There is an artist that comes to mind when we talk about being on the spot for other reasons than his music, and that is Tekashi 6ix9ine. After leaving jail early due to the Pandemic, as he is considered a high-risk patient (he’s got asthma and has been treated for bronchitis before) he went online to attack Ariana Grande (and Justin Bieber) after the song they worked together on debuted in No. 1.
Tekashi 6ix9ine A.K.A Daniel Hernández, went on his social media to declare that Ariana Grande had bought her way to the top of the chart as reported by xxlmag. The rapper who had released “Gooba” a new single a couple of weeks ago was furious that his song debuted No.3, under “Stuck With U” by Ariana Grande and Justin Bieber and “Say So” by Doja Cat Feat. Nicki Minaj.
The 24-year-old rapper uploaded a video on his Instagram account calling out Billboard, with the caption “@billboard CAUGHT CHEATING”. Adding to it, in case it wasn’t clear enough that billboard was “a liar and corrupt” organization and that “the world will know.”
On the video, Hernández claimed that “you can buy your No. 1 spot from Billboard”, as he had an “ongoing investigation”. His main reason to make such statement is that according to said “investigation”, around “30.000 copies of Ariana’s song were bought with just 6 credit cards”.
In the video, you can also see how he says that Billboard counted less streams than he had in reality, so Ariana could take the top spot. According to Tekashi 6ix9ine apparently it’s easier to get a place in Billboard than to learn how to play blackjack.
Everyone Responded
Ariana was the first one to respond to 6ix9ine’s accusations on an Instagram post, where she celebrated the accomplishment, and thanked her fans before disclaiming she had to give a response as the situation has gotten a bit “too far”.
Part of her response was arguing that the fans and the music are the force that drive her, all according to her Post, saying that it was her fans “who bought the song. Justin’s fans bought the song”. She also said that he had to “take a moment to humble” himself. And that he should be “Grateful”, and his position is a “Blessed position. She congratulated everyone “even No.3” and thanked Billboard, and her fans.
Scooter Braun, who manages both Bieber and Grande took to Instagram as well, to make some serious points about what was being said. Arguing that data such as global streams are all well and good but since it was a domestic chart, only domestic streams were taken into account.
Other points made by Braun were that they had not disclosed information before because it is their “strategy and is and always has been our policy”. Scooter also said that “Nielsen and Billboard rules state clearly one credit card can only buy max 4 copies. Anything above that the entire amount gets thrown out.”
The other personality involved here, Justin Bieber, made it clear and didn’t beat around the bush, he went in straight, but not in a confrontational way, he explained what Braun disclosed on his own social media, thanked his fans, and made it very clear that he was not going to let Ariana take a hit alone for the song as that was their songs. Asking that if 6ix9ine was to name Ariana he also had to name Justin.
Billboard itself issued a response to 6ix9ine’s allegations of cheating, by explaining how the calculations were made. As it was first explained by the Bieber and Braun one of the many errors 6ix9ine had made during his accusations, was to take the global number of streams and YouTube visits which are not taken into consideration as the Billboard Hot 100 takes into consideration domestic views and streams.
They also disclosed that they cannot share any information of the songs and the data they collect and review with other than the owner of the song. Also in a point made by 6ix9ine, he mentions he was supposed to be on 1st place according to a forecast of the chart, which Billboard said it was not created by them, and that many people who have access to some of that data do create them.
Was this another way to get some attention by Tekashi 6ix9ine? Was this another of his moves to promote his music? Or was he just doing it without thinking?
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