Different people will have various ideas about what who counts as a small Twitch streamer. A millionaire rapper like T-Pain probably wouldn’t be the first on many people’s lists, but he clearly feels differently based on a funny rant about the struggles of being a small streamer on Twitch.
T-Pain complained about the size of his audience compared to popular streamers during a recent Twitch stream. When someone in the chat said that T-Pain wasn’t a small streamer, he snapped back by naming a number of streamers with several times his number of views.
“xQc just did 90k on a Just Chatting, and I’m not a small streamer?” he said, naming one of the most popular streamers on Twitch. He mentioned several other big names in the streaming world, such as Mizkif and TimTheTatman, who regularly pull in tens of thousands of viewers even at unusual hours. He specifically calls out the latter for raking in 38,000 views in the opening minutes of a 7:00 a.m. stream.
It might seem strange to hear an internationally famous rapper complain about the lack of attention, but to be fair streaming is only a small and relatively recent part of his career. Known for popularizing auto-tune, T-Pain arrived on the music scene in 2005 with his album Rappa Ternt Sanga. With two Grammys and several chart-topping hits, he’s certainly a celebrity, even if his Twitch numbers aren’t record-breaking.
T-Pain is an avid gamer and joined Twitch in 2014. His content includes music and gaming, and as of 2020 the rapper averages around 1,000 to 2,000 viewers per stream. While that’s a perfectly respectable number, it’s a far cry from the tens of thousands that popular streamers attract every day. Despite his global fame, T-Pain is still a small fish in the Twitch pond.
That said, one could easily argue it’s misleading to call T-Pain a “small streamer.” The rapper is still releasing albums, has a successful career as a music producer, and has made multiple TV appearances. He also has a net worth of about $10 million, and while that’s a lot less than he had at his peak, he’s still made more money in his career than many Twitch steamers ever will.
Even if 2,000 views mark him as a small streamer, he’s not in the same boat as a 19-year old gamer with no other claims to fame. He also maybe shouldn't sound so jealous of xQc, given the streamer's frequent suspensions. Whether you agree with it or not, his Twitch rant is definitely worth seeing.