As I dashed through the tunnels of MVP Arena in Albany, the music coming out of the bass-heavy speakers was drowned out by deafening screams and stray cries of “Oh my god!” When I reached the center of the arena, I elbowed my way past heavily armored security guards who were getting run over like tackling dummies at the NFL combine by hordes of teenagers—a lot of bedazzled sweatsuits and True Religion jeans and the occasional shiesty—hopping the barricades of the stands to get a closer view.
Blinded by the combination of LED lights and the flash of iPhone photos, I looked up to the rafters where conference championships for the mid-major basketball program Siena College hung until my eyes adjusted to the brightness. Then, straight ahead on stage, I finally saw what was causing the commotion: New York City Twitch streamer Tylil James (aka TheTylilShow) reenacting his viral bunny hop dance to a Jersey club remix of Kanye West’s “Violent Crimes.”
“Tylil is doing his old dance!” announced one kid in an Ed Hardy zip-up to his boy. The enthusiasm was contagious. Along with about 20 girls costumed like the East Compton Clovers cheerleading squad from Bring It On and a big-ass, loose-limbed clover mascot, Tylil of the Clover Boys—a streaming clique in the orbit of Kai Cenat, inescapable to anyone who has had their social media algorithms conquered by clipfarming accounts—also whipped out his latest dance trend: a clap and sway number set to Thirteendegrees °’s “Da Problem Solva,” the unofficial theme song of the night. I’m not convinced anyone in the building knew it as anything other than the Tylil dance song.
Lately, the trend among major streamers and YouTubers seems to be finding a way to redirect their massive online fanbases to more traditional kinds of fame, like Beast Games, Mr. Beast’s Amazon reality show, or Kai Cenat’s rebrand from loudmouthed jokester to luxury designer (“Who believes in journey” is the tagline for his soon-to-be launched fashion brand Vivet, inspired by his excursions at clothing factories in Italy).
That also appears to be the thinking behind Clover Fest, a music showcase headlined by Meek Mill, JT, and DaBaby, and thrown by the Clover Boys. It’s a sort of test run to see if the close ties between the streaming universe and mainstream hip-hop could be turned into an experience that people would pay real money for. I made it my mission to be at the inaugural event to see if the fest could be more than a money-making playground for content creation, with a transactional relationship to rap music.
