Badshah Reacts On Buying FAKE VIEWS On YouTube For His Latest Song 'Paagal'; Says 'Ch*tiya Company Hai Kya Apple?' (Details Inside)

Rapper Badshah is well known for his distinctive fusion of hip-hop and Punjabi music, adding catchy beats to his tracks. He has a huge fan base, and two of his well-known movie songs are 'Tareefan' from 'Veere Di Wedding' in 2018 and 'Kala Chashma' from 'Baar Baar Dekho' in 2016.

Although he is now a popular rapper, his song 'Paagal' caused controversy when it was first published in 2020. In an effort to surpass the previous viewership record, he was accused of paying Rs 72 lakh for more views on his music video. The rapper has now responded to the accusation.

(Also read: Bloody Daddy: Badshah Responds With Explanation After Fans Criticize "BTS Bibba" Lyrics In The Song)

Badshah discussed in-depth about the dispute over the song 'Paagal's YouTube views during an interview with the popular podcaster Raj Shamani's show 'Figuring Out.' He stated, “You can never buy YouTube views; it’s called buying adverts from legitimate buying agencies. The agenda was to make ‘Paagal’ visible to maximum audiences and achieve a certain viewership number so that we can flex. We thought we had a global song and we wanted to advertise it to a global audience. At that time J Balvin’s ‘Mi Gente’ had dropped, and it was a huge hit and we felt Hindi shouldn’t be a barrier since music has no boundaries.”

He added, “‘Paagal’ is a huge hit in Brazil, and a lot of people know me because of that song. My vision was to serve ‘Paagal’ to the world, and I was okay investing legitimately whatever money it took for that crossover to happen. We bought advertisements from three agencies who were empanelled by YouTube with proper GST invoices. Unfortunately, some of our audiences started spreading the narrative of fake views. I still don’t know what fake views are.”

Badshah asks Raj Shamani, “It’s like, what phone do you use?”

He responded, “iPhone”.

The rapper mentioned, “Aap airport pe jaate ho toh iphone ke ad dekhte ho na? Ch*tiya company hai kya Apple? 3 Trillion dollar ki company hai. Unethical company hai iPhone? jinke pas nhi hai shayad woh bhi kharid le iPhone.”

(Also read: Bloody Daddy: BTS ARMY Fans Criticise Rapper Badshah For His CONTROVERSIAL Lyrics In The Song, 'Issa Vibe')

He further added, “Today, all your major brands advertise to promote their products to a larger audience, it’s not ethical or illegal, and that’s exactly what we did for our song to reach new audiences. I realised later this was propaganda created against me. I took it in my stride and I was like well, a boy from Pitampura is actually such a talking point for many. I invested my own money because I believed in the song. Today, labels and artists out of India heavily advertise their products. Take the example of Taylor Swift or Kendrick Lamar who also market to audiences in India too. Everyone needs a scapegoat but audiences need to be educated and make an informed decision before slandering everyone. Its funny, at my biggest ever show in Ahmedabad in 2019 which had a 33,000 footfall, I wanted to take a selfie and caption it ‘me with my fake followers’.”