DJ Akademiks denied taking payola from Drake in exchange for favorable opinions on his media platforms.
During a recent livestream, the popular rap media personality said he had a conversation with pgLang co-founder Dave Free when he attended a Grand National Tour stop about the integrity of his coverage during the Drake and Kendrick Lamar battle.
“Dave Free had a moment — he asked me — he said, ‘Ak, what are you getting from this?’ He says, ‘Is he paying you,’” Akademiks said, allegedly that Free asked him about taking money from the Toronto rapper. “And that was the most insulting thing — and I’ve had conversations with these men for a while — but the very idea that I was like a purchasable commodity was so disgusting,” he revealed.
Ak then went on to say that he told Free that he was already popular before the beef reached a boiling point last spring. “I reminded him,” he began. “I said, ‘You know I’ve been doing this for over 10 years. I’ve been doing this for over 15 years. How did you think I became me?’ I said, ‘You knew about me before this sh—t… Did you think I was a cheap h— that just could be bought?’”
He added, “That was the most insulting thing I could have heard. Because his idea was, ‘Well if you’re not getting paid by this guy, if Drake ain’t paying you, why do you lean that much in that direction?’ The people who I’ve defended the most I’ve never gotten paid from.”
He did admit that his favorable coverage has benefited certain artists he likes, but reiterated that he doesn’t take money, saying, “Now, has my platform benefited them? Yeah, of course. But, again, we don’t do pay-for-play. You can’t buy my opinion. I’ve always said, ‘The moment you could buy my opinion, I don’t matter.’”
Ak continued by also admitting that he was biased during the back-and-forth because Drake is his favorite rapper and because Kendrick’s team cut off communication with him. “Throughout the battle, we probably definitely came off very biased,” he said. “Not only because I like Drake and he’s my favorite rapper… but you guys lost communications with us at that time because if you chose not to involve yourself in clarifying the narrative, the narrative gets written without you. It always happens like that. I’m in the media, I know how it goes.”
Billboard reached out to reps for pgLang for additional comment.
You can watch the full stream here.
