So I donât have a lot of friends right now.Â
I moved for graduate school, and itâs been difficult making connections with people in a new space thatâs relatively small. So, in the time I have now that Iâm not going out, I find myself on YouTube, and for the past several months, Iâve become completely immersed in a community where I exist as a fly on the wall, just watching. It was during this time I found people I hadnât known about before, like Keemstar (Drama Alert), IDubbz, LeafyisHere, GradeAUnderA, Onision, and so many others. Iâve racked up enough Youtube views for a lifetime, and Iâm sort of embarrassed. I justify it with the excuse that Iâm a Communication student, and itâs a form of media. But anyways, let me get to the point.
I think I found the commentator genre right as it was getting popular. And around this time, I found Keemstar. I canât remember if I started watching Drama Alert during or immediately after the âKeemstar Exposedâ garbage that was proven to be false. It was sickeningly captivating at the time, watching these events unfold like a movie. And I think those watching (and Iâm embarrassed to include myself here) forgot that these were real people who were losing real friendships and going through real trauma. And I kept watching, following everyone on Twitter, going from video to video, trying to learn whatever I could.
And then one day, I actually decided to check out this podcast Keemstar kept Tweeting about, where he and these two guys Tommy C, and Colossal is Crazy talked about Youtube. I listened to the three episodes that had been uploaded to iTunes, and as soon as episode 3 ended, I was back on Twitter checking for any updates on episode 4.Â
I looked up Tommy C and Colossal is Crazy, two people Iâd never heard of before but had immediately dug their personalities. Baited! is perfect content for those who enjoy listening to other people having a discussion. Colossal is the intellectual, Keemstar is fueled by passion and personal insight, and Tommy is the bipartisan who isnât afraid to call someone on their shit (also that laugh). But it was more than that. While they could just fall into their stock roles, it came to my realization that these werenât characters. These were actual people discussing topics that mattered to them. Topics that directly affected their platform and livelihood.
Baited! is enjoyable because it isnât formulaic. Itâs raw. During episode 7, while discussing GradeAUnderA, it was so incredibly uncomfortable and real I nearly shut my phone off. It was like listening in on two acquaintances shouting right in front of you. Now, Iâm not saying these guys are my friends. I donât know them, I probably never will. But the intimacy between the podcasters and audience is hard to avoid. And because this podcast, at least for me, got me to understand how judging these people I donât even know, and thinking of them as characters is unfair. I canât hold someone who puts their life on Youtube and shows their real life to someone like Rick from The Walking Dead. One is a fictitious character and the other is a real person. Granted, there are fictitious characters on Youtube, but Iâm not talking about them. Iâm talking about âYoutube drama,â two words people are sick of hearing. But thatâs why Baited! is different. The topics they tackle are things that are able to transcend drama. Keem, Tommy, and Colossal donât just regurgitate whatâs already been said. They expand on the subject, providing three different perspectives. They offer the listener the opportunity to consider the ideas presented, build off of them, or completely reject them and create their own theories. I think thatâs pretty fucking cool.Â
And Iâm not trying to suck their dicks. I donât always agree with them. A lot of the time, I disagree with them. Earlier today, I disagreed with Keemstarâs assessment on Philip DeFranco. But that didnât mean I was going to attack him or tell him to die. I could see things from his perspective, but I saw things from my own. And the fact that I can keep coming back to listen to people whoâs thoughts donât align with my own must mean theyâre doing something right.Â
Look, maybe this is all one big formula. Maybe Keemstar, Tommy, and Colossal are nothing like they present themselves on Baited!, Twitter, and Youtube. Maybe Iâm a big idiot for thinking this deep into something that not many people will see or understand. But I think itâs important to recognize something when itâs really good and remark on its value. ColossalÂ
And maybe I shouldnât write shit while under the influence. My bad.
prguitarman
origamiaround
baratheonpilled
discoholicmusic
yousharknotpass
turnnoffyourmind
