RiotUSA Accused Of Paying Fans to Buy “Princess Diana”

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This week, Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj dropped their highly-anticipated collab, a remix of Ice Spice’s “Princess Diana”. While the remix has not yet landed on the charts, it could be Spice’s third concurrent single on the Billboard Hot 100. “Boy’s A Liar Pt. 2” is currently at #8 while “In Ma Hood” is at #76. “Princess Diana” debuted at #22 in the UK charts while also going top-10 in The Netherlands.

However, while “Princess Diana” was a smash hit, the remix has some calling foul play. There are claims that the remix’s producer, RiotUSA, has been paying fans to stream the song in order to raise its eventual chart debut. Their evidence? A single, single-deleted tweet from the producer. Safe to say, Twitter went absolutely crazy over this new conspiracy.

Doubters Claim To Have Evidence Of Pay To Play

Fans point to a now-deleted tweet from RiotUSA as evidence of inflated sales. According to several videos posted online, the tweet read ““which big munchkin acc or barb acc can i trust to distribute funds for y’all to buy princess diana??” The tweet has met with shock from both fans and detractors before being deleted. However, detractors have gone as far as to claim they have contacted Billboard in an effort to get the song’s allegedly fraudulent chart position fixed. As the song was released in the last seven days, it is yet to debut on the charts.

But what is the truth behind the alleged pay-for-play tweet? On the one hand, the detractors could be completely right and this was a blatant attempt to artificially boost sales. However, this could also just be a poor-received joke. Looking at the situation, it’s more likely the latter. Ice Spice and Nicki Minaj are two of the most scrutinized modern artists. Therefore, it would be weird for an attempt to artificially boost their song to be so traceable. But the damage is also done, RiotUSA can’t come out and claim it’s a joke because that just leads to more drama. So instead, we must brace ourselves for the backlash when “Princess Diana” does debut on the charts.

[via]