If you're an under-the-radar rapper, sometimes one way to get more attention is by paying a better known artist for a feature.
One rapper believed that Safaree Samuels could help his career, but the guy ended up getting hustled, which he explained during a call to The Breakfast Club.
"This how he got me. He hit me up first actually on Instagram,” said the unknown artist. “He was like, ‘Yo, your track is hot' ... He told me that he could do a little promo for me, throw my track on Spotify, on the playlist for me and all that for $1,000. So, I paid him, and weeks and months go by. So, I’m hitting him up. He said, ‘Oh, I forgot you on this tape so I got you on the next project.’ It was supposed to drop in November. So, after November, he completely stopped responding and he basically got me out of $1,000, so I just have to take my L."
Afterward, Envy explained what might have happened and said Safaree probably had sincere intentions.
"There's these people that do mixtapes," said Envy. "If you see a bunch of different artists, they'll say, 'Hey, we'll put you on this mixtape.' They pay the artist to host the mixtape and the artist hosts the mixtape, they get ten songs from ten different people. And when they get the 10 songs, the artist does the drops and they put the mixtape out. It probably wasn't him, it probably was a company like that that does the mixtape type of thing."
Safaree — who recently said that women taking off their clothes on social media has him worried for his daughter — hasn't responded to the scamming accusation yet.
Here's more info on the scam we think Safaree is attached to.
Over the past few months, a company named DaBlock365 has been working with several notable rap artists — including Fat Joe, Benny The Butcher, Jadakiss, and Dave East, among others — offering indie rappers "mixtape placements" for between $500 and $650 per slot. A thread...
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020
These notable rap artists will post to social media, asking their followers to tag artists who they should be on the look for. Below, you'll see @FatJoe asking his fans to tag an artist who "spits crack." Well played, Joe. pic.twitter.com/sGJ2XPfthk
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020
Armed with these social media handles, the company, DaBlock365, then begins DMing artists from the notable rapper's accounts.
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020
The messaging is typical motivational BS:
"Ready to push your music?"
"Ready to invest in your career?"
"Hard work pays off, let's get you on" pic.twitter.com/bmTvt0RJFZ
Of course, the artists on the receiving end of these DMs cannot believe artists like Fat Joe, Jadakiss, Benny The Butcher, etc..., are reaching out, TO THEM, about a mixtape placement.
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020
Here are just some of their public reactions on Twitter: pic.twitter.com/xikDhQDUHY
On June 20, DaBlock365 posted 'Rap Behind Bars Vol. 7,' "presented by Benny The Butcher," to their @SoundCloud & other small sites.
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020
There are 37 tracks on the tape. The highest play count is 1,414. If you remove that outlier, the avg play count is 60.https://t.co/u3b5JeU41r pic.twitter.com/tMXD3MtjCd
Obviously, spending $650 to generate 60 plays isn't a wise investment. Artists *could* justify the expense as a public "co-sign," but there's little in the way of actual marketing value. Benny hasn't tweeted the project link and only posted once to IG. There's no link in his bio. pic.twitter.com/Zd7ayLfQMK
— Z (@djboothEIC) June 29, 2020