Fat Joe has blasted DJ Akademiks for seemingly stirring up conflict between Lil Durk and Gunna, calling out the media personality for intentionally attempting to incite a beef between the two.
On Tuesday (May 23), the Bronx native took to Instagram Live to share his thoughts on the matter, accusing Akademiks of using “the oldest journalist trick in the book” by inquiring about an interview subject’s opinion of another industry or street figure. According to Joe, the interviewer does so in the hopes of creating controversy and attention-grabbing headlines, but results in bad blood that’s sometimes irreparable.
“He made him answer what he thought about Gunna,” Joe said of Akademiks’ line of questioning when speaking with the OTF rapper. “That’s the oldest trick in the book in Hip Hop journalism. Now, Durk jumps out and says, ‘No, I’m not.’ Now these two people don’t like each other for the rest of their life.”
He then equates Akademiks’ tactics to that of media publications that have reported on tension and discord between rappers in the past. “This is the type of entrapment, East-Coast West Coast beef, VIBE magazine, The Source magazine sh*t they been doing,” he added. “Here, we stay in the light. We want to hear positive things about everybody.”
The Bronx rapper’s comments come after Akademiks asked Durk to share his thoughts on Gunna allegedly cooperating with the authorities in order to receive a lenient sentence in the YSL RICO case. Akademiks inquired whether he feels Gunna cooperated to gain his freedom, which Durk responded by saying that he hates “rats” and that he feels the “Pushin P” co-creator should’ve remained silent under any circumstance. “[You] should’ve went in there and kept your mouth closed,” the hitmaker said of his “What Happened to Virgil” collaborator. “If you a rat, I f**king hate you. ‘Cause I love Thug.”
Gunna’s release from prison after entering an Alford plea on charges from the YSL RICO case has raised eyebrows and subjected the Atlanta rapper to scrutiny under suspicion his plea was damaging to Young Thug, who remains incarcerated. He has maintained that he has not cooperated or agreed to offer testimony in exchange for his freedom. “While I have agreed to always be truthful, I want to make it perfectly clear that I have NOT made any statements, have NOT been interviewed, have NOT cooperated, have NOT agreed to testify or be a witness for or against any party in the case and have absolutely NO intention of being involved in the trial process in any way,” he said in a statement following his release.
As part of his plea agreement, Gunna was sentenced to five years in prison with one year served. The additional four years of the sentence were reportedly “suspended.” He is also required to complete community service.