparable.
- catalogia 6y ago
  > 6ix9ine's songs are not very radio-friendly, and from a quality standpoint, have been universally panned by critics. Are said critics in his target demographic, or is this just another case of old people not understanding the youth? Edit: > I think [his criminal convictions are] enough to not play his music on the radio. I agree with that.
  - katbyte 6y ago
    > The fact that he was convicted of a felony (use of a child in a sexual performance) I think that alone is enough to not play his music on the radio.
  - commoner 6y ago
    These critics include younger reviewers who are familiar with pop rap and trap rap: https://www.metacritic.com/music/dummy-boy/6ix9ine https://www.metacritic.com/music/dummy-boy/6ix9ine
  - dannytatom 6y ago
    whatever the answer, it has 0 to do with the topic and is just parent comment showing their bias for no real reason.
dougmwne 6y ago
Your comparison is way off base. Poland's government is actively dismantling independent media and censoring this artist is part of that effort because they were critical of the government. The rapper you mention is a violent criminal and child rapist. We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society.
- voldacar 6y ago
  > We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society. Except the "we" in your statement is defined totally arbitrarily. To you, "we" doesn't include the millions of people who listened to his music and like it. Why don't they get to draw this free speech line?
  - lonelappde 6y ago
    "we" can stream the music to each other. But not on Spotify.
  - Barrin92 6y ago
    They do, they have their influence. It's just that a vast majority of radio listeners (entirely unsurprisingly) doesn't support giving screentime to a child rapist.
- fastball 6y ago
  > We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society. You really, really can't.
  - gambiting 6y ago
    Yes, we can. For instance one of the things that are also in effect in Poland and which I wholeheartedly agree with is that denying holocaust is an active crime. As someone who has lost family in the concentration camps - good, the crime was too great to be denying it.
anigbrowl 6y ago
It's resulting in a Streisand effect of people wanting to see what's this song/artist that the institutions are trying so hard to suppress from the public. You sure left out a lot of salient detail in an effort to equate this diss track with a political document.
lonelappde 6y ago
Another song feelS s quote relevant in light of this comment thread: "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you". A racketeering rapist in a different country being delatformed isn't relevant to the President of Poland blocking criticism of his misbehavior from appearing in the media.
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]

axaxs 6y ago

Given his history, character, and song content, I can only think it's for the best. If I owned a service, I wouldn't touch his stuff with a 50 ft pole. I think it's in a good spot... it's not outright banned, and people can find it if they want, but kudos to major services for not putting him on a pedestal.

casefields 6y ago
If we go down that path how many famous rockstars were banging underage teens as well? Lots.
- paulryanrogers 6y ago
  And as the allegations are substantiated (such as in court) then they too should be shunned.
- catalogia 6y ago
  Didn't he also plead guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and armed robbery, among other things? That's what wikipedia says: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_Nine_Trey_Gangsters https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trial_of_the_Nine_Trey_Gangste...
  - ta17711771 6y ago
    Wait til you hear about Jay Z and DMX's rap sheets!
    - catalogia 6y ago
      Both seem to fall short of Takeshi's conspiracy to commit murder (though it seems like Jay-Z probably got pretty close to murder with that stabbing.)
      - ta17711771 6y ago
        Both seem to do a slightly better job evading law enforcement, would be my take.
- lonelappde 6y ago
  This person directly funded a violent criminal gang with his music revenues. Not just having sex on the side.
- majormajor 6y ago
  Seems like a good reason to go down that path, to discourage more people from doing it in the future.
- ferzul 6y ago
  well i don't know how many, but if it's two, isn't that two too many?
zepolen 6y ago
Except now they are putting him on the biggest pedestal that exists via Streisand effect. Almost every single new genre of music from hip hop, rock and roll, country etc. went through a stage of condemnation by the previous generation that didn't approve of it before being finally accepted. Just history repeating itself. Up to a few decades ago your comment could be referencing a black/gay person instead and no one would bat an eye.
- anigbrowl 6y ago
  I don't think it has anything to do with the genre or content of his music (which is far from unique), but rather the fact that he's still technically serving a custodial sentence and apparently shot a video violating multiple public health and safety guidelines. I think it's legal for him to engage in commercial activity, but the federal government will probably take most of his profits until his sentence is complete. https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/books/curtis-dawkins-graybar-hotel-prisoner-book-deal.html https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/17/books/curtis-dawkins-gray...

