11:11 PM 11/10/2023 Fri
Since word got out that I had made Playboard's Top 100 Most SuperChatted YouTubers(1) in the country back in the spring of this year, the haters came out in force trying to poo-poo the news, constantly shifting the goalposts onto some other nonsensical "point". This is because it's too painful to admit that their way of doing things simply doesn't work, and my way of doing things, does.
So, it would come as no surprise that when news again hit that I had appeared on Playboard's Top 100 in SuperChats (This time thanks to my partner and one of the four horsemen of the Black Manosphere Conclave Shannon Rawls), that the haters would again be out in force, and again, be out here trying to poo-poo and move the goalposts. The haters are nothing if not mind numbingly consistent.
But since I always like to learn from my experiences, and since I am one of if not the last true leader of the Black Manosphere left standing, I feel it is my duty to use the yammering of the haters as a teaching tool for those in my dojo: You see my brothers, when your hard work and careful planning starts to bear fruit, you WILL be hated on. And that hate won't be coming from White folks, or "The Jews", or even from Black women...
...It will come from other Black men. Black men who aren't as talented, creative or simply as hardworking as yourself. Yet, these Black men can and will have all manner of "critiques" for who you are and what you've actually accomplished in the real world - Black men who are, literally, "average at best" (see links below!)(2) in YOUR line of work - yet, they "know" so much "better" than you - you, who have been up in lights several times to date. Only in Black America are the mediocre, the untalented and the lazy, gets to tell the creative, the bold, the daring, the talented and the hardworking, how life is supposed to be.
And we wonder how and why Black America is a basketcase. Harrumph.
I didn't even know that Playboard, which is to YouTube what Billboard is to musical artists, even existed before the spring of this year. As it turns out, Playboard records and ranks top-rated YouTubers not just across the country, but across the globe, and across a number of categories. Since I focus on live streaming, and since my focus is the United States, it makes sense to see where I fall in terms of actual monies made from the enterprise, hence my rankings in the Top 100 Most SuperChatted YouTube channels in the country.
Back in spring of this year, I came in at #91, right behind The Lead Attorney at #90. That was for May, 2023. For last month, Oct 2023, I came in at #38, having jumped up nearly EIGHTY SPOTS in the rankings - and ahead of pretty much everyone else in or around the Black Manosphere sector of YouTube at that - including The Lead Attorney (#78), BGS IBMOR (#58), The Crimson Cure (#74), Anton Daniels (#61), Angryman (#75), D'Nieka Marie (#87) and Minister Jap (#47). Heck, I even beat out Whatever, which many, including Fresh & Fit themselves, consider to be the White Fresh & Fit, at #70. These facts matter, for a number of reasons, but the main one is something that has to be dealt with head on: Because it proves that in a post-Kevin Samuels, and now we can honestly say post-Fresh & Fit world, the Black Manosphere is alive and well, thank you very much. Since I am really the only one still carrying the banner for the brand, my success is the Black Manosphere's success - especially coming off the grand success and achievement of the third Black Manosphere Conclave in ATL back in September of this year. Both - my channel's success and that of the conclave - are clear and present proofs that the Black Manosphere is an economically viable brand and revenue generator that simply cannot be denied - especially when you consider the evidence I'm about to drop on you below.
And that evidence, is this: Not only did I make it onto Playboard's Top 100 Most SuperChatted YouTubers in the USA list twice, for May and Oct this year - TO DATE, I'VE MADE THE LIST A GRAND TOTAL OF EIGHT TIMES. See it for yourself:
1. Jan 2023 #73
2. Feb 2023 #43
3. Mar 2023 #40
4. Apr 2023 #81
5. May 2023 #91
6. Jun 2023 #66
7. Aug 2023 #100
8. Oct 2023 #38
Quick, how often do musical artists appear on the Billboard charts eight times or more in a single calendar year? I'm no music exec, but I'm thinking that has to be a somewhat rare feat. Especially when you translate that into YouTuber terms: According to Tubefilter(3) and Fast Company(4) and as of 2021, there are approximately 435K full time YouTubers in the USA. Now, to be sure, they all aren't live streaming like yours truly - I would even wager that most of them aren't and instead are focusing on uploading prerecorded videos - but the point is made: To even crack into the Top 100 Most SuperChatted YouTubers in the USA list, is a heck of a feat. To say nothing of having done it, to date, a whopping eight times this year alone.
