(ThyBlackMan.com) Last week, the hip-hop world saw a discussion about media’s role in the industry. By media, I’m talking about platforms that are more in the vein of DJ Vlad and the topic of discussion DJ Akademiks.
I took the time to rewatch their Clubhouse discussion, look at the reports and recaps, and check out people’s views on this on social media and blogs. Most of it I didn’t agree with but we’ll get to that. Let’s go back to the discussion first.
The Meek Mill-DJ Akademiks Discussion
Akademiks had just joined the new Clubhouse social media platform and would find himself going back and forth with rapper Meek Mill.
The two have beef stemming from Akademiks’ coverage of Meek’s feud with Drake several years ago as well as the media personality not posting his album…after he was told by Meek not to cover him. Contradictory but moving on.
Initially, this Clubhouse room was meant to welcome Ak to the platform by 21 Savage. After Meek joined in, things were moved to a second room where the discussion occurred.
Now, listening to it in full, things floated between a really heated debate and a trial. 21 Savage served as mediator between the two. As others have noted, he did a good job at keeping the discussion on the rails.
I will say that some points were kind of rushed through and there were times when either DJ Akademiks was talked over by others in attendance or simply didn’t get his point in. After all, he’s someone who deals in concrete facts and the room had people who either didn’t care for Ak’s brand and platform or who were Team Meek.
Ak knows the timeline of events and has the information to show that the emperor has no clothes. He reported on every milestone and developments. However, much like wrestling legend “Rowdy” Roddy Piper said: “Just when you think you have all the answers, I change the questions!”
As a result, Ak didn’t get his footing until he had to defend himself and his brand. This is where we get to “Akademiks has always been problematic.”
The debate didn’t really resolve anything. Ak will continue to do what brought him to the dance, he’s still on sour terms with Meek Mill, and people will continue to be on both sides about his platform.
Stating His Case
It was acknowledged that Ak put several of the current wave of artists on. When platforms weren’t interested in covering a lot of these guys, were focused more on popular artists, and/or were busy trying to push sounds that weren’t hitting it commercially, DJ Akademiks used his platform to present a number of them.
He’s said so himself that the “Lil artists” such as Lil Uzi Vert, Lil Yachty, and so on helped grow his brand and in exchange, they got a spotlight on them at a time when old heads were still texting “real hip hop” and asking for it to come back home.
When things shifted from Meek, it was more about how they felt that Ak’s platform was detrimental to hip hop and young Black men in Chicago. Years earlier, he hosted a series of videos called “The War in Chiraq” where he detailed crimes and murders in Chicago in a satirical manner.
The videos took a satirical approach—pretty much mixing The Daily Show with Narcoblog. He took the approach of not mocking innocent victims but pointed out the absurdity of the situations leading to the murder from the perspective of someone not from that life.
The Issue with DJ Akademiks
It was the way it was covered that didn’t sit well with some. The discussion became about he was using his platform and how it mainly posted negativity. 21 Savage was the level one, acknowledging that those in the streets bare some responsibility.
The belief is that with the reach of his platform and those in the trenches following the videos. From there those involved with that lifestyle will retaliate for a death or damage to their reputation in the city.
In reality, the killings were going on before Ak started, continued after he stopped, and would’ve continued whether he was covering them or not. Hell, he wouldn’t have anything to cover if the murders weren’t so constant to begin with.
Of course, that’s a whole winding dive into why crime is out of the control and what drives young Black men to do gang life. What makes them stick to a code that ups the chance of more people dying and some people never getting closure.
You know, stuff that has been discussed ever since there’s been drugs and guns in the community and gang violence.
Everything’s Already Out There
He’s not digging this information up or asking rivals for dirt. All of it is public knowledge since people are either posting stuff on social media, police records are available, and of course the local news covers parts of it. In those videos he didn’t add anything other than commentary.
When Narcoblog reported on cartel murders, the murders didn’t spike as a result of the coverage. Events set in motion escalated things. It’s pessimistic to say but the end result would be the same regardless.
When news outlets in the West report on conflicts and wars in the Middle East, that didn’t escalate the violence. That snowball had long since rolled down the hill. His platform has been likened to TMZ.
When TMZ reports that a celebrity cheated on another, the cheater doesn’t say “I’m going to cheat even harder” and the one cheated on doesn’t go “I’m going to move into another toxic relationship and continue my train of bad relationship choices.”
Ak and these outlets don’t have control over people’s pride and decisions. We’re already at the point where he “instigates” situations—which torpedoes the point that his platform is insignificant in a twisted way. And that’s just doubling it when famous musicians all showed up to address or listen in on the Ak-Meek discussion.
These outlets—including DJ Akademiks—shine light on events. Can it be inflammatory? Yes, most of media is inflammatory, that’s how some outlets keep reporting interesting. Without it, most would just go “And the sky is blue” because we’re used to seeing it or hearing about it.
Desensitization happens rapidly nowadays—especially in America where violence is the business of the day. It would be great if all these outlets didn’t focus on the negative used their reach to encourage peace in Chicago or any other “dangerous” city—including my own.
However, in news and entertainment media, positivity tends not to have a high self-life. A wedding or the birth of a child or a bright child going to college is a great story but they tend not to have the degree of follow up that a series of murders, a serial killer, cheating partners, and so on have—nor do they tend to have the mileage.
One violent event can be spun different ways for a long time because somewhere down the line, the likelihood of it spinning off into something else violent or negative is pretty high. If the coverage of the Iraq War, the war in Afghanistan, World Wars, and genocides have proven anything it’s said in the title of one of my favorite albums by the band Megadeth:
Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying?
For all the bad and instigating that DJ Akademiks’ platform has probably done, it did help boost the careers of many of the younger wave of artists.
That doesn’t balance anything with deaths in Chicago but some of the same artists who have complained about this record songs with artists who are products of the gang violence in the city. Some of those artists were reported on in “The War in Chiraq.”
If Ak’s platform is so toxic and vile, wouldn’t that make the artists who came out of that environment and benefited from that coverage toxic as well? Are the fans who love this stuff but don’t think about this stuff critically but take the toxic stuff literally and as a way to live life also toxic? Doesn’t PR advise to stay away from anything that could endanger the bag or their well-being?
The first four questions were rhetorical.
Then again everyone’s fine with a little septic shock if their money is straight and their favorite artist continues to make music.
Staff Writer; M. Swift
This talented writer is also a podcast host, and comic book fan who loves all things old school. One may also find him on Twitter at; metalswift.