While FaZe has historically catered to gamers, their influence has spread, especially since the signing of one streamer in particular: PlaqueBoyMax.
Maxwell Dent aka PlaqueBoyMax has created a community from his bedroom, gradually building his 5 Star following through the hip-hop niche by reacting to up-and-coming artists and hosting them on stream for various forms of content. After a few viral moments, including a short feud with Jace! and a studio session with Sofaygo, Max became one of Twitch’s faces of underground music alongside creators like ImDontai and Bobbalam.
Max being younger and more tapped into newer artists worked to his advantage, curating a niche audience that expanded far past its boundaries when he signed with gaming organization FaZe Clan. In his first few months, Max has already done in-person streams with Lazer Dim 700, Percaso, saveaj, Trippie Redd and Tana, bringing them over to the new FaZe content house to freestyle, record music and shoot visuals.
This weekend marks one of the biggest events in Max’s career to date, marking the date of a legendary Song War between 10 of the fastest growing stars of our generation. Trippie, producer BNYX, and YouTubers Dontai, Zias and B. Lou all scored unreleased tracks from Summrs, DC the Don, DC2Trill, Yung Fazo, Nino Paid, Jace!, Lazer, Che, BAK Jay and wolfacejoeyy out of 50, with DC the Don clutching a win with a score of 48. This event sets a strong precedent for similar challenges, with Max planning on doing one per month going forward.
Seeing hip-hop evolve in new ways, both musically and in the entertainment industry as a whole, is beneficial for the genre as it garners more avenues for artists to grow their audiences in innovative ways. It wouldn’t be surprising to see more inspiration come from the likes of PlaqueBoyMax and his peers as they continue to gain mainstream popularity and spreading the love to well-deserving artists.