There's simply no doubt about it.
Why is SuperChats so very important? Well, because in my opinion, if you're looking to make some serious money with the platform, and you could only choose ONE way to do it, SuperChat is definitely the way. It gives your audience the chance to interact with you in real time that other forms of media simply does not - and don't let anyone fool you or try to tell you otherwise, the vast majority of other social media platforms don't pay squat. A Business Insider article(5) about how Black TikTokers are getting the shaft is an excellent case in point. No other platform offers what YouTube offers in terms of making real money on the SuperChat side of the game - it's what helped the late great "Saint Kevin" Samuels become a multi-millionaire by the time of his untimely passing in the spring of 2022.
Sure, you can argue for AdSense and brand ambassador deals and what not, and they ARE important - with some serious caveats. The first is that, and you don't have to take my word for it, simply look up this article on the Finance Buzz website(6), you only make, max, about $18 for every 1K views. I mean, think about it - in order to make say, $10K a month, you would have to rack up something like...well, you can see where this is going. Now, you CAN do this - going back to Kevin Samuels for a moment, he routinely had videos that pulled in a quarter of a million, a half a million, and well over a million views - THAT can make you some serious coin. But for the rank and file, or even above average to exceptional YouTuber, you're not making a heck of a lot of coin this way.
You're.
Just.
Not.
Don't believe me? Go and hit up Kimberly Nicole Foster's YouTube channels, and see for yourself. I would wager that she pulls in an average of 50K to 60K views a pop. Multiply $18 times 60K and tell me the result. Now you can see how and why she was crying the blues earlier this year about "only" getting a $8K check from YouTube - and, keep in mind, that between her two channels combined she's got well over a quarter of a million subs(!). If you go back to what I said above about being right behind The Lead Attorney back in May, HE HAS ELEVEN TIMES THE SUBS I HAVE. This is the power of both live streaming, AND SuperChat: It ain't about the size of your audience (read: Subscribers) - it's about the size of their ENGAGEMENT.
Now you see the reason why Myron and Walt were literally in tears after being demonetized off YouTube - they were pulling in easily, what, $60K a month from SuperChats alone? I ain't even gonna hold you, I'd be crying a river, too. The only real way AdSense makes sense is if you're (1), getting tons of views, and/or (2), you're cranking out lots of videos that themselves, consistently gets lots of views. The only person that I personally know who consistently does lots of both, is my fellow Black Manosphere founding father, Oshay Duke Jackson. The man has got this thing down to a science, and he has the creativity, work ethic, production team and the resources to be the GM of YouTube video creation and production. If you're not at the very least doing something similar to that, you're not really making a lot of money via AdSense. The math, just ain't mathin' like that.
"Well, what about brand deals, Obsidian?", some of you may ask? A quick Google search led me to the website BrandMentions(7), which claims that you can make anywhere from $500 to $1K per video - but that's assuming that you have a channel that's at least 50K-strong with subs (with a desired and preferred channel size of anywhere between 50K to 100K-plus subs). Another website, Zippia(8), says that smaller guys (under 50K subs) can expect anywhere from $10 to $100 a video to endorse a brand. Of course, they say something very similar to BrandMentions - that the bigger fish in the game can command anywhere from $1K to $10K a video - but like I said, you have to have a pretty big channel to do that (and the pro haters talking smack don't have anything anywhere near close to that, so there). Hmmm.
Truth be told, the average YouTuber makes about $4600 a month, and I can make easily double (if not triple) that on SuperChats alone in my current state (we're not even talking about when I go live and cam up) - and I don't have to sweat having a big channel of subs, the vast majority of whom aren't really engaged anyway, brand deals where corporations want to try to dictate to you what you can and can't say (Mediocre Tutorials & Reviews found this out the hard way), or hope and pray that my video uploads crack something like 100K views every single time to make some decent money. Live streaming and SuperChat cuts right through the chatter (IF you have the talent for it), which is why my own model is built around it (Ever wondered why Kevin never took ad deals and relied so heavily on live streaming? Well, now you know.). It's Talk Radio for the Brothers that's also fully Interactive!
