Russ 'is' right in that all you need is your fans to get to a certain point, but that's not what being blackballed is all about, and if the goal is to supersede your base, playlisting matters.

Except both Dababy and Tory Lanez get put on playlists. The radio still plays Dababy and Tory. Dababy was still getting nominations after his s***. Still getting features too.

At this point, Dababy and Tory Lanez failing on the charts or becoming irrelevant is because people simply do not give af about them anymore.

Give it sometime whenever any wack nigga flops they gonna run and cry "blackball!" just as a desperate attempt to drum up some streams because people love to support controversial figures because they desperately want to be in the "counter-culture".

S*** pathetic all around.

Tory only just started getting playlisted again with the new album. And as a result, the new album hit #1 on AM.

prior to that, he wasn't getting any support at all, and still did 17K first week with Alone at Prom, which is great for an independent act.

Russ if I'm not mistaken does around that much.

russ is very lame

but he is right

also, 90% of the time someone says they are "shadowbanned" they are not shadowbanned

If what Russ was saying is true, he wouldn't be flopping every week and he'd be able to at least do 100K first week in 2022.
He's not even close to that lol

so ur saying russ is blackballed?

Keep in mind both Tory and Russ are independent. Also many people think they are wack. 17k-20k is pretty expected.

Ppl forget like 3 Tory albums dropped without any play listing before this point lol

I agree that 17k-20k is very much expected for an independent act.

Russ however is framing it as if he's more than that as an independent artist and that he doesn't need play listing or a label and only his fans which...is only true, if he's trying to be a 20k first week artist.

Right lol Daystar, Alone at Prom, and Playboy were not playlisted at all and still did solid first week and Alone at Prom in particular, is doing very well for an independent album.

What Russ is insinuating, is that all you need is your fans and you're good and if you don't have your fans, then you're not as popping as you think i.e. tory and da baby which is simply not true.

I'm pretty sure both Tory and Da Baby can do 11k-20k first week blindfolded just like Russ lol.

The comments about playlist support have to do with the difficulty of trying to be an artist bigger than that without playlist support.

I am not. I'm saying Russ is independent...just like Tory.

His framing this as if he has fans and they don't which is odd considering their relatively the same tier of artist from a sales perspective, with tory being quite a bit hotter right now.

Tory literally #1 on apple rn idk why op brought him up

Look at Freddie Gibbs, nigga beef with everyone but fanbase solid and still growing. Just released his major debut.

Then look at niggas like Lupe Fiasco, Solid fanbase (mostly in shambles, but his fault) rarely drops music but when he does it’s heavy hitters, his fanbase is on a flux.

Don't see what's your point bro

F*** you b****

That your Fanbase will make or break you.

Yeah, I don't necessarily disagree with you but that's not the point.

Any artists you name, Lupe, Freddie, etc. look at their 1st week numbers as an independent act. They're not all that great.

So my point relative to what Russ said, is that artists get support from their fanbase plenty but whether you call it black balled or not, not appearing on those DSP's radio can greatly impact your success, especially as an independent act

oop... he made some points...

didn’t realize how much I didn’t need a Russ take on this

Russ is lame as hell but you suggesting that “award shows” and “radio” are THAT important in 2022 is insane. What else do you think is important in 2022? Getting a XXL cover? Getting a co-sign by a notable hip hop blogger? Lol dude, you’re nuts

Nah blackballing is real and can happen, sometimes for good reason

But DaBaby isnt blackballed whatsoever