its a little different today though. dudes are being created from scratch with fake followers, fake views, fake comments, fake lean addictions, fake "type" beats, etc...
payola has always existed but it's on an egregious level today. not saying there havent been kids who have legit blew up on their own through sc/youtube, and shout out to them because thats awesome... but fukk all of these johnny come lately biters with their contrived, lowest common denominator bullshyt .
internet plants is akin to insider trading with the stock market. it fukks the whole game up for normal people who want to play. because for a while...and still to a small degree today...the possibilities for ANYONE are endless with the internet. but this influx of copycat plants isnt good for anybody...not even the plants themselves after the game spits them out. there are only so many spots on L&HH...eventually the face tatts have to come off and jobs need to be found, while the regular fan/listener gets stuck with years of disposable music with no replay value