Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed, and the views expressed are the author’s own. Read more opinions on theGrio.
The wildest beef in hip-hop history just might be the ongoing war of words between Saucy Santana and DJ Akademiks. For sure, this is different than epic battles between Jay-Z and Nas or Ice Cube and NWA perhaps because it’s way more entertaining. Let’s get into it.
Saucy Santana is a known yet still emerging gay rapper who’s dropped one album and some hot singles like “Walk,” “Here We Go” and “Material Girl.” He’s fun, flamboyant and fiercely loyal. Santana started his career as a makeup artist for the City Girls and remains close to them — that connection is part of where this beef comes from.
DJ Akademiks is a cornball. Excuse me, I meant to write DJ Akademiks is an “internet personality,” whatever that means. He does livestreams and podcasts about the culture, but he’s not a good broadcaster, and he doesn’t have a reputation as a music reviewer or an interviewer. I’m not sure why we should care about his opinion, but the kids keep talking about him like he’s a thing. I heard one of them say he ate and left no crumbs, and to me, it looks like that happens several times a day. Also, Akademiks is a Trumper — he’s already said he will vote for Trump in 2024. Gross.
Anyway, the beef started when Akademiks dissed the City Girls on a livestream saying, “We need to hold some of these makeshift, chameleon, non-talented, lazy, non-passionate people accountable. You see the City Girls are the definition of people who have gotten to places in their career without ever really doing the work. The City Girls are a byproduct of good writers, good people that put an image around them, people that branded them the City Girls. There’s nothing that the City Girls actually ever really did for their [blank] selves.” Can you imagine the amount of delusion it takes for Akademiks to diss someone for being non-talented? What a time to be alive.
Akademiks’ critique of the City Girls taps right into the junk that some male hip-hop fans throw at female rappers — asking did they actually write the lyrics themselves? Or are they just empty vessels, living dolls, who are being controlled by some men? This misogynist critique — that women aren’t actually the authors of their own career and don’t really belong in hip-hop because they don’t actually write — is almost never leveled at male artists. This, even though many male artists buy verses from writers. It’s ultimately a way of pushing women out of the boy’s clubhouse that is hip-hop.
But part of why Akademiks verbally attacked the City Girls is because he said Yung Miami from the City Girls used a homophobic slur toward him. He thought that was hypocritical. Why he thought he should police her language is beyond me, but OK. He also mentioned Santana, which opened a door to the craziness.
After that Santana, who’s a ride-or-die friend to the City Girls, stepped up online and told Akademiks off in a series of videos. This is where the beef got spicy. Santana can spit. Too much has happened for me to recount every bit of the back and forth but in the verbal melee Akademiks challenged Santana to come to his “headquarters” (LOL) presumably for a fight, gave out his address and added, “but if there’s batty man vibes it’s gonna be a movie.” Batty man is a Jamaican slur for gay man. He also said “No batty man like [expletive] Saucy Santana can talk to me.” So he’s being openly homophobic while hiding behind, “Hey, it’s just my culture.” OK.
Santana, for his part, refused to go to Ak’s “headquarters” (LOL) and demanded a meetup in the streets. Santana seemed ready to actually throw down, and the way he was talking, it felt like he was ready to go. Many straight men are under the delusion that they can beat up any gay man at any time. That is absolutely not the case. Just because a man loves men does not mean he can’t beat men up. But this ties right in with homophobic ideas that you can’t be a real man (i.e., tough and able to fight) if you love men. So Ak’s using modern technology to broadcast ancient ideas. Ayo technology.
Santana replied by basically saying, honey, don’t let the gayness fool you, I can definitely beat you up. But then, here comes the deep water. Santana punctuated his threats about whipping Akademiks in the streets with this: Santana said after he beats up Akademiks, he will then have gay sex with him. He will take Akademiks’ gay virginity. For Akademiks, that would be unwanted sex. Wow. Um, question for the millennials who are more up to date than I am on certain things — can a gay man get away with saying that in 2023? Is that like a Black person saying the n-word? Or is that like a Black person threatening to lynch someone? Is that a gay rapper’s answer to the wild things that straight rappers say? I’m confused. I don’t even know what part of the Woke Bible to read in order to understand what’s acceptable here.
Anyway, while Santana looks ready for battle, Akademiks looks like he does not really want to fight. He looks like he really wants to DoorDash some more Krispy Kreme. Beyond that, he just wants to talk. He wants attention. He responded to Santana’s call to arms with a livestream where he cried about how he feared getting canceled because he’s in a beef with a gay man. As if the only way to play the dozens with a gay man is to say homophobic things.
The beef seemed to grow when Queen Latifah and Dr. Umar weighed in. (No, I’m not linking to no Dr. Hotep clip.) But even though Akademiks likes to start mess, he doesn’t like to finish it. He would rather be seen in a public war of words but his threats — come at me at my headquarters (LOL) — don’t actually mean anything. But this time, Akademiks’ attempt to bully some female rappers has ended up with him getting bullied by a gay rapper. As of this writing, Akademiks has backed down, but something tells me this movie ain’t over.
Touré is a host and Creative Director at theGrio. He is the host of Masters of the Game on theGrioTV. He is also the host and creator of the docuseries podcast “Being Black: The ’80s” and the animated show “Star Stories with Toure” which you can find at TheGrio.com/starstories. He is also the host of the podcast “Toure Show” and the podcast docuseries “Who Was Prince?” He is the author of eight books including the Prince biography Nothing Compares 2 U and the ebook The Ivy League Counterfeiter.
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