XXXTentacion left an indelible impression on the music world. He was an immensely talented artist who was also accused of and charged with heinous criminal acts. X’s death at the age of 20 meant that he’d never get a chance to make up for his mistakes, or serve the jail time that some fans felt he should have. The men who were convicted of murdering XXXTentacion are still in the process of appealing their ruling. DJ Akademiks, however, turned the clock back on May 1 by posting previously unseen footage of the rapper during an interrogation.
The interrogation took place in 2016. XXXTentacion was arrested for stabbing Dylan Turner aka Tablez. The rapper can seen sitting on the right side of an interrogation room, where he is handcuffed to a chair. The audio quality is low, as DJ Akademiks points out, but X’s rage doesn’t need much interpretation. “All we got right now,” the interrogating officer stated. “Is that you went in there and grabbed his knife.” X slammed his head against the wall in frustration, yelling over the officer’s words.
The officer continued to explain what he felt went down, but X struggled to articulate his side of the story. “What the f*ck,” he said. “How–.” The rapper cut himself off to bury his head in his hands. “F*ck this sh*t,” he added. “F*ck this sh*t.” The situation looks dire from the footage, but XXXTentacion was actually released shortly after this interrogation took place.
Tablez made a full recovery from his injury, and agreed to drop all charges against the rapper. He said he didn’t “want one bad choice to define who [XXXTentacion] was.” In return, the rapper paid for Tablez’s medical bills. He also apologized to Tablez over the stabbing. “Thank you for dropping the charges,” X later asserted. “As f*cked up as the situation is, I am forever in your debt.”
XXXTentacion and Tablez may have made up, but both artists died before their time. The former was shot and killed in 2018, and the latter died from a drug overdose in 2022. Tablez was the “manager” for both X and Ski Mask the Slump God early in their careers, in addition to being part of the Members Only collective.
Young Thug has been sorely missed by the entire rap community ever since he was arrested back in May 2022. He was brought in on a 56-count indictment that allegedly saw him head an Atlanta street gang that committed multiple serious crimes. Fans and peers alike are constantly wondering when he will be free, or what his fate will ultimately be. It seems we are far away from any decision as of now. Yak Gotti’s attorney filed a motion recently to shorten the prosecution’s witness list. Currently, the list is at a reported 400. One of those 400 could be DJ Akademiks, as his name was dropped in a recent YSL RICO trial.
There is no confirmation if he is even a suspected witness. But with names like LeBron James and Serena Williams being tossed around, DJ Akademiks has a good chance of being called in. The social media pundit has talked about this lengthy case extensively, so it was not too much of shocker to hear his name talked about. However, Akademiks was sure as hell confused as to why he was mentioned.
In fact, he clipped the portion of the livestream of the highly publicized trial where he was discussed. Wat dey talmbout in dis YSL trial mayne,” AK tweeted. At one point the judge questioned if “he or she” is coming to testify and according to the clip, he is not. Fans in the comments were having a field day with that. The judge also asked how the videos of DJ’s commentary on Thug would be brought up. However, the clip ended just before that explanation.
What are your thoughts on DJ Akademiks being name dropped in the YSL RICO Case? Do you think he will be called to speak at a court trial, why or why not? What do you see happening to Young Thug when this is all set and done? We would like to hear what you have to say, so be sure to leave your takes in the comments section. Additionally, always keep it locked in with HNHH for all of the latest news surrounding DJ Akademiks, Young Thug, and the YSL RICO case. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.
DJ Akademiks has been very vocal about the Drake situation with Kendrick Lamar. Overall, he has Drake winning the feud, although we always suspected that would be true. Akademiks is a huge Drake stan, and he would never go against him. Yesterday, Kendrick Lamar dropped off “Euphoria,” and in the minds of many, Lamar now has the lead. However, Ak begs to differ, and he was making some interesting comments on social media yesterday. For instance, he compared “Euphoria” to the Ross diss, “Champagne Moments.”
In the tweet below, you can see that Akademiks called “Champagne Moments” a better diss record than “Euphoria.” In Ak’s eyes, Ross was funny, while Kendrick regurgitated talking points we’ve already heard. To be fair to Kendrick, what did people expect? “The Story Of Adidon” has broken a lot of people’s brains as to how diss tracks are supposed to go. Regardless, Ross saw this praise from Akademiks, and decided that it would be a good idea to weigh in with more jokes at Drake’s expense.
