Scarface criticizes non-Hip-Hop related organisations who dictate how music is distributed via streaming.
In an interview with Trick Trick for “The Fly Zone Radio Show,” Scarface expressed his distaste for streaming platforms.
Around the 15-minute mark of the in-depth interview, the 53-year-old legendary rapper suggested that Hip-Hop is being “dumbed down” in the age of streaming.
“It seems like the whole culture is being dumbed down now, and I want to be as offensive as I possibly fucking can when I say this, again… The culture is being so fucking dumbed down and manipulated and controlled by people that don’t look like us,” Scarface said. “So these motherfuckers don’t look like me, they’re not creators of this culture, but they want to control it and dictate who come in, how they come out, the stream… We don’t fucking stream, man, we buy records, we ride this shit around in our car.”
He continued, “We can’t sell a $10 record no more, we got to sell an under-a-penny stream, you tell me where the dick is and how we duck this dick. We getting fucked. … Ain’t no money in the streams for us, but it’s money in subscriptions for them.”
When asked what artists could do, the Houston rapper said he had an idea. “Pull that shit off them fucking platforms, and don’t allow them to stream your shit for free. You fucked a whole lot of people when you fucked over the mom and pops. You fucked them. You knocked them people out of jobs. Ain’t no records being sold no more.”
“If I sell 65 million albums, then I ain’t got to make no more fucking albums,” he said. “If I sell 65 million fucking singles at a dollar, then why am I rapping? I ain’t got to do it no more. … You’re not finna prostitute me. And I wish that they would stop letting them prostitute my fucking people, bruh.”
Today’s music is mostly consumed through streaming services like Spotify, Apple Music, and Tidal. Platinum certification is awarded for one million EAUs, equivalent to 1.25-3.75 billion streams, with each stream valued at $0.003-$0.005 on Spotify. Spotify reportedly has 239 million subscribers and 619 million users as of April 2024.
