Tory Lanez thinks he deserves some credit for the rise in popularity of streamers in recent years.
The 32-year-old Canadian rapper, who is currently serving ten years in prison for shooting Megan Thee Stallion during a dispute in 2020, reposted a clip on his Instagram Stories reminiscing about his 2020 Instagram Live stream series, Quarantine Radio. "I crawled so the streaming community could walk," he wrote alongside the clip.
During the first quarantine lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Lanez hosted a recurring Instagram Live series he dubbed Quarantine Radio. The streams proved popular, but compared to Swizz Beatz and Timbaland's Verzuz, which premiered around the same time, it didn't last particularly long.
In July 2020, he was arrested in connection with the shooting of Megan Thee Stallion, although his involvement wasn't revealed until months later when she said he was the shooter. He was found guilty in late 2022 and was sentenced to ten years in prison the following year.
Just recently, Megan was granted a five-year restraining order against the rapper, who she alleged ran a smear campaign against her during and after the trial. “I want my restraining order because I haven’t been at peace since I [was] shot," she said in an emotional testimony, in which she said she'll fear for her safety once he's released from prison. "I feel like maybe he'll shoot me again, and maybe this time I won't make it."