Musician Shares Personal Phone Number With Fans, Gets Nasty Surprise In Mail

We’re always excited to see bands and artists find novel ways to engage with fans, and even more so when those bands and artists actually manage to forge a real, personal connection with their fans.

In this day and age, it’s become marketing 101, with everyone from Taylor Swift, to small indie bands taking to social media to communicate directly with the people who buy their music and see their shows.

Of course, it’s important to remember to think before you engage. This is an important piece of advice that US rapper Hopsin failed to grasp when he shared his personal phone number on social media and asked fans to call and text him.

Hopsin even promised fans that if they get in touch, he would hit them back and he delivered on the promise, answering calls and texting his fans back. The idea was fundamentally good-hearted, generous, and original.

However, it wasn’t exactly well thought-out. According to a recent post to the emcee’s Facebook page, his latest stunt has stung him in the bank account to the tune of $6,000, a hefty sum for an up-and-coming rapper.

“Man U gotta be fuckin kidding me! Holy fuck, MY PHONE BILL IS 6 thousand fuckin dollars!! What the FUCK was i thinking. Kill me now,” Hopsin wrote on Facebook beside a screenshot of a phone bill that indeed totalled $6,000.

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Funk Volume, Hopsin’s label, also shared the screenshot, writing, “Giving Hopsin a phone number for his fans was GOOD and BAD. The BAD was that our phone bill was over $6,000 for 3 days of usage!!! smdh The GOOD is that close to 400K people texted and 400K people called.”

According to Funk Volume, they’re going to launch a crowdfunding campaign to help Hopsin pay his phone bill, though we doubt it’ll generate much interest. People have enough trouble paying their own phone bills, let alone a rapper’s.

While Hopsin has been known to make outlandish claims in the name of publicity (he previously told fans that he was quitting hip-hop to move to Australia), if this phone bill is legit, it’ll serve as a warning to viral marketers everywhere.

If you’re interested in helping Hopsin rack up some more international roaming fees, you can add your number and personal details to the rapper’s phonebook right here.

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