“He really had his body altered,” Ross wrote. “Nose remixed. Abs edited.” This subsequently led to a response from Akademiks, who wrote “Why is Rick ross like this. Bruh can someone tell him we coming to his car show . Tell him to chilllllllll.” Ross is refusing to hold back, and it is definitely admirable. Now, fans are waiting for the Drake response, and it will be interesting to see what kind of angle he runs with.
Let us know what you think of DJ Akademiks and his hot take, in the comments section down below. Do you believe that Akademiks is wrong for what he is saying here? Do you believe that Rick Ross is doing too much with the Drake jokes? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
DJ Akademiks is easily one of the biggest Drake defenders on the internet. Overall, whenever Drake has found himself in a feud, you can count on Ak to be on his side. Throughout this Kendrick Lamar spat, Ak has remained a proponent of Drizzy’s greatness. In fact, every single day, Ak has put Kendrick on the clock for a response. Well, yesterday, Lamar gave us that response with a 6-minute track called “Euphoria.” Although some were expecting jazz instrumentals and something light, Lamar ended up giving fans a scathing track with three beat switches.
Throughout the song, Kendrick eviscerated Drake for the way he talks, acts, and even dresses. Furthermore, he perpetuated numerous narratives that are already out there about Drake. However, the big difference here is that Kendrick did it in a unique way. At the start of the day, Akademiks was pretty impressed by Kendrick’s response. As the day went by, Ak ended up changing his tune and continued to profess how Drake is on top. In the clip below, DJ Akademiks took it a step further and began mocking Lamar for his flow.
Akademiks specifically went after the first part of the song where Kendrick decides to take things lightly. Furthermore, Akademiks went on to compare Kendrick to Carlton Banks from The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. Of course, this is completely avoiding the next five minutes of the song where Kendrick ups the energy and escalates the bars with each verse. The bias here is clear, but that is what fans were expecting from Ak, and he delivered.
Let us know what you think of DJ Akademiks and his comments pertaining to this diss track, in the comments section down below. Do you believe that he is doing way too much to defend Drake? Do you agree that Kendrick’s response was wack? Additionally, stay tuned to HNHH for the latest news and updates from around the music world. We will continue to keep you informed on all of your favorite artists and their upcoming projects.
Round two begins. Drake and Kendrick Lamar did not disappoint with their first round offerings. The former dropped “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle,” while the latter opened and closed things out with “Like That” and “Euphoria.” These diss tracks have received critical praise across the board, but things are going to inevitably get uglier as the battle wears on. Lamar upped the ante by attacking the Toronto rapper from all angles. Drake made it clear he was unimpressed, though, and told DJ Akademiks that he’ll be dropping again soon.
The “soon” was communicated through DJ Akademiks, who shared a text exchange with Drake during his live stream. The internet personality has been an advocate for Drizzy throughout the battle, so it’ll come as no surprise that he’s excited for what lies ahead. The thing is, Ak did a good job of getting the rest of us excited as well. During his April 30 stream, Akademiks claimed to have to heard the response diss that Drake has cooked up. The response is allegedly titled “Hi Whitney.” Whitney is, of course, the name of Kendrick Lamar’s wife, Whitney Alford. Akademiks was, predictably “impressed.”
“I was super impressed by it,” he told viewers. It was the second part of Ak’s statement, though, that really ramped up the anticipation. He claimed that Drake played the diss for him and assured him that things only get tougher from there. “He literally said, ‘If you think this is fire you have no idea what I got coming,’” he recalled. Drake made reference to Whitney Alford in “Push Ups,” but naming an entire song after her opens up an entirely new level of disrespect.
This level of disrespect is something DJ Akademiks has warned Drake about in the past. He hopped on a stream once “Push Ups” dropped, and went on a rant about how bad things went for the 6 God when he referenced Pusha T’s wife by name. “Drake… you did the same thing twice now,” Ak rightfully said. “You mentioned Virginia Williams or whatever, Pusha T’s wife. And you saw that n**ga took the gloves off, and we saw what happened.” Drake evidently weighed the consequences and has decided to go all in against K. Dot. This next round sounds like it’s going to be intense.
We’ve finally arrived at the main event. Kendrick Lamar started it with “Like That,” and Drake took it up a notch with “Push Ups” and “Taylor Made Freestyle.” There was concern that Lamar wasn’t going to get back at Drake in a timely manner, but he dropped “Euphoria” on April 30 and got things back on track. The first round of the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar battle is done with. Both artists are firmly prepped for battle. One, in particular, is excited for what comes next.
