Friday, January 19, 2007
Randomly Noted More Drama
Posted by Mosi Reeves on Fri, Jan 19, 2007 at 8:50 PM
There�s a lot of fallout from the raid on the Aphilliates
Music Group last Tuesday night, when the Morrow Police Department arrested DJ
Drama and Don Cannon, andd questioned 17 of their employees. Morrow Police
Chief Jeff Baker says they seized over 81,000 CDs (he estimates their worth at
$1 million), four vehicles, and recording equipment.
No one from the Aphilliates Music Group camp,
Atlantic/Warner Bros. (where Drama has a solo deal) or Asylum (where the
Aphilliates have a label deal) is talking. DJ Jaycee, one of several DJs in the
Aphilliates crew (others include DJ Sense, Ox Banga, and DJ Jamad) posted this on
his MySpace blog:
i'm gonna take a wild guess and say
that unless you've been under a rock for the last couple hours, you've heard
that 2 of my fellow Aphilliates DJ Drama and Don Cannon were arrested today in
the latest federal crackdown on mixtapes, that viable menace to our society and
threat to everyone's safety and security.
what i'm perturbed about is why effort is being made to crackdown on this shit
when we get proper clearance from not only the artists that we spotlight on
these things but their respective record labels as well...
arresting niggas for fucking MIXTAPES??? the TOP STORY on ALL ATLANTA NEