There has been some discourse over whether streamers have become bigger than rappers. Now, DDG is weighing in.
The Michigan-bred artist and YouTuber sat down for Complex's 360 With Speedy, and Speedy Morman asked if streamers have surpassed rappers in terms of fame and fandom.
“A hundred percent," DDG said around the 31:35 minute mark of the video above. "I feel like that with content creators period, though. We are the [public relations], it feels good to be my own PR.
"I don’t know if I’m doing a good job or not,” he continued, laughing. “But we are the PR, we are the stops. You drop an album, you gotta come talk to the content creators ‘cause we’re going to do more than the radio going to for you.”
He added, “I feel like streamers are definitely the new celebrities.”
He then explained how he watches Twitch “more than” he listens to music.
“I listen to music if it’s like somebody on Twitch telling me to listen to it,” he continued. “I listen to music based off of how Twitch react to it, and it’s like, I don’t know if that’s good or bad. But I’m in both lanes, so I guess it’s cool.”
Lil Yachty also seems to agree that rappers are on the decline—at least compared to streamers.
In January, during an interview with Shannon Sharpe for Club Shay Shay, Yachty contended that streamers are bigger than rappers. He called Kai Cenat the "Drake of streaming" and named iShowSpeed, xQc, and Adin Ross as heavyweights in their field.
Later, he applauded streamers for their authenticity compared to rappers who sometimes have heavily curated personas.
“I appreciate these kids just going in front of their computer and being themselves,” Lil Boat said. “You know rap is a lot of, like, fake personas. Streamers are just them. It's just, ‘That's who I am, this is who I am.’ They could be a little corny sometimes, a little cheesy, but that's just them, you know? And that's just what it is.”