DJ Akademiks has been the conduit for Drake messages throughout the battle. He’s relayed the rapper’s feelings towards Lamar and his desire to hash things out after “10 years” of waiting. Akademiks dropped another bombshell revelation during his April 30 live stream when he shared a text conversation with the 6 God.
According to the streamer, Drake said “I’m energized by the elimination of Drake” with laughing emojis. This is a reference to an interview Kanye West recently gave, in which he claimed to be teaming up with rappers in an effort to bring Drizzy down. The rapper then left Akademiks and the fans with an ominous: “See you soon.”
Drake has chosen his works carefully over the last few months. He’s done his fair share of trolling, but he has made a point of revealing as little as possible. The text message to DJ Akademiks, for example, is the first time he’s technically spoken on the “Euphoria” diss. The rapper has been liking IG posts since it was released, though. Right after “Euphoria” went viral, Drizzy liked a comment asking: “That’s it??”
Drake’s comment about seeing fans “soon” supports DJ Akademiks’ theory. The streamer hopped on X (formerly Twitter) to claim that the Toronto rapper will respond faster than Lamar did. Ak went as far as to assert that Drake could get a diss out in a week. “I expect Drake to respond expeditiously,” he tweeted. “He got 17 days (same time as kendrick).. but I think he’ll respond in 7 calendar days NGL. He happy asf that Kendrick showed he got a pulse.”
Regardless of how long it takes, the battle has officially been taken up a notch.
Joe Budden is always good for a soundbite. He’s been tracking the Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar beef since day one, and has made it clear that he has admiration for both artists. He was complimentary of Drake’s diss song “Push Ups,” and even “Taylor Made Freestyle,” but he also praised Lamar when he put out the scathing “Euphoria” response. Lamar brought six minutes of mayhem to the table, and Budden feels as though he won the first round. That being said, Budden is excited to see what Drake does next.
Joe Budden called DJ Akademiks during a live stream on April 30. The two men debated the merits of both diss tracks, but the former came down as pro-Kendrick Lamar. He felt the Compton emcee raised the bar as the beef transitions to the second record. Budden’s ruling was by no means a slight against Drake, though. In fact, the podcaster is excited to see how the 6 God responds. In his estimation, Drake finally has an opponent who can test his abilities and his toughness as a rapper.
“I want to see Drake bleed,” Budden asserted. “I want to know how my favorites respond to getting punched in the face. Love Drake, and I’m gonna love him more if he do what he need to do.”
Joe Budden gets called in by Akademiks during stream, he says Kendrick won this round but he cant wait for Drake’s response
“I want to see Drake bleed… I want to know how my favorites respond to getting punched in the face… I love Drake and imma love him even more if he do… pic.twitter.com/TdSsoHa3Ny
Budden posited that Drake has had a “smooth ride” throughout his career, and is finally being challenged by someone who can compete in his commercial arena. The podcaster claims the Pusha T feud has been the only bump in the Toronto rapper’s career, which means there’s an aspect of Drake’s artistry that fans haven’t seen yet. “The a n**ga in front of you now that you have to respect even if you don’t like him,” Budden added. “Finish your food. I come from the finish your food era. This ain’t Meek Mill no more.”
This is a sentiment that Budden has expressed before. He’s questioned Drake in the past, and even put out diss tracks against the “God’s Plan” rapper back when he was an artist. He even doubted whether Drake would respond to Lamar’s original “Like That” diss in March, and was pleasantly surprised when “Push Ups” dropped. Budden wants Drake to keep impressing him, and by extension, the fans, in round two.
Everybody in hip-hop has been discussing Kendrick Lamar’s newly sparked beef with Drake and J. Cole for over a month now. It all started when he called out both of the “First Person Shooter” collaborators on Future & Metro Boomin’s “Like That.” The first to respond was J. Cole, though it didn’t seem to go particularly well. He replied with a diss track on his album Might Delete Later and it lives up to its name when he eventually took the song down from streaming services.
But since then Drake has begun quite an assault on all of those that dissed him. While Kendrick remained the primary focus, Drizzy responded to numerous artists who took shots at him in recent weeks including Metro Boomin and Rick Ross, with rumors that it could even also include Future and The Weeknd. But as many expected, Kendrick hasn’t responded. The notoriously private rapper tends to disappear from the public light almost entirely between music releases and tours and has said nothing in response to the diss tracks. That silence has been repeatedly criticized by streamer and rap commentator DJ Akademiks. Check out the newest tweet he made about the situation below.
