After taking a major L in court in his ongoing case in Los Angeles involving last year’s shooting of Megan Thee Stallion, Tory Lanez has since been focused on brushing off the negativity and allegations surrounding his name. Today, the Memories Don’t Die artist returned with a new R&B capsule, titled PLAYBOY, but according to Tory, his latest release has been censored and silenced by streaming services.
In the video, Tory discusses how PLAYBOY is not appearing on the home page of numerous DSPs and none of its album cuts have made any popular editorial playlists. Although he is thankful that his fans are still finding ways to support the new project, he takes some time to call out any streaming service that has decided to censor him in response to his current legal battle.
I’m not tryna single out any platforms …. at all … I JUST ASK THAT AT THIS POINT … I get treated FAIRLY,” Tory writes in the caption of his latest post. “… as an independent artist … and as a BLACK BUSINESS .. I ACTIVELY still make the platforms money with my music … So it should NOT BE RIGHT .. for any platform to CENSOR AND SILENCE ME FROM THE EDITORIAL PLAYLIST OR HOME PAGES OF THESE PLATFORMS THAT HELP TO GIVE EYE BALLS TO YOUNG ARTIST … I’ve stayed cool for the last 2 projects … BUT THIS IS JUST NOT FAIR .”
Surprisingly, industry giants Timbaland and Supah Mario both left supportive comments underneath Tory’s post, with Timbo opting for a simple applause emoji and Supa Mario sharing his thoughts on the situation, saying, “Naw that’s f*cked up.”
In the past, artists such as R. Kelly and xxxtentacion have faced similar situations in which streaming services have attempted to censor their musical output as well. Rappers like Kendrick Lamar have publicly criticized censoring artists, so only time will tell if streaming services across the board decide to move in a different direction and start making Tory’s new releases more accessible.
What is your stance on whether streaming services should censor artists following highly publicized scandals?