Troy Kingston: Fighting for real New Yorkers with his viral videos

In less than a year of making content, Brooklyn native Troy Kingston has already amassed a large following and garnered views for his videos highlighting issues that Black and Brown New Yorkers face, including housing affordability, gentrification, and displacement.

“It feels a little surreal. I never thought people would care so much about what I had to say,” Kingston, 24, said. Kingston goes by the name Scourge Bliss on Instagram, where he has more than 32,000 followers, and on TikTok, with almost 20,000 followers.

Kingston is intent on raising awareness of the real struggles of forgotten New Yorkers, namely Black and Brown residents.

“Everybody’s so caught up with work that there are people who don’t even know what’s going on in their neighborhood. They would have no idea,” Kingston said.

In one of his most viral videos on TikTok, Kingston highlighted his personal connection to gentrification and displacement, focusing on how the block and neighborhood where he grew up on Malcolm X Blvd. in Bed-Stuy was no longer recognizable.

“Nobody I know from this block actually still lives here anymore,” Kingston said in the video. He also shared his story of his grandmother being evicted from their three-bedroom family home after a new owner purchased the building and sought to renovate the apartment.

His following has grown to the point where he was able to interview Mayor Mamdani in April, something only a select few influencers have had the opportunity to do. The interview came after one of his prominent videos highlighted the alleged deed theft battle over the Charrington family brownstone at 212 Jefferson Avenue in Bed-Stuy. He credits the mayor’s office for making the mayor accessible to content creators like himself and, in his eyes, being transparent.

It has also resulted in Kingston being honored at the Spill It Entertainment Back to the Block Community Day celebration at Reinaldo Salgado Playground on Saturday, Sept. 19.

His videos have even helped land him professional opportunities, including his current position as a property manager, where he is able to assist with matters related to housing. Most recently, he also moved into his new rent-stabilized apartment, which he describes as “spacious,” after sharing his struggle in searching for a place for a long period.

Raised in Bed-Stuy, Kingston said he wasn’t very popular and remained introverted, but always had a love for writing. “I’ve always wanted to kind of get my voice out about things. I just didn’t know how to go about it,” Kingston said.

As a young adult, he found himself struggling with work and finding housing, and began working as a concierge in a major high-rise in midtown, a position he does not miss at all. “I hated working as a concierge. It was genuinely just not a good work-life balance.” However, he said that experience did expose him to the wealth disparity in the city.

Sharing conversations with wealthy residents showed Kingston how out of touch they were with the culture of “real New Yorkers,” from complaining about noise to thinking that Manhattan was the only borough to live in. He also discovered that these residents often didn’t live in the city and treated their condo as a vacation home.

“You have these multi-million-dollar condos that nobody lives in, and they’re just sitting vacant … but the city is telling us we don’t have enough housing when there’s clearly housing that exists,” Kingston noted. Issues like this inspired him to start writing and making videos.

Kingston made one of his first videos in October 2025, about the issues that regular New Yorkers have with Housing Connect.

He went on to make videos visiting locations across the city, highlighting topics like tenant rights, substandard living conditions, new developments, and alleged deed theft cases in Brooklyn, Harlem, and Washington Heights. He said he is not afraid to add his opinion, since he is not a journalist and not required to be objective.

Kingston said he has seen how his videos have a positive ripple effect and have the power to make change, including telling the story of one woman who was dealing with asbestos in her NYCHA apartment, which was swiftly taken care of soon after his video was posted.

“I feel like my platform has grown to be a voice for the little guy and the New Yorkers who don’t have a voice — the New Yorkers who have issues that nobody will talk to them about,” Kingston said.

Kingston is proud of the influence his viral deed theft video may have had in the response to deed theft from the city, with the creation of the Office of Deed Theft, although he noted that Councilmember Chi Osse had been highlighting the issue before him. “It felt like a domino effect where I felt like, ‘Damn, I don’t know what would have happened if I never would have gone there and made that video,’” Kingston said.

He has been working in his new position at TKR Property Management for four months and said that while it is a lot of work, he has a much better balance and is no longer stressed as at his previous job. The role is now giving him background about housing and real estate work.

Kingston said he smiled when he got the email about being honored for his dedication to the community at the upcoming September 19 event. “People genuinely appreciate the stuff that I do,” he said. “To even get thought about … it just shows that real recognizes real.

“I think my videos connect because I’m talking for New Yorkers,” he said. “A lot of New Yorkers were probably in the same space that I was in, a bad financial position … frustrated where they felt like they were fighting an uphill battle, that the city caters more toward transplants, that there is no help for the average New Yorker …”

Kingston said he wants to become a content creator full-time and continue making a greater impact on New Yorkers facing these hardships, including possibly working on a program with city officials and helping residents get housing and employment opportunities, as well as streaming. He would use it not for gaming, but for raising awareness and supporting smaller businesses in Bed-Stuy and beyond.

“Every day, I see it as a blessing,” Kingston said about his success. “It gives me hope that as long as I keep the pressure going, I can see the change that I want to see in my neighborhood.”