The new reason y K dot didn’t respond is that he don’t wanna diss Drake now that Kanye jumped in. NIGGA… well y tf did u diss him on an album with bare niggas who intended to diss him thru the whole album. It was cool when it was u metro weeknd future rocky but Kanye Ruined it?
In a new tweet, Akademiks theorizes why there’s been no response. “The new reason y K dot didn’t respond is that he don’t wanna diss Drake now that Kanye jumped in. NIGGA… well y tf did u diss him on an album with bare niggas who intended to diss him thru the whole album. It was cool when it was u metro weeknd future rocky but Kanye Ruined it?” his post reads. Despite his concerns, fans in the comments seem largely okay with Kendrick’s silence.
What do you think of DJ Akademiks doubling down on his criticisms of Kendrick Lamar for not responding to Drake sooner? Do you think Kendrick will release a response track any time soon? Let us know in the comment section below.
Chance The Rapper released his last studio album in 2019 with The Big Day. The project was met with massive backlash from fans and critics alike who identified its bad lyrics and weird genre fusions as reasons why it falls short of the potential Chance has. He’s released a number of singles since then and appeared on plenty of features but fans have remained morbidly curious about what he would return with when he dropped his next album. He’s been teasing that new album for years now and it finally looks like it could be on the way soon.
Earlier this week Chance shared a snippet of new music. The track is called “Buried Alive” and features a direct focus on rapping and wordplay. In the song he even refutes claims that he’s underachieved and calls out those putting him down. The song has yet to make its way to streaming but that hasn’t stopped fans from digesting it and sharing their thoughts. There’s a variety of opinions circulating around but one thing seems consistent, most people are happy he’s back. Check out some of the opinions fans expressed below.
DJ Akademiks put together an Instagram post collecting some reactions to the new song. The reactions he shared seem to mostly be pleased. They cite his return to a more rap focused style as a good thing. But the replies to his own post are much more mixed. Some are clearly there just to hate but others have criticisms of his wordy and belabored flows.
But for everyone criticizing the new song there are at least two more praising it. Many are calling it an “old Chance” type song and are delighted to see him return to a familiar style. What do you think of Chance The Rapper’s new, more rap oriented single? Are you looking forward to the release of his album Star Line Gallery later this year? Let us know in the comment section below.
CJ Francis IV is one of the names that have trended amid the ongoing multiple feuds in the rap music genre. The rap game was thrown into a heated state on Mar. 22, 2024, following the release of Future and Metro Boomin’s album, We Don’t Trust You. One of the hit songs on the album is “Like That,” featuring Kendrick Lamar, also known as K. Dot. In the song, K. Dot took aim and landed some hard jabs at Drake and J. Cole. After the song’s release, J. Cole responded to K. Dot via a song but immediately apologized to him and said he wanted peace.
However, Drake is not one to run away from a fight. He unleashed mayhem on K. Dot and several others, including Future, The Weeknd, Rick Ross, and Metro Boomin on “Push Ups.” Rick Ross also fired back at Drake, as they went back and forth with each other via social media. Amid the chaos, the ever-present claim that Drake uses ghostwriters came up, again. However, the 6 God’s fans dug deep and found something that showed that K. Dot could also have used ghostwriters. Some online evidence claimed that a ghostwriter, CJ Francis IV, wrote the song “N95” on K. Dot’s album, Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers. However, that was quickly debunked by online sleuths and Francis himself. Since then, CJ Francis IV has gained popularity, with many fans eager to know who he is.
CJ’s full name is Charles Jewell Francis IV. He was born in Richmond but raised in North Atlanta. CJ is an emerging rapper, songwriter, and producer. Through his music, he enjoys giving “a unique view of everyday life,” according to his Spotify bio, and sharing his life’s stories. His first album, Blue Slushi, was also released in October 2012 via Bandcamp.
CJ Francis IV & Quentin Miller Collaborations
CJ seems to have a close relationship with Atlanta rapper Quentin Miller. Quentin is famous for being Drake’s former songwriter. He notably contributed to four songs on Drake’s 2015 mixtape, If You’re Reading This It’s Too Late. Quentin and CJ have collaborated on multiple songs. The duo have a great connection, which is evident in some of their tracks. Some of their popular collaborations include “Explosive,” “So Much,” “Worth It,” “4 Real,” and “Eclipse.”
