As government threatens TikTok shutdown, the music industry holds its breath
Superstar Pride was in his bed at 2 a.m. one morning, writing the words to what would become the Mississippi rapper's breakthrough hit, "Painting Pictures." He knew it was special by the time it left his pen, and quickly uploaded it to YouTube and Audiomack to watch the song spread.
He was happy with its initial surge, but it wasn't until he uploaded the track universally through United Masters that he was able to start posting it on the short-form video app TikTok, which raised its reach exponentially.
"TikTok was the last platform I had to conquer," he said.
Pride uploaded a snippet of him rapping along to "Painting Pictures" in February, sporting his inventive "shag" haircut that was short on top and long in the back. The video racked up millions of views, while scores of user-generated rapping the lyrics "and