This is how and why the pro haters don't have a leg to stand on when it comes to me or to YouTube, something that admittedly when I first started out eight years ago I had no idea what I was doing, but have come a long way in learning about in the past few years of the pandemic. I'm still learning, and I credit my current day success to The Lead Attorney and his Live Streaming Course(9). Much has been said about "grifters" by naysaying Negroes, and to be fair there is at least SOME truth behind what they say; but I can fully endorse TLA for the superlative job he's done with his course. Even for someone like me, who is very busy and doesn't have a lot of time to devote to being a full-on student, just the relatively little I have learned from his course has made it possible to really solidify my spot as a live streamer, make it onto the Playboard's 100 Most SuperChatted List EIGHT TIMES, and affords me the ability to make a nice living for myself - to the point where my pro haters are now asking me what I do with my money and who I spend it on, etc. Pocket watching Negroes, I tell ya!
Anyway, if you're serious about making serious money with YouTube, you owe it to yourself to get TLA's course. Also, checkout Roberto Blake's(10) really good article on what you need to be a good YouTuber. I can always tell the guys who are serious students of the craft and those who aren't - first off, the real McCoys aren't haters; and second, their work on the platform speaks for itself.
Are we learning yet, haters?
LOL.
Parting shot: Brothers, as you continue to succeed and grow, the number of haters you will have will also increase. That can be said everywhere, but in Black America the hatred is a special kind of venom. Stay away from viperous folks in Da Communitah - they want to infect you with their crap so you can remain down there with them, too. Keep working, keep striving, dream big and dare to be great!
MOA
ENDNOTES:
1. "MOA #91 On Top 100 Most SuperChatted YouTubers In The USA On Playboard for May, 2023": https://playboard.co/en/youtube-ranking/most-superchatted-all-channels-in-united-states-monthly?period=1682899200
2. I was going to post the links to their channels, but they don't deserve the free clout. Instead, I'll just simply say that there are two stompdown, careerist professional haters with YouTube channels who barely crack a "C" rating on SocialBlade, yet got the nerve to be talking smack about me? Negroes, please...
3. "425,000 full-time jobs contributed to the YouTube creator economy in 2021" https://www.tubefilter.com/2022/07/26/youtube-state-of-the-creator-economy-oxford-economics-study/
4. "Meet the workers who quit their jobs to become full-time YouTubers" https://www.fastcompany.com/90828284/meet-the-workers-who-quit-their-jobs-to-become-full-time-youtubers#:~:text=Molinaro%20was%20one%20of%20435%2C000,full%2Dtime%20during%20the%20pandemic.
5. "Black TikTokers say having millions of followers sometimes isn't enough to make a living. 3 creators describe how they're supporting their content ambitions with side gigs at restaurants, universities, and weddings.": https://www.businessinsider.com/black-tiktokers-influencers-millions-followers-side-gigs-monetization-challenges-2023-2
6. "How Much Do YouTubers Make?" https://financebuzz.com/how-much-youtubers-make
7. "Youtube Brand Deals": https://brandmentions.com/wiki/Youtube_Brand_Deals#:~:text=Other%20data%2C%20says%20that%20the,%243%2C000%20to%205%2C000%2B%20per%20video
8. "HOW MUCH DO BRAND DEALS PAY": https://www.zippia.com/answers/how-much-do-brand-deals-pay/
9. "The Lead Attorney's Live Streaming Course for YouTube": https://ytelementary.teachable.com/
10. "What Does It Take to Be a Full-Time YouTuber? (Realistic Numbers)" https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/what-does-take-full-time-youtuber-realistic-numbers-roberto-blake
IS IT BETTER TO BE SUCCESSFUL, OR TO BE LIKED? IN BLACK AMERICA, YOU CANNOT BE BOTH - SMH
Nov 10
Obsidian Talk Radio
1 comment
How are you doing today Obsidian. I have to applaud again for the work you have been doing.
