Picture this: You’ve made a song that’s a hit with your target audience. Soon, you begin to reap the rewards of success in the form of high placement on the iTunes sales charts. This was the case for any successful musician from the early 2000s into the early 2010s but it’s also the case for many right-wing rappers these days. Bryson Gray, Forgiatto Blow, and Tom MacDonald are just some of the rappers from the right wing who have managed to earn a spot high on the Itunes charts with songs featuring homophobia, transphobia, and COVID-19 misinformation. This sounds like it should be a big deal but in reality, it isn’t.
No one uses iTunes anymore. The music industry has changed so much since the early 2010s. Long gone are the days when the only way to (legally) listen to your favorite artist was by purchasing the album in a store or through a digital marketplace such as iTunes. Now? All you have to do is pay $9.99 every month for a subscription to a streaming service and you’ll have access to any music you want, new or old. Because of this, buying music has almost become a thing of the past. It’s now easier for consumers to access music and it’s even easier than ever for artists to release music. Unfortunately, that means artists now make less money since streaming services take a bigger cut compared to platforms where music is purchased.
As a result, there’s typically a disconnect between the music trending on Itunes and the music trending on a streaming service such as Apple Music or Spotify. Enter the aforementioned right-wing rappers. Right now on May 3, 2023, Tom Macdonald’s single “Dirty Money” has reached number 8 on iTunes. This is likely due to his dedicated fanbase which is small in size compared to most rappers out there. Because his fanbase is so small, it’s probably easier to convince them to go buy and support his music despite the fact that most people don’t listen to it. This exposes the biggest problem with right-wing rap: It has no growth. Right-wing rap can only ever be right-wing rap.
Look at the rap genre as a whole. You’ve songs for the club, songs for the ladies, and songs for guys who love 90s rap. Tyler The Creator is one of my favorite artists. He went from making provocative, edgy songs like this to Grammy-worthy music like this. Rap is such a diverse genre but right-wing rap will never be more than just complaining about Biden, Bud Light, drag queens, or whatever Fox News wants them to hate this week.
All you need to do is make a song spewing hate at some marginalized group or Joe Biden, give it an offensive title, and boom! You’re the next Tom Macdonald or Bryson Gray until your song falls off the iTunes charts after a week. As DJ Rob pointed out on his blog, Bryson Gray’s Anti-Biden song “Let’s Go Brandon” became No. 1 on iTunes. A week later, it quickly lost its ranking and dropped to No. 99.
These rightwing rappers can get millions of views on YouTube (Before their music video is banned) and reach No. 1 on iTunes all they want but, to quote Linkin Park, “In the end, it doesn’t even matter.” iTunes is not relevant in the music industry anymore and their music has no staying power or substance. They certainly aren’t touching the Spotify or Apple Music numbers artists like Bad Bunny, Drake or Taylor Swift get with songs like “Fake Woke” or “Let’s Go Brandon.” So next time you hear a Bryson Gray or Tom MacDonald proclaim they have the No. 1 song in the country thanks to iTunes, remember that the iTunes chart is about as relevant as Beanie Babies are.
The Soap Box 