Where is he from?
4batz, whose legal name is Neko Bennett, hails from Dallas, Texas—or, at least that’s where he’s at now. His official Twitter and SoundCloud accounts list the city as his place of residence. In the video of his From the Block performance for “Act II: Date @ 8,” you can see the street sign “Strawberry TR 6500,” which a quick Google search tells us belongs to a Dallas community.
What songs blew him up?
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4batz’s level up feels sudden—and it mostly is—but it’s played out in a couple of stages. Last October, he uploaded a video for “Act I: Stickerz ‘99’” to his YouTube channel, and the video has since collected over 700,000 views. Of course, this one didn’t include any shocking aesthetic contrasts, so it didn’t take off the way subsequent releases would. We’ll get back to that one a bit later. The next phase of his glow-up came with his first of two From the Block performances. For this one, he pulled out the balaclava. Next up, of course, was the From the Block showcase for “Act II: Date @ 8,” which sees him perform with a crew ripped straight from a Lil Baby video.
Who does he sound like?
Sonically, 4batz is something like a Venn diagram of The-Dream and a pitched-up Brent Faiyaz. It’s a gentle, atmospheric, and yearning brand of alt-R&B that doesn’t attempt to be toxic in its content. But then again, he’s only released two songs, so we’ll learn more about his range soon.
How did he take off?
4batz has an undoubtedly distinct sound, but just as importantly, his From the Block performances, with their combination of trench visuals and whispery R&B, are so surprising that they feel genetically engineered for virality. For at least the last year, TikToks with typical rap video setups and neon-shaded pop soundtracks have flooded the internet, with the hilarious discordance making them all ripe for reposting. It’s unclear whether 4batz was going for the same effect, but it’s an inherently surprising audio-visual alignment that gets people talking. Streamers like Fanum are posting reactions to his videos, which themselves are posted onto TikTok by users that are just as shocked as everyone else. Videos like these become fodder for group chats, YouTube reaction videos, and quote-tweets. They’re self-sustaining machines that keep conversations going—and 4batz is at the center of them.
What are other artists saying?
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Thus far, the world of hip-hop and R&B has been very receptive to 4batz. Earlier this month, 4batz posted a video to his Instagram account of himself FaceTiming Kanye West, with Timbaland and Ty Dolla $ign leaving comments of support on the post. SZA left her own compliment on an IG clip of 4batz’s second From the Block performance, writing, “Too hard” in a comment. For his part, Timbaland posted a reaction video of himself listening to “Act II: Date @ 8” on social media, and by the end of the clip, he’s saying Drake should work with the young creator. In his own apparent endorsement, the 6ix God himself liked a SayCheeseTV Instagram reposting of the clip.
Just how big is he?
Trends come and go, but talent usually sticks around for a while. As it stands, 4batz appears to be a combination of those elements, with his airy tone and a striking visual both playing a role in his sudden rise to fame. His first and only two singles have been streamed more than a combined 27 million times on Spotify. From December to now, his monthly Spotify stream count has jumped from the 400,000s to over 3.6 million. Plus, earlier this week, “Act II: Date @ 8” debuted at No. 77 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and multiple TikToks featuring his music have been viewed millions of times.
