Off the Record with DJ Akademiks

Jackboy is our guest today. He stops by to have his first appearance on Off The Record and talk about his come up to his recent success. We discuss his issues with Kodak Black, how he persevered through his multiple incarcerations. He talks about how he got signed to his current situation at Empire and how he made a smart decision turning down more money from Atlantic Records so that he could have more control over his career.

Carl Chery continues the debate with Akademiks about rap. We discuss who currently could be in competition for another 'new school' class of hip hop. 

Carl Chery is our guest today. He is the head curator in charge for Spotify who is responsible for the infamous RapCaviar playlist. We begin our conversation trying to establish the importance of playlists today in hip hop music. We talk about if an artist can dominate the current climate and get adequate play-listing if he was solely independent. We talk about Drake's new album and also try to put a rank to him as a artist all time vs Kanye West and even Jay Z.

Bandman Kevo is our guest today. On Rolling Loud weekend, he pulled up to discuss many of the things he's been in the media for including him getting his body done and also his ex wife dating a Youtube Vlogger. He breaks down why he wont forgive his ex wife and also explains his beef with 16shotz.

Charleston White is our guest today. One of the most polarizing cultural commentators of modern time tells his story of how he was incarcerated on charged of 1st degree murder and changed his life around after incarceration. He says now his mission is to use his voice to go down a path and follow rappers or others promoting a message of violence or gangbanging. He talks about Nipsey Hussle, King Von, his altercation with Soulja Boy and even 600 Breezy. 

Today our guest is Roy Woods. He's from Canada and gives us a background of how he got started in the music industry to eventually linking up with Drake through Oliver.

Infamous Hip hop producer 'Murdabeatz' is our guest today. We begin by discussing his comeup from Canada to making his way to workin with Chicago artists and then getting involved in the Atlanta Scene. He spoke about how Soulja Boy gave him his first big break and how his first big single came a year later. He talks about hooking up with Drake and Travis Scott and then eventually making his own producer / artist collab albums - One with Shordie Shordie and another with Smokepurpp. We then talk about the sound of music and how that has changed over the years and how new producers are changing the game. He talks about the issues that came about with Rapstar when he did the beat but wasn't credited then it was later fixed. Also we discuss his discography including 'Nice For What' , FeFe, producing Butterfly for Travis Scott, how Nicki and Cardi got on 'Motorspot' and others. We speak on the Mt. Rushmore of producers for the last 10 years. 

HAAAAANNNNN. French Montana is our guest today. He joins us right before he leaves to shoot a music video with ESTGEE in the Bronx. We begin talking about our interview before OTR even started and how he was in our trailer for this podcast. We touch on his cocaine city DVDs and how he changed his identity from then. 

Rotimi is our guest today. The episode starts with Akademiks bringing up how they met over 10 years ago and how life has changed for them both since then. We get into to what place he was in at that point of his life and what lead him to acting. He talks about his roll on 'Boss' and how that helped him land his role on 'Power' and how he almost had the role of Hakeem on 'Empire'.

Still in LA, Erica Banks from Texas is our guest today. She joins Akademiks on a Spotify Live for a new episode where she discusses her comeup in the industry and how she got her big break. She talks meeting Carl Crawford and signing to 1501 and also making her breakout single 'Buss It'.