Quentin Miller associate CJ Francis IV ghostwriting for Kendrick Lamar. This is his demo of N95 (2022). I’d say this is a collab, but his name isn’t on the credits. pic.twitter.com/BtevQZ0n5M
In mid-April, rumors spread that Kendrick Lamar secretly used a ghostwriter for his song “N95.” An X user shared an alleged demo of the track. The user claimed the demo was a reference for K. Dot and added that CJ didn’t get credit for his contribution to the song. Also accompanying the post was a snippet of CJ rapping over K. Dot’s “N95” beat. From the snippet, which many initially suspected was a reference track, it was obvious that K. Dot and CJ had similar cadence and lyrics. The post’s caption read, “Quentin Miller associate CJ Francis IV ghostwriting for Kendrick Lamar. This is his demo of N95 (2022). I’d say this is a collab, but his name isn’t on the credits.”
Also, a 2022 post from X user, @ItsNotHarold, emerged. In the post, Harold hailed CJ for writing on K. Dot’s project. The post read, “My boy CJ Francis IV wrote on the Kendrick project man I’m so F***in gassed for my boy!!!! He one of the most talented people in the world bro this S**t is so next level!!!”
In addition to claims that CJ wrote “N95,” there were more allegations that he wrote songs for other artists, including Roddy Ricch. “The Box” crooner’s name got into the mix after a leaked voice note from Roddy emerged. In the voice note, which was from 2022, Roddy was checking CJ for claiming he was writing songs for him.
The allegations that CJ wrote for Kendrick caused a stir on social media. Unsurprisingly, K. Dot’s fans weren’t pleased with such stories, and one of them took the time to explain the situation on Reddit. In the post, the Redditor, aeolowl, claimed CJ never wrote for Kendrick and was never involved in making his album. The Redditor further wrote, “2019: Kendrick’s first ‘version’ of N95 was on his scrapped feature of ‘vent’ with Baby Keem. After scrapping that original verse, he worked on two separate songs and likely incorporated parts of that feature, Outta Pocket and Take Off. Metadata for Morale sessions have no hint of CJ.”
Going further, the Redditor explained that Kendrick combined parts of Outta Pocket and Take Off to create the song Pocket Off in 2020 — another demo that would plant the seeds for “N95.” After going through the mixing and mastering stages on May 5th, 2020, Kendrick re-recorded a few lines. Afterward, he began filming the official music video for the song without any indication of CJ’s involvement.
The Reddit user then concluded, “2022: The final beat of N95 is made sometime in late 2021-early 2022. Kendrick starts working on the final version of the song around March 2022. No hint of CJ. The tweet claims in replies that CJ’s demo was from 2019, but that would literally be impossible given when the instrumental was made, sent, and worked on. CJ is a known liar and does this shit very often, don’t be fooled.”
CJ Francis IV Comes Clean About Writing For Kendrick Lamar
Soon after, CJ Francis IV cleared the air about his involvement in K. Dot’s “N95.” Taking to his Instagram Story, the songwriter wrote, “I had nothing to do with that song. Nor do I have anything to do with it being posted online.” In another post, CJ denied writing for Roddy Ricch, Kendrick, Bryson Tiller, and YBN Nahmir.
Meanwhile, DJ Akademiks shared a post on X in which he shared that he spoke with Roddy Ricch, who claimed CJ was a complete fraud. Akademiks also shared, “Roddy was open to collaborate with others for his Feed The Streets 3 about 2 years ago project and basically this dude he never met and no songs ever got put out that he collabed on.” Akademiks concluded, “The Voice note that got released was Roddy checking him 2 years ago for claiming he was writing for Roddy Ricch.”
Despite dominating news headlines over claims he wrote for Kendrick and Roddy, CJ doesn’t necessarily have a massive social following. On Instagram, he boasts over 5.9k followers. He usually shares snippets of his work on his Instagram Stories.
CJ Francis IV’s decision to come out and say he never worked for K. Dot is laudable. Though he could’ve allowed the rumors to circulate further, his decision indicates that he wanted to ensure the truth came out or it may mean he never wanted the smoke amid the Drake vs. Kendrick beef. Some fans may like to think higher powers forced him to come out with those statements. Hence, it might take more than a few social media posts to convince the public about what really happened. Whatever the case is CJ Francis IV may be the biggest winner, as there will be much more interest in him in the near future.
