Last weekend, YouTube took down the video for Bronx rapper Sha Gz’s song “New Opp.” The original upload peaked at number 11 on YouTube’s global trending list before being removed for allegedly violating the Community Guidelines. In a now-expired Instagram Story post, Gz shared a screenshot from YouTube informing him that the video of him “contained content in which a minor engages in a dangerous activity that poses a risk of personal injury.”
“We removed the video in question because it violates our child safety policy, which prohibits showing children engaging in dangerous activities such as using a controlled substance like nicotine,” a YouTube spokesperson said in a statement to Rolling Stone. 17-year-old Sha Gz can be seen smoking for the first 10 seconds of the video and continues throughout the frame. YouTube added, “Anyone can post to YouTube as long as they follow our Community Guidelines, which apply equally to everyone.”
Gz, a prolific Bronx artist best known for his track “Rosa,” tells Rolling Stone that YouTube hasn’t mentioned smoking in its responses. He previously told Cam Capone News that he thought the video was taken down due to violent lyrics and that “someone from a label” may have flagged it. “They sent me an email, they told me to appeal, they told me why they then withdrew it,” he explains on the phone. “I re-uploaded it, it got 100,000 views in two days and they took it down [Thursday]Sha says he won’t attempt to upload the video a third time. “I reloaded it twice. I did my best,” she says, emphasizing that “this is one of my viral and viral videos.” She Initially thought distance
Gz’s is the latest hot music video from the New York exercise scene to be removed from YouTube for violating policies. Artists in the genre have long used the service as their primary platform for uploading music videos. Additionally, teen listeners use YouTube more than other DSPs, giving the trending list a similar status to a top-rated Spotify or Apple Music playlist. YouTube is currently the primary forum for New York’s burgeoning exercise scene, but the current momentum has made the service less reliable.
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Bronx rapper Kyle Richh’s song “Notti Bop” sparked controversy this fall because the song was an insult to Ethan Reyes, aka Notti Osama, a 14-year-old who died in a Harlem subway station last summer by stabbing him. The nocturnal-bop dance that accompanies the song simulates a stabbing, an insensitive mockery of what happened to Reyes. The video for “Bop Nights” garnered millions of views on YouTube as the dance went viral on TikTok, with many dancers unaware of the dark origins of Bop Nights. After a flurry of critical backlash in the press and on social media, the video was removed from YouTube due to a copyright infringement claim by Sony, which owns the rights to the Backyardigans theme sampled in the song. It is also worth noting that Notti’s brother, the prolific rapper DD Osama, has been signed to Sony subsidiary Alamo Records.
In late 2021, Brooklyn rapper Bizzy Banks released “Still Into You,” becoming one of many drill artists to jump to the beat of Paramore’s sample. But Bizzy’s version of the song attracted too much attention and was removed for a copyright infringement claim (as were other highly regarded videos of artists rapping to the beat).
These moves pose a dilemma for artists as they explore so-called pattern exercises and illustrate the challenges of relying on technological platforms to host creative scenes. YouTube has over 2.6 billion subscribers, but its content team isn’t as straightforward as it could be when it comes to its political standards. In September 2020, YouTube released a blog post explaining that artistic content such as music videos are aware of its “educational, documentary, scientific, or artistic” exception, or EDSA. “Sometimes videos that may otherwise violate our policies may remain on YouTube if the content provides a compelling reason with context viewers see. We often refer to this exception as ‘EDSA’,” the post reads. But the exception is not a license to violate their policies under the guise of Article. The blog post also notes: “These decisions are nuanced and context matters. And we know it can be difficult for creators and viewers to understand why one video remains active while another is deactivated.”
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Many of the young producers and artists on the New York drill scene don’t have the connections or capital to take down the samples they use, meaning their videos of potential stars could be taken offline at any moment. Sha Gz isn’t the first minor to smoke in a music video, but “New Opps” has still been reported multiple times. “I don’t like it when videos are taken down,” says Sha. “Before posting anything, you will be asked to do so [click] “Yes, it’s for kids” or “No, it’s not.” I voted ‘no’ but I don’t know why they removed my video like that.”
Last February, New York City Mayor Eric Adams sparked outrage when he suggested YouTube has “civil and corporate” responsibility to monitor music videos depicting police drills. “We pulled Trump from Twitter for what he spat on. However, we allow music [with] Showing weapons, violence. We are allowing this to remain on the sites,” he said. Now YouTube is looking into exactly the scene it called out. It may be pure coincidence, but it could also herald the future of New York drilling to 2023.
