FaZe Rain interview: Staying private, going public, and returning to YouTube FaZe ClanWith FaZe Clan set to go public in 2022, we spoke with one of the org\u2019s owners who has remained relatively private this year: FaZe Rain. From the moves he\u2019s been making in silence, to his and the org\u2019s future, here\u2019s what he had to say. Nordan \u2018Rain\u2019 Shat joined FaZe in September 2012, becoming just one of 10 co-owners and earning 10-plus million followers in the process. Now, on his 10th year anniversary with the org, FaZe will go from the Super Bowl to Wall Street. As the first member to post daily vlogs on YouTube, the past few years have been a departure from the norm for Rain. He hasn\u2019t posted on YouTube since May 2021 and has been, by his standards, fairly quiet on social media. So, in this unprecedented time for his soon-to-be public company, we asked Rain where he\u2019s been, his perspective on FaZe\u2019s growth, and what fans should expect moving forward. Catching up with Rain First things first: Yes, Rain hasn\u2019t been streaming, but he\u2019s still gaming. The former CoD trickshotter is enjoying \u201clots of Warzone\u201d and, despite having zero football background, has randomly gotten into Madden. Completing the trifecta, he\u2019s also dropped back into Fortnite thanks to the no-building update. As far as music, Rain\u2019s \u201cbeen f**king with Yeat.\u201d And, as far as a FaZe member who he\u2019s been proud of or most impressed by this past year, \u201cApex. Always Apex.\u201d The question on everyone\u2019s mind, though, is where FaZe Rain has been and what he\u2019s been up to in the time since his last video. In response, Rain was candid: \u201cObviously, I\u2019ve been hurt. I haven\u2019t been feeling like making YouTube videos and all that. It\u2019s been mostly focused on my recovery, working on the backend of FaZe, more on the business side. Mostly backend stuff and a few of my other side businesses that I\u2019ve been working on.\u201d When speaking with FaZe, they told us that Rain played an \u201cintegral role\u201d in the org\u2019s signing of DJ and producer Kaysan. Compared to his original content days, such backend operations could feel like a very different style of work. Rain says the experience has been a hectic, but positive one: \u201cIt\u2019s good, there\u2019s a lot going on. Every department has its ups and downs, but it\u2019s good overall and we all have very high hopes for FaZe, so we are all working at it.\u201d FaZe\u2019s growth: Going public & coming full circle As mentioned, this has, and continues to be, a massive year for FaZe. Looking back, a key highlight was Snoop Dogg surprising fans by wearing a FaZe chain during the Super Bowl LVI halftime show in February. That moment wasn\u2019t lost on Rain, who called it \u201cpretty crazy.\u201d Continuing, the co-owner noted that Snoop \u201conly had his Death Row chain on and the FaZe chain on. So for him to put a FaZe chain on, while he\u2019s showing love to Death Row \u2013 which he just acquired \u2013 it was obviously a huge deal for FaZe clan. And, of course during the Super Bowl, one of the biggest stages in the world.\u201d At the time, the public didn\u2019t know that Snoop\u2019s chain was a precursor to even bigger news: The 17-time Grammy-nominated artist joining FaZe\u2019s Board of Directors. The org officially revealed their full board on March 22. As I got ready to ask about another entertainment figure on the team, Rain interrupted: \u201cGotta be Stephanie McMahon. That\u2019s who you are about to bring up, right?\u201d With my mind successfully read, I confirmed that the WWE\u2019s McMahon was the next line of questioning. Unlike Snoop, we had no idea she was going to be joining the organization and, apparently, her addition means a lot to Rain. \u201cOne of my biggest passions as a kid was the WWE \u2026 The first job I ever wanted to be was a wrestler for the WWE. I loved it. So to see it come full circle and see me not really work with the WWE the way I thought I was as a kid, but still have someone like Stephanie McMahon be a part of FaZe Clan\u2019s Board of Directors and maybe help us pivot into the WWE in some way, shape or form, we can do something together, that\u2019s honestly a dream come true for my child self. For me and Apex both, because we were both that level of fan of the WWE. Jeff Hardy all day.\u201d Aside from the Board announcement being a full-circle moment for Rain, it\u2019s also a key step in FaZe\u2019s history. The co-owner described what this process of becoming a publicly traded company has felt like for someone who\u2019s been in the org for so long. \u201cIt obviously shows what we\u2019ve done with FaZe and it shows that we\u2019re capable of doing something as large as going public. And it\u2019s just a huge moment for the gaming community entirely. I hope even people that may see us as competitors still realize how big this is just for the gaming community. Period.\u201d The return of FaZe Rain While FaZe are looking to reach the NASDAQ, Rain now seems ready for a return to YouTube. Asked if he intends to start putting out content again, he was quick on the draw: \u201cAbsolutely.\u201d \u201cThe closer I get to my recovery, which is now actually, I\u2019m gonna definitely make a video probably in the next couple weeks as an update video and then just keep going from there. I\u2019ve honestly just been losing my identity I feel like, not making content and stuff like that. I did that for half my life, so I gotta continue to keep doing that, but in an evolved way for what my life needs now.\u201d For someone who\u2019s created so much content for so long, moving away from that side of the business can feel foreign. In some ways, creating new space in one\u2019s lifestyle can bring perspective to your identity, and Rain reflected on how this break from content has impacted him. \u201cIt\u2019s just been an up-and-down thing because, you know, that was such a huge part of me as a person and sometimes without it I feel a little bit lost. So I just kind of gotta get back into that and find this new version of me with the old version of me and just mix it together.\u201d Just as this break from content has affected Rain, it\u2019s surely been different for the fans who were accustomed to daily interaction with the content creator. What\u2019s perhaps been most heartwarming to see from his community, through these past few years, is just how supportive they\u2019ve been \u2013 regardless of content schedule. To finish, Rain shared a message for his fans. \u201cTo be honest, I was gonna pour my heart out to them in my video. But, of course, them being\u2026\u201d As if struck by a trail of thoughts he\u2019d like to save for another day, Rain stopped himself for a moment, recollected, and continued. \u201cA lot of people that I thought were there in my life weren\u2019t there for me during my hardest time the last couple of years and just to know that every single one of my fans was still there for me, still rooting for me every single day, and still having my back through it all no matter what it looked like. It\u2019s just. It\u2019s deeper than words can explain. It\u2019s been such a warm feeling and I have just an eternal gratitude for my fans. Forever. For real.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
FaZe Rain interview: Staying private, going public, and returning to YouTube FaZe ClanWith FaZe Clan set to go public in 2022, we spoke with one of the org\u2019s owners who has remained relatively private this year: FaZe Rain. From the moves he\u2019s been making in silence, to his and the org\u2019s future, here\u2019s what he […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-48613","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48613","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=48613"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/48613\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=48613"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=48613"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dejan.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=48613"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}