After being affiliated with Miles Marks McCollum – known in the public realm as Lil Yachty – for a number of months, esports organisation FaZe Clan has officially made the rapper part of the team.
Officially going by FaZe Boat, the recording artist will be part of the entertainment arm of FaZe Clan instead of representing the brand on a competitive basis.
The move was made officially at the Rolling Loud music festival in Los Angeles, with Lil Yachty bringing out Ricky “Banks” Banks, Thomas “Temperrr” Oliveira, Alexander “Adapt” Hamilton, and other key members of the organisation.
On November 6th, 2017, Lil Yachty expressed his interest in joining FaZe Clan on Twitter – and while seemingly tongue in cheek – the organisation obliged. Since then, the rapper and members of FaZe Clan have kept in touch, and now things are official.
Lil Yachty isn’t the only celebrity who has shown an interest in FaZe Clan over recent months. NFL player JuJu Smith-Schuster has been associated with the team for quite some time, and they even teamed up to release collaborative merchandise.
Earlier this week, rapper Soulja Boy announced his intentions to start his very own esports organisation – citing streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins as both an inspiration and mentor. In October, Drake became an investor and co-owner of 100 Thieves, an organisation founded by former Call of Duty professional Matthew “Nadeshot” Haag.
Esports Insider says: It’s cool to see a prominent, popular figure from pop culture get involved with esports in any form, though admittedly it’s hard to see this move as anything other than a novelty PR stunt. If Yachty invests or gets involved with the content side of FaZe Clan, then we’ll happily stand corrected!