Photo credit: Atlantic Records
Despite north of 10 million subscribers and an initial total of more than 9.13 billion views — the latter figure dropped to 1.25 billion post-deletions — NBA YoungBoy’s YouTube channel no longer features music videos from the rapper, while the page’s “videos” tab has been completely wiped from uploads.
Diehard fans quickly took to social media to Express their concern — and frustration — with the lack of official NBA YoungBoy YouTube uploads. At the time of writing, the 22-year-old artist’s tracks were still being deleted from the “videos” section of his account on the Google-owned platform, which reportedly refused to “promote” YoungBoy due to his image and his arrests.
However, the Baton Rouge native’s music – including his third studio album, Sincerely, Kentrellwhich debuted in late September – is still available on YouTube through the Lyric Channels, other uploaders that appear to have been cleared by Warner Music’s Atlantic Records, and playlists on the official YoungBoy channel.
Each of these playlists has been “updated today” and includes audio-only versions of the works in question. Most fans seem unaware of the availability of YouTube playlists, and before they were rolled out, interest in downloads YoungBoy’s music sounded stronger than ever, with “Safe Then Sorry (Interlude)” having recently overcome the “trend” graph.
YoungBoy – who was published jail in late October to face house arrest ahead of a trial stemming from a September 2020 arrest – does not appear to have publicly discussed the abrupt removal of his music from YouTube’s “videos” section, nor the current lack of music videos. The fast approaching trial can be seen in the “Doors Up” artist’s silence on the matter. Additionally, the rapper deleted almost all of his social media accounts following his arrest in September 2020.
But some observers have speculated that removing the YouTube videos could be part of YoungBoy’s defense strategy, in addition to expressing the view that the clips will reappear once the lawsuit is in the rearview mirror. YoungBoy’s aforementioned arrest occurred while he and 15 others were filming a music video.
Alternatively, the aforementioned promotion-related dispute between the rapper’s team and YouTube may have led to the takedowns. It’s worth pointing out in conclusion that one fan, indicating that he had previously added YoungBoy tracks to his own YouTube playlists, noted in a comment that part of the videos were marked “private”.
Earlier this month, Kendrick Lamar hired Anthony Saleh to serve as his manager, and Warner Music launched a hip-hop label called Atlantic Records Benelux.
