This question stems from the platinum certification that was given to American rapper YMW Melly for his 2017 single ‘Murder on my mind’ on March 6.
Despite being arrested and charged on February 14 for the double murder of two members of his own YNW crew last October in South Florida, Melly’s single hit gold on January 10 and then hit platinum on March 6. Not only that, many of his fans are campaigning on social media for his release.
Before Melly’s arrest, he amassed no more than 500,000 views on YouTube. After his arrest, he amassed over 3,000,000 views.
Melly is not the only artiste who has received more recognition since his incarceration. Tekashi 6ix9ine is another rapper whose sales have skyrocketed since his arrest. His ‘Dummy boy’ album debuted at number 2 on the Billboard Charts at the time of its release on November 27, 2018. This sparked contention on the Internet last December as 6ix9ine’s fans argued that his album was the best selling, contrary to BillBoard’s Hip Hop charts which recorded Travis Scott’s ‘Astro World’ as the number 1 Hip Hop album at that time.
On November 18, 6ix9ine was arrested by Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives and Homeland Security agents on six counts of various racketeering, firearms, assault with a dangerous weapon and conspiracy murder charges. On November 26, he pleaded not guilty to the charges and will face trial in September 2019