I hadn’t had time to read through your whole writing today, but I see you are a little feisty about something today. Haters and critics will come as they always will. The real problem is the masses as it always was. Who do they believe. The masses have always been divided. We no longer have the heroes of yesterday. The new heroes are those of yourself and other certain men of the black manoshere. You brothers are just as important as those of yesteryear. It is the masses that don’t always see that. You will always have naysayers and critics. Who is more important is that you and the prominent messaging is get out to the mainstream. That means your work is just beginning now. It proves you are right. It doesn’t matter if everyone or someone like me who is a little different and don’t follow everything or like everything you say. If you were or are the leader i would be me pleasure to follow, because it is in the service of or black people. Like I often heard since I was a child “no man is an island, no man stands alone.”
Being successful in today’s society is very important. Reaching the very heights one can is a must today. I have to say that everyone will not achieve great goals. There is no society that exists were only elites dwell there. You do have to have those who are willing to do the grunt work. You could imagine men in suits, ties and one hundred dollar shoes down in the ditch shoveling mud. I do believe this society can exists by conquering and enslaving those to do that work. Here is were I believe the message gets a little distorted. I understand what you mean, but many of those from the bottom know it is an inevitable task. Just like the pookies who had/has devoted what they could to help see that someone good could make it out to become something better. In this ecosystem does have a way of some merits of good. Our current state of things has to change to continue. We have to get higher and better or this is all for nothing. You brothers are going a great job. Not all, but some. Others are too busy finding progress. This current system holds nothing for us. But seeks to destroy us.
I remember the quote by Thanos:
“You could not live with your own failure. Where did that bring you. Back to me. I thought by eliminating half of life the other half would thrive and you shown me it’s impossible. As long as there are those who remember what was, there will always be those who are unable to accept what can be. They will resist. I am thank, because now I know what I must do. I will shrewd this universe down to it’s last atom and with the stones you collected for me create a new one teaming with life that knows not what it has lost but what it’s been given. A grateful universe.” Captain America “born out of blood.” Thanos replies “they’ll never know it, because you won’t be alive to tell them. When I remember some of the ramblings after the Civil rights movement. Feminism is only one way they planned to devastate our community. You brothers are the answer. Please don’t stop. I am older, born in 1959 and like Moses I will not enter the promise land, but I will be here right beside you brothers as much as I can.
The young brothers need to stay in mental and physical training until the generations catch up. I never believed in let the children be children until they grow up, while the rest of the world has already been training their youth from the start. That gives them an unfair and great advantages. The Muslim brothers of my day always dressed well even in the hot weather. There like I said is a two-fold to your question. Laborers and those who don’t have the aptitude will weed themselves out. They will know even young whether they can keep up. Should they dress well “YES” as often as they can. No one should in a twenty-four hour day and working only eight out of twenty-four hour slump around like a bum. Elevate from a pookie status. Just as we tell the women they must set themselves apart from the Keshia thott girls. Young boys must separate themselves from the ratchet men to show a different identity. Just like the men can see a small portion of ladies can’t decipher good apples from bad. If we all dress like a casual street thug. It started at the late 70’s brothers in good portions watched drug dealers and bad boys get the girls. Every brother wanted an opportunity to get the best looking girls. The masquerade turned into what you see today. You are what you eat. You are what you think. If they dress better from young again like we were going to church (although we had hand-me-downs) from a relative is worked.
You are right in that regard. Every man, boy must begin to elevate himself. It will not only make them look good, but feel better, with more of a sense of pride. I believe it will also help them to strive for higher heights.
Sorry I am long winded and I never reach the ground.
The messaging has reached the media thanks to brothers like you, BGS, Kevin, older wiser brothers, Angryman, PHD’s etc. There also many of you good brothers now. You should form some kind of alliance and call on one another.
Malcolm X said in his
“The Ballot or the Bullet” speech
In fact, I think we’d be fooling ourselves if we had an audience this large, and didn’t realize that there were some enemies present.
“Just as the religious philosophy of these others is between them and the God in whom they believe. And this is best this way. Were we to come out here discussing religion? We’d have too many differences from the out start, and we could never get together. So, today? Though Islam is my religious philosophy, my political, economic, and social philosophy is Black Nationalism. As I say, if we bring up religion? We’ll have differences, we’ll have arguments, and we’ll never be able to get together. But if we keep our religion at home? Keep our religion in the closet, keep our religion between ourselves and our God? But when we come out here, we have a fight that’s common to all of us, against a enemy who is common to all of us.”
I bid you greater success in the future. You are truly one our great leaders.