A Conspiracy: Industry Plants in the Underground
- dholland53
- Apr 14, 2024
- 2 min read
Kid Laroi, 4Batz, and now Ian?
There has been a lot of buzz going on about a new rap artist, Ian, after a couple of his songs blew up on TikTok. Listening to him gives a nostalgic feel of how Yeat sounded when he first came out, except his gimmick is pretty unique in comparison to his counterparts. He has a cool, rather addictive flow along with a very electric beat selection. He's also white and has what is described as a "regular " look to him. He doesn't really do the flashy diamonds and designer down outfits (except in the picture above). He just looks like a regular young dude. He even has secured the infamous Drake cosign that every artist dreams of. So needless to say, it's only up from here for Ian.
But like what happens when most artists rise to fame now, it's a bit of speculation about his journey. What is his story? Where did he come from?
When not too much is known about an artist's come-up, the presumed rumor that spews is...he is an industry plant.
An industry plant is when an artist is basically created from a label and "botted" into the industry, It can also mean that this person has some sort of connection to someone or people in the music industry that pretty much pulls the necessary strings to make them a star. What makes this phenomenon funny is that majority of artists now and back in the day, had it just like that. In fact, most of the time you HAD to know somebody to be somebody.
It was just uncovered how popular new artist 4batz had label ties after rumors of him being an industry plant started going around. He presumedly came from nowhere with only 3 songs released. It's also important to note that his digital history was practically wiped from the internet. 14 million monthly Spotify listeners later, he is now signed to Drake's label, OVO.
However, it's become a part of the rapper image to have "gotten it out the mud" or to make it happen themselves. But I believe every artist has their own journey. They might have a quick and easy rise to a quick lived life of stardom. Or they could have a long successful career as a result of a long and hard grind. It's also important to note we are in a different era of music and music consumption. You can blow up off of just one video. It's all about keeping up that momentum though.
You can't deny these artists still are making good music, whether they came up off of label ties or not. You might also connect more to the music if it's real passion behind the lyrics, the flow, and the melodies. It all depends on the audience you attract. Whether they like the music, the personality behind it, or both.
The music world is still learning about Ian and what he is about. It seems like he did have a musical past that some know about. It's very fresh to have some fun, non-mysterious artists to vibe and crank out to this summer. Check out a bit of his media:
Tags: Ian, 4Batz, Industry Plants, Underground Artists, Drake
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