Diplo Removes ‘Bankroll’ Featuring Justin Bieber Off Of SoundCloud
Diplo’s latest single featuring Justin Bieber, Young Thug and Rich The Kid had the potential to be one of that year’s biggest releases. Unfortunately, the single “Bankroll” fell short and everybody knew it. After Diplo retweeted an onslaught of negative tweets directed at the track, he decided to pull it from SoundCloud altogether.
At the time, it wasn’t clear why Diplo removed the track. It may have been that he wanted to polish it up before release, or maybe he wanted it to drop exclusively on Spotify and Apple Music. Whatever the case, it was one less piece of music floating around online. Better luck next time, Diplo.
This is the worst thing I've ever heard, @diplo @justinbieber @youngthug @richthekid and everyone else who was involved https://t.co/wKFsi0chWu
— Greg Burmeister (@GregBurmeister) May 12, 2017
@diplo you , JB , Young thug , Rich the kid , lol WORST SONG OF THE YEAR SQUAD RIGHT HERE
— Ryad (@iamTekali) May 11, 2017
So What Actually Happened to “Bankroll”?
The song didn’t stay buried for long. Just days after Diplo yanked it, “Bankroll” quietly resurfaced online in a reworked form, according to Billboard. This time around, Bieber’s verse was gone entirely, and the track was instead credited to Diplo, Young Thug, Rich The Kid and Rich Chigga, who’s since become far better known under his current name, Rich Brian. It’s not totally clear whether Bieber’s camp asked to be pulled or if Diplo just decided a clean restart was the move, but either way, the version without Bieber never turned into one of Diplo’s signature hits.
Looking back, the whole saga is a pretty early example of a superstar producer reacting to instant fan backlash by yanking a song straight off the internet rather than letting it ride out the discourse, long before that kind of quick pivot became a totally normal move in the streaming era. Diplo went on to have plenty of bigger records in the years that followed, from more Major Lazer anthems to his ongoing run of collaborations across pop, dance and hip hop, but “Bankroll” remains a small, weird footnote in his massive catalog. It’s proof that even hitmakers whiff sometimes, and that the internet will absolutely let you know about it in real time, retweets and all.
