Diss tracks break the internet, bringing drama and hate to YouTube

Since May, the phrases “Logang for life” and “Clout gang” have floated around social media and in students’ everyday conversations. But that leads to the question: What are these seemingly absurd “gangs” or fandoms?

In late spring of 2016, YouTuber Jake Paul released “It’s Everyday Bro,” a song featuring YouTube group Team 10. Team 10 includes 13 people who regularly post challenges, vlogs and Q&As.

The song was made for fun, but the lyrics hinted that it was actually a diss track about one of Paul’s previous relationships.

A diss track is a song that is meant to roast or poke fun at another person or group. Although dissing others has long been a part of some rappers’ platforms, only recently has it become popular to write and produce a whole song solely to criticize other people.

Although the diss track trend started before Paul’s song was released, 2017 has been the year that the trend began to gain more attention.

Much like Paul, well-known YouTubers such as Ricegum, KSI and Logan Paul have all joined the diss track movement. From starting fake arguments online to actually having motives to ridicule, YouTubers have taken advantage of this trend and used it to their benefit, gaining more views and subscribers from the everlasting drama.

One of the most famous diss track battles from this year has been from Ricegum and Logan Paul against Jake Paul. After “It’s Everyday Bro,” where Jake dissed his ex-girlfriend Alissa Violet, Violet called Ricegum to help her avenge her ex and diss him even harder in “It’s EveryNight Sis.”

With private information and unknown secrets used to expose Jake for his true self, the song went viral, gaining more than 100 million views and over 20 million streams on Spotify in less than five months. It even made the Billboard Top 100.

Ricegum, among others, has noticed the popularity of diss tracks on YouTube. Ever since the beginning of his channel, he has been making diss tracks about various social media stars, which led him to become one of the fastest growing YouTube channels. Ricegum has a whopping 8.5 million subscribers and is gaining thousands of new ones every day.

Viewers are always enthralled by the diss tracks and the drama, begging for more in the comments section of each of the videos.

“I always listen to the tracks because they are genuinely catchy and well-made,” junior Owen Keogh said. “It is also very entertaining to see big names get involved in petty drama online.”

Recognizing this trend’s popularity, Ricegum often teases his fans with possible diss tracks with other famed YouTubers like Logan Paul and PewDiePie, who is the biggest YouTuber with 57 million subscribers, but rarely actually engages in the beef.

However, fans are never let down when diss tracks are released, often sharing them on social media and learning the lyrics within days. After Ricegum’s diss track on Jake came out, fans of Ricegum showed up at Jake’s house, blasting the song and screaming the lyrics at Jake and Team 10.

This not only shows the power and influence of YouTubers, but also the fire and drama that comes with diss tracks, taking the whole social media stardom to the next level.