Hip-hop and the media are often at odds with one another, even within coverage of the genre and community itself. DJ Akademiks is one the most vocal and talked about media figures in this respect, as a former Complex show host and later Twitch and media commentator. Back when Lil Baby dropped his album It’s Only Me in October, the Atlanta MC dissed DJ Akademiks on a few songs. During a recent interview with DJ Vlad on VladTV, Akademiks once again aimed some shots at the rapper.
Moreover, clips from the interview indicate that Vlad was asking the fellow media personality about Baby’s bars for him. On “From Now On,” he had some very direct lines. “Really sturdy, a wall, n***a, can’t beat me / Akademiks know he ain’t as rich as me / Brodie ready to eat for a twenty piece / I ain’t got nothin’ to say to you mini-mes,” he rapped. Also, he had some more ammo on “Top Priority.”
“Akademiks, n***as think they can’t get touched,” he raps. “I don’t be on computers much, CED turnt me on to YouTube / I keep tryna tell em I’m different from what they used to.“
We don’t know much about whether something happened between them behind the scenes. Regardless, they’ve established the beef, and Ak said some strong and quite harmful statments for the MC.
“My new nickname for Baby is ‘Short Bus Baby.’ He’s clearly just not that smart, bro. No one with half a brain would even think to discuss me and Lil Baby. Like, it just sounds stupid to say out loud, financially.”
If we’re talking financials, many would rightfully assume that a rapper with a No. 1 album would make at least just as much as a media commentator. Sure, we don’t know specifics, but it’s not like the “Drip Too Hard” star is an underground artist at this point. Nevertheless, Ak went on to attack Baby’s intelligence and make fun of a nervous system disorder.
“He has one of those Tourette moments every now and then. You see him in the corner, he’s just punching at the air, he’s just flipping the water bottle. He’s battling the perks and a lot of demons, I get it.”
Furthermore, many viewers have also noticed Baby’s movements, but rarely has it resulted in anything but sympathy. Some have also pointed out that he could be dealing with withdrawals after quitting substances. With this in mind, Akademiks will likely catch a lot of flack for his comments. He also had more to say about the MC’s lines on “Top Priority.”
“I felt he was a little bit wild. When a rapper starts to threaten- I’ve said this to every rapper today: You will never win versus the media. The media drives the narrative, the media gives the tint that your career is viewed in, your personality is viewed in. I know a lot of rappers who don’t get a certain type of looks or they’re not seen as favorably by the audience because they were an asshole to journalists.”
While the commentator makes a good point, his own experience disproves the media’s invincibility. When he was beefing with Freddie Gibbs, his media partner at the time, Complex, apparently did not take Ak’s side. What do you think of DJ Akademiks’s comments about Lil Baby and their beef? Let us know in the comments below and stay tuned to HNHH to get updated on the situation.