Charly Black Camp Refutes Accusations Of ‘Buying Views’ For ‘Sidung’

Dancehall artiste Charly Black and his camp are refuting claims made by some fans that they ‘bought views’ for the official music video for Sidung, which was released three weeks ago and has since racked up 14 million views on YouTube.

The three-minute video features sexy, voluptuous women performing in various positions, and is shot in an exotic location showcasing Jamaica’s natural beauty. The song is premised on Black’s sexual prowess and suggests that he is, in fact, the ‘Joe Grind’ in the female protagonist’s life as he alludes to their “secret” activities.

Black has been celebrating the success of the song, posting four days ago on Instagram that the video had then racked up 11 million views, but several fans have questioned the numbers, including one who claimed: “him buy views are you people blind.”

The poster continued, “bro people can buy views and subscribers on YouTube if your no know [sic] that something wrong with you. Charly no get a million views in 2 year with multiple videos  and audios and this song trend 48 on YouTube for 5 days a drop off …if views did real the song would get more likes and it would be number one on trending as we speak.”

Black responding to the comment under his post said, “Breda a people like him run up the views so let them talk all they want. I’ve never done that shit in my entire career and I rather go back to being a dj before I buy views,” he posted with laughing emojis.

In an invited comment, his Producer, Jermaine Henry, more popularly known as DJ Crawba Genius, told DancehallMag that the artiste did not buy views. “That a crazy money to spend for views…the Deejay have money but not that kinda money and to spend for that especially,” Henry said while laughing.

He added that, especially now in a pandemic with Coronavirus ravaging parts of the world and slowly destroying economies, it would make no sense to spend money to increase the views of the artiste’s music.

When asked what could be the reason for the artiste’s sudden popularity, the producer noted that the video concept and content is one reason which draws in the viewers, as he has a large following in Jamaica who may be playing the song on repeat.

Henry also said that the team has been doing heavy marketing of the song and that some persons might be unaware that their target markets are mainly Latin America, Africa, Indonesia, and Oman – the last place the artiste performed before the virus hit.

Charly Black’s songs, according to the producer, have been number one in these places, and he has a large fan base spinning off of his international fame with the song Gyal You A Party Animal released in 2014 that has 177 million views on YouTube. The song itself streamed well internationally, peaking at the number 18th position in 2016 and spent 20 weeks on the Billboard Reggae Digital Sales chart, a notable feat for any Dancehall song.

Gyal You A Party Animal is a certified diamond in Latin America and is certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for selling at least 500,000 copies.

The One In A Million artiste continues to celebrate the success of Sidung which has outperformed his compatriots like Vybz Kartel, whose bestselling single Cute Rider from his latest album Of Dons & Divas released a month ago has barely racked up a few million views on YouTube, while Grammy winner Koffee’s Lockdown released two weeks ago has racked up 6.3million views.

Meanwhile, Kranium’s song of the same name and similar concept has amassed 10 million views since it was released a year ago with tamer visuals than Charly’s Sidung.

Black’s second most popular song on YouTube is Whine and Kotch, featuring the late J Capri with 58 million views.

The Trelawny native, whose real name is Desmond Méndez, has collaborated with many artistes outside of the reggae and dancehall fora.

In 2016, he ventured into the Latin America Market with Pa Que Me Invitan, a collaboration with American Latin Pop star Jencarlos Canela which has racked up 37 million views on YouTube.

Black’s collab with American R&B singer Ne-Yo, titled Over Again which was released in March 2020, has 280,000 views on YouTube.