A day after Spotify went public with its intentions to fund an IPO, their curatorial team has taken a big hit with Tuma Basa exiting the company. Basa whose RapCaviar playlist has nearly 9 million followers, will be taking his talents elsewhere.
Spotify made the following statement regarding his impending departure:
"Tuma has been an incredible asset to the RapCaviar team, and we thank him for his contributions. The RapCaviar team, which is rapidly expanding with boots on the ground globally, is committed to building the brand and giving its users the best hip hop experience on the platform."
The nature of his departure has not been disclosed as of this writing. Basa has a long list of accomplishment in the music biz, having joined Spotify after a string of high profile directorial positions at Revolt, MTV, and BET. He is also credited with giving Cardi B and Desiigner their initial mainstream pushes via his genre-specific playlists. Hopefully this major cabinet shuffle doesn't negatively effect the steady stream of new artists finding their footing on Spotify.