You could argue that today’s music fans are spoiled beyond previous generations’ wildest imaginations. Back in the Nineties and even the early 2000s, the level of insight audiences had into their favorite stars’ lives and creative processes was limited by both technology and culture. You couldn’t dream of being able to casually watch some of the biggest up-and-coming rap artists in the game, all sitting in a room together, making music live and in real-time. Yet here we are in 2025, where having unfettered 24/7 access to your favorite artist is becoming something like the norm.
The rising popularity of creators on livestreaming platforms like Twitch, Kick, and Rumble has upended the traditional modes of entertainment, most acutely in hip-hop, where superstars like Drake frequently show up on popular streamers’ channels, teasing new music or cryptically sending shots at rivals. Last week, Doechii celebrated her hit single “Denial is a River” with a live stream titled “Denial is a Stream.” During Kai Cenat’s record-breaking MafiaThon stream, SZA and Lizzo showed up and joined in on the fun. Basketball player LiAngelo Ball‘s breakout hit “Tweakers” was first teased on the Kick streamer N3ON’s channel last week after the 20-year-old streamer asked LiAngelo to play some of his music in the car. The rest was history.
Now, beyond artists just showing up on popular streams, they’re collaborating with streamers on actual songs that seem almost destined to go viral. It aligns with the trend of young producers “speedrunning” beats on Twitch and TikTok, as the process of making beats in digital audio workstations provides the same kind of captivating content as watching someone play a video game. 21-year-old Plaqueboymax, a popular Twitch streamer and member of the prolific esports and content creator crew Faze Clan, has managed to tap into a winning formula, using his skill as a music producer, as well as his connections within the bustling underground rap world, to bring the entire music making process live on stream. So far, it’s been a runaway success.
In just the past few weeks, songs generated on Max’s stream featuring the ascendant New York rap crew 41 alongside “slizzy” rap impresario Cash Cobain have gone viral thanks to clips uploaded to YouTube and TikTok. Last night, 41‘s Kyle Richh and Jenn Carter, along with Bay Swag and D Lou made a track tentatively titled “4 Doors” that’s already taking off on social media. Max has promised to stream every day for the next little while, so by the end of it all, he might have one of the year’s hottest albums on his hands.
As tends to happen when a young person starts getting motion in the rap world, Drake reportedly followed Plaqueboymax over the weekend after shouting him out during his Christmas livestream with Adin Ross. If you’re over a certain age, these might seem like made-up names, but they’re, in fact, the face of the new vanguard in hip-hop.
So far, the biggest success story from Max’s streams has been DDG‘s “Pink Dreads,” which became a viral sensation after the pair collaborated on the song live on stream. The beat has the maximalist, jerk-inspired sound common among underground acts like Xaviersobased and finds DDG — who, along with NLE Choppa, is perhaps the best case study on the new generation of hybrid content creators and rapper – sounding particularly enlivened. The song was such a hit that Plaqueboymax and DDG went ahead and filmed an official music video.
Even before he started having artists on stream to actually make music, Max’s streams were becoming a viable testing ground for new material. 41’s most recent official single, “Chill Guy,” released late last month, was first premiered during one of Max’s “Song Wars” segments, where he invites artists to preview new music while his audience weighs in on what they like the best. It’s the fast-paced ethos of the current generation making its way to the artists themselves. Who needs a complicated and messy roll-out if you can preview a track for a few hundred thousand listeners in real-time and get immediate feedback? “Chill Guy” won the battle that night and was released as a single shortly after. It’s already poised to be 41’s next major hit, racking up a few million streams in a little over a week.
With the success of his music-inspired streams thus far, other streamers and music industry folks will no doubt look to replicate Plaqueboymax’s formula. Towards the end of last year, Spotify announced that it’d be rolling out new tools for artists, including the addition of short-form video, not unlike the clips from popular streamers that tend to go viral on various social platforms. As the music industry continues to grapple with the changing tastes and consumption habits of the current generation of listeners, the growing popularity of streamers like Plaqueboymax appears to offer some insight into where things might be heading.
If the main theme in hip-hop last year was the fight for supremacy among rap greats nearing middle age, a quickly emerging storyline this year is the next generation obliterating all of the norms old heads once held dear. For all of the talk over the past 12 months about what is and isn’t part of rap culture, it seems like kids equipped with a computer and software like FL Studio aren’t terribly concerned about anything but making the music they want to hear—quickly. While the adults keep arguing well into 2025, it seems like the youth might be on to something.