humaniania 6y ago

YouTube views are easy to fake. From my observation of the "trending" section it seems that some music producers have figured out how to game the algorithms.

etrabroline 6y ago
The "trending" section is for paid promotions. No one expects it to reflect view counts at this point. The issue of fake views is separate and probably difficult to do at that scale without being detected. Getting a few thousand fake views past the algorithm is probably easy. Getting 10s of millions is probably close to impossible.

vmception 6y ago

the name of the song being..... ? The most recent? one job

catalogia 6y ago

That seems similar enough to bear noticing, I appreciate you mentioning it because I'd not heard of it. That said, there are also some pretty big differences between the two. Not least of which is that Billboard isn't state run, whereas in Poland the state-run broadcaster has blacklisted the song.

commoner 6y ago

The 6ix9ine case is just a celebrity throwing a tantrum because his song didn't perform as well as he had hoped. Billboard explained its calculations and his song "Gooba", a typical "fuck the haters" number, simply didn't measure up to the competition. https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-responds-to-tekashi-6ix9ines-corruption-claim-after-new-song-debuts-at-no-3/ https://pitchfork.com/news/billboard-responds-to-tekashi-6ix... 6ix9ine's songs are not very radio-friendly, and from a quality standpoint, have been universally panned by critics. The fact that he was convicted of a felony (use of a child in a sexual performance) does not help his commercial appeal. On the other hand, Kazik Staszewski's "Your Pain Is Better Than Mine" is a song that criticizes Jarosław Kaczyński, the leader of the largest Polish political party. It was censored by a state-run radio station. The two incidents are not comparable.

catalogia 6y ago
> 6ix9ine's songs are not very radio-friendly, and from a quality standpoint, have been universally panned by critics. Are said critics in his target demographic, or is this just another case of old people not understanding the youth? Edit: > I think [his criminal convictions are] enough to not play his music on the radio. I agree with that.
- katbyte 6y ago
  > The fact that he was convicted of a felony (use of a child in a sexual performance) I think that alone is enough to not play his music on the radio.
- commoner 6y ago
  These critics include younger reviewers who are familiar with pop rap and trap rap: https://www.metacritic.com/music/dummy-boy/6ix9ine https://www.metacritic.com/music/dummy-boy/6ix9ine
- dannytatom 6y ago
  whatever the answer, it has 0 to do with the topic and is just parent comment showing their bias for no real reason.

dougmwne 6y ago

Your comparison is way off base. Poland's government is actively dismantling independent media and censoring this artist is part of that effort because they were critical of the government. The rapper you mention is a violent criminal and child rapist. We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society.

voldacar 6y ago
> We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society. Except the "we" in your statement is defined totally arbitrarily. To you, "we" doesn't include the millions of people who listened to his music and like it. Why don't they get to draw this free speech line?
- lonelappde 6y ago
  "we" can stream the music to each other. But not on Spotify.
- Barrin92 6y ago
  They do, they have their influence. It's just that a vast majority of radio listeners (entirely unsurprisingly) doesn't support giving screentime to a child rapist.
fastball 6y ago
> We can choose where to draw the free speech line and still uphold the principals of a free and open society. You really, really can't.
- gambiting 6y ago
  Yes, we can. For instance one of the things that are also in effect in Poland and which I wholeheartedly agree with is that denying holocaust is an active crime. As someone who has lost family in the concentration camps - good, the crime was too great to be denying it.

anigbrowl 6y ago

It's resulting in a Streisand effect of people wanting to see what's this song/artist that the institutions are trying so hard to suppress from the public. You sure left out a lot of salient detail in an effort to equate this diss track with a political document.

lonelappde 6y ago

Another song feelS s quote relevant in light of this comment thread: "You're so vain, you probably think this song is about you". A racketeering rapist in a different country being delatformed isn't relevant to the President of Poland blocking criticism of his misbehavior from appearing in the media.

deleted 6y ago
[deleted]