The rap game has scrambled towards the streaming game. Sometimes, it’s a shameless attempt at promo and marketing to drum up interest. Other times, it’s an outright career change in a music industry that doesn’t pay its artists as much as they should. Regardless, artists like Soulja Boy, PlaqueBoyMax, DDG, Tee Grizzley, and more have really bolstered their fan bases from streaming. Even Justin Bieber has a Twitch channel now. From playing video games to just talking online, it’s become a lucrative endeavor for some people. However, Akademiks argues it has radically altered the perception of rappers today.
In early January 2026, the streamer and hip-hop personality went on a rant on X (formerly Twitter) about how the mystique is gone from hip-hop. Moreover, he stressed that all the cool artists have turned out ‘lame’ in the end. Coming off as more ordinary makes artists seem lesser. “The internet removed all mystique from rappers,” Akademiks argued. “I just seen a convo where a rapper still tryna convince ppl they r so cool… bruh.. we see yall lives 360.. u just as corny as the ppl u flexing on. U and ur audience the same. Streaming killed rappers AURA.”
Soulja Boy Gets Into It With Akademiks in Nuclear Video
“If I signed a rapper id forbid them from going on any streamer platform,” he continued in another post. “Every time I see a rapper on a stream I’m reminded.. dis n**** lame like me he just won the lottery.” Then, he ended his rant by declaring NBA YoungBoy and Playboi Carti as some of the only cool rappers left.
Naturally, the comments from Akademiks upset someone like Soulja Boy, who raps and streams. The “Turn My Swag On” rapper unloaded with a nasty bit of name-calling. “Akademiks, you need to fix your tweets, n****,” Soulja Boy said. “Talking ‘bout, all the rappers is lame ‘cause they streaming and all that… Shut the f*** up with your fat, Uber Eats, McDonald’s-eating a**, 50 Krabby Patties stuffing down your stomach, b****. You lame, ain’t no f***ing body lame, n***a. Shut the f*** up, n***as can stream if they want to. F*** is you talking ‘bout? Fat piece of s***.”
Akademiks made these criticisms in a much softer light last week. During one of his own streams, he argued that artists moving into streaming only makes the streamers look better. “Rappers made a huge mistake in the last two years,” the streaming giant and hip-hop personality said. “When they were chasing numbers, they all went to streamers. You’ve got to understand, the rapper collab with the streamers is what got these guys to record levels of clout. These streamers on their way to whatever clout level they get to, they collaborate with rappers, but overall the end result is that it helped the streamers more than they help the rappers.”
The post Soulja Boy Blasts Akademiks for Saying Rappers Pivoting to Streaming Are ‘Lame’ appeared first on VICE.
