The release of Kanye West's "Real Friends" was a great moment for everyone, but it was especially important for one person in particular -- and it wasn't Ye.
If you listened to West's new track all the way through on SoundCloud, the services "autoplay" function would have directed you to another "recommended" track. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who regularly uses SC, but the interesting part is, the song that played next had only 5,000 listens up until that point.
Pigeons and Planes caught up with Rory Fresco, the 18-year-old Kansas City rapper whose track, "Lowkey," was the song users heard after Ye's "Real Friends," causing it to jump from 5k to 168k plays within 24 hours -- all thanks to SoundCloud's algorithm. Judging from the many comments on the track, people are definitely feeling it.
“I have no idea how this happened,” Fresco told PnP. “It was random. Had no idea it would grow to this... I’m a huge fan of Kanye and also Cudi… I’m inspired."
"Lowkey" has now fallen into the third position in the playlist that begins with "Real Friends," but he's still getting regular plays. Could he be the first artist to get a major break off a SoundCloud placement? We'll have to wait and see.
Listen to the track below. Listen to "Real Friends" here.