It's not Rebecca Black's fault: Meet The Man Who Started the “Friday” Phenomenon

Rebecca Black's  all present "Friday" has been categorized 'The Most Terrible Song Ever' by many and is now officially the most "disliked" video on Internet. (With more than 1.2 million 'dislikes,' it wins over Justin Bieber's song 'Baby'). But these 1.3 million dislikes does not prevent the composer behind the song from speaking out. The fact is, that little 13 year old Rebecca Black actually doesn't have much to do with the "successful" song or video.

Patrice Wilson, the founder of Arrk Music Factory and the lousy random rapper in Rebecca's video, is the one responsible for this questionable phenomenon in a recent interview with the Los Angeles Times. While previously described as being "a kind of Suge Knight of the preteen schoolyard" and imputed of using young school-girls' dreams for his own financial benefit, in the Los Angeles Times article he's depicted as a "sad-eyed babyface" and "well-mannered, well-traveled, and well-educated."

Born in South Africa to a rich family, the young Wilson grew up singing in the church attended by his mother. After graduating medical school in Europe and even training in track-and-field events for the Sydney Olympic Games, he decided to pursue a career in music instead. He toured as a backup singer with Eastern European pop singer Ibrahim Maiga and studied "the business entertainment" at Whitman College in Washington University (which actually doesn't have a business department listed on its website), prior to, of course, moving to Hollywood.

Now Wilson heads up the Ark Music Factory, which charges kids between $2,000 and $4,000 to help them achieve their pop-star dreams. Ark's children get an original song, studio time, a photo shoot, image consulting, a music video, and promotion. Considering that major labels drop $10,000 to $15,000 on lower-end videos, Ark Music Factory's fees are kind of a great bargain. But the kids and their parents have to be dedicated body and soul to music, not the pursuit of celebrity, highlights Wilson. "I don't promise anyone celebrity. Actually, if someone approaches me with their only goal to 'get famous,' I tell them they're not in this for the right reasons."

However, it is infamy that Rebecca Black and her parents got for their money, although that's probably not what they ever expected. Since "Friday" became viral, even celebrities have been commenting on this online phenomenon; while Miley Cyrus told an Australian newspaper, "It should be harder to be an artist," Lady Gaga called Rebecca "a genius" while defending the tween singer during a Q&A last week. Conan O'Brien made his own parody video claiming "Friday" was a rip-off of his song "Thursday," and now Stephen Colbert is slated to perform the song this Friday on "Late Night With Jimmy Fallon."

Despite the enormous amount of negative feedback surrounding "Friday," Rebecca has certainly received amazing audience from the video. She performed her song on "The Tonight Show," gave an interview for "Good Morning America," peaked at number 19 on the iTunes charts, and is estimated to have made at least $20,000 from YouTube ads revenue and tens of thousands more from digital song sales. It seems that hatred is good for business and being the most hated singer proved to be no less profitable than being the most loved singer. 

In the beginning when "Friday" started to spike in audience, Wilson actually asked Rebecca and her mother if they wanted him to take the video down, he tells the L.A. Times.

"But they said 'no,' even though we knew it might mean a lot of attention and a lot of criticism online," he reveals. "And in the end, there was criticism, but Rebecca has been doing very well in managing it...And the truth is, if you look at the numbers...even though people say they hate the song...really, they love it."

Posted in: Celebrities