How 4batz Became Music’s Hottest New Star: ‘Nothing Counts’

Let’s begin. His voice—his original voice, as yet unheard by the public at press time. Turns out it’s a baritone, deeper than it sounds—but not so deep that you’d be surprised to learn that he turned 20 last November.

“How does 4batz sound?” Has been a trending search on TikTok and YouTube for months. There are also dozens of videos, think pieces, and tweet threads that ponder where he came from—an entire cottage industry of social media conspiracies built around a mysterious child whose name only exists. There are three original songs. (Throw in the Drake remix that dropped in March, and his officially released work tops out at just over 10 minutes.)

so who Is 4batz, the enigmatic, golden-grilled artist who wears a blush (commonly known as a balaclava) the way Batman wears a cowl, has appeared on the air with songs seemingly ready for Tik Tok to take the industry by storm. Famous for attracting the Drake feature. And a to scream From Kanye? The short version: He’s a Dallas native named Nico Bennett who says he’s never had a stable home, once pulled 12-hour shifts in a warehouse to stay out of trouble, and in music “fuck Determined to put An ex regrets dumping him. The even shorter version: He just might be rap’s next superstar.

The public got their first glimpse of 4batz in it video His second single, “Date @ 8,” was released last December as an episode on YouTube channel 4 Shooters Only From The Block, a video series featuring typically hard-hitting freestyles. In the clip, Butz walks up to the mic with a handful of dollars, braids poking out from under his mask, surrounded by a crowd of his boys, blowing smoke and being rude to the camera. A digitized voice about all the ways he’ll wine and dine the world’s most deserving girl, in lyrics that are vague enough to apply to any relationship but also endearingly cute, unnecessarily profane, and weird. Be specific (“He’s spending “$500″ on you. Hair, $200 on your nails”).

The song was already earworm-y and social media-ready, and—at two minutes and 20 seconds—was short enough to require constant replay. But the video introduced an arresting contrast and raised many questions. Butz didn’t respond, letting the video speak for itself. Later that month, Timbaland reposted it and begged Drake to do a remix. In March, It actually happened; Even after the Drake version dropped, Bitz continued to fuel his mystique by remaining silent, further boosting his already skyrocketing streaming numbers. At press time, it had just over 14 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

An overused derisive term Industrial plant Describes an artist whose career has been lab-engineered, focus-grouped, and reverse-engineered, someone anointed by the nebulous powers that be to entertain superiors, , and has enlisted tastemakers to promote them, such as up-and-coming artists with real talent who are “discovered,” signed, and nurtured. 4batz, who came out of nowhere with a handful of compelling songs that quickly amassed millions of streams, was the prime target of Plant’s accusations. Influential podcaster Joe Budden Credited A dark, decidedly 2020 rumor: that 4batz’s music was created entirely by AI, the kid in the ski mask literally standing in for the non-existent artist.