As the old saying goes, every rapper wants to be a baller, and every ball player wants to be a rapper. But as times change, artists are trading hoop dreams for streaming realities.
A higher profile online, though, means a loss of enigma. And, as some commentators tell it, jumping on Twitch or Kick can change how audiences see artists.
“The internet removed all mystique from rappers,” DJ Akademiks recently said on X. “Streaming killed rappers AURA.”
Akademiks—a streamer himself—said that if he were a label head, he would bar his artists from streaming, arguing that “the facade of being bigger than the program, cooler than the normal, is what rappers live off.”
Streaming has been a good move for some artists. An omnipresent force like Snoop Dogg is everywhere to begin with, the Olympics included. The occasional Madden game or Kai Cenat appearance widens his footprint and shows his ability to adapt.
Similarly, T-Pain, another legacy artist, recently pointed out that he’s been streaming for 11 years. His Nappy Boy Gaming platform has helped him revitalize his music career.
On the opposite end, rappers who once cultivated an air of enigma—artists who seldom sit for shoots or interviews, preferring to craft their public profiles on their own terms—have become more public, recognizing the power and reach of the biggest streamers. And while that’s at times humanized them, it’s also backfired. Drake was ridiculed last month after crowning himself “one of the most profound writers of our time” during a stream with BenDaDonn.
Appearances like that one call to mind the chronically online early days of Twitter, when Drake, Kendrick Lamar, and J. Cole—rap’s so-called Big 3—were active on the app. The latter two, however, have since been quieter on social media, opting for a presence that adds to their mystique. At the same time, though, Drake’s been livestreaming in advance of his Iceman album release since last year, a rollout widely seen as innovative.
So what does “aura” look like for Drake and artists of his stature when streamers offer access to audiences of 100,000 at any given moment? Ice Spice, Tyla, and Doja Cat have tested the waters. More will do the same. Whether that means leaving the mystery they’ve built around themselves behind remains to be seen.
