IShowSpeed is Actually Good at Music

By Robbie Lloyd Howard IV

Rap Journalist

With the birth of YouTube, many content creators have flourished, delving into diverse subjects such as gaming, storytelling and livestreaming. Making content tests a YouTuber’s creativity, and sometimes, they have to start creating unique content for their fans to enjoy.

Houston Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud said, “Football players want to be basketball players, basketball players want to be football players, and we all want to be baseball players.” And I feel like that same quote could be used to compare how often content creators start making music. Usually, I don’t like it when YouTubers do this because the music is typically not good, but there have been exceptions.

Darren Jason Watkins Jr., who is mostly known by his online alias IShowSpeed, is one of those exceptions. IShowSpeed started making gaming content and livestreaming in 2017, where he would post gaming content on YouTube. It wouldn’t be until 2021 that his channel saw a massive increase in viewership, becoming “one of the biggest and fastest-rising streamers” on YouTube, according to Kotaku.

IShowSpeed would see the start of his music career in August 2021 with the release of “Dooty Booty,” which caught me by surprise at how decent the song actually was, and then a couple of months later in November, he would release another single named “Shake” that would completely blow up with a staggering 203 million views on the video as of March 2024. In November 2022, IShowSpeed released “World Cup” for the 2022 World Cup at the time, which saw a massive audience worldwide. IShowSpeed would then drop a couple singles here and there, but it was clear his focus was on livestreaming and gaming content.

He then started posting a lot of Brazil content in February 2024 on his YouTube channel. It would be on this trip where we would meet fellow rapper and producer JPEGMAFIA at a restaurant. The irony of that meetup is striking, as many often note that when IShowSpeed livestreams and becomes enraged, his vocal delivery is strikingly similar to JPEGMAFIA.

It would then be on March 24, 2024, he would release his Trip 2 Brazil EP. At first, I was skeptical about the EP, but after seeing some memes praising its quality, I had to check it out and to my surprise, it turned out to be good. This EP was in the Brazilian hip-hop genre, hence the EP’s title, works out so much, especially with a rapper like IShowSpeed. Songs like “Trip 2 Brazil,” “Monkey,” “Porradao” and “Seven” are a fast-paced Brazilian styled hip-hop tracks, which are my favorite songs from the EP. I really liked how the instrumentals on the songs and its production were and how IShowSpeed’s delivery matched the instrumentals. I would recommend checking this EP out if you are looking for new music.

Overall, IShowSpeed’s journey from gaming content creator to rapper highlights his versatility and talent. While his primary focus remains on YouTube livestreams and gaming, his music career should not go unrecognized. Whether you are a fan of gaming content or seeking new music, IShowSpeed’s content is certainly worth exploring across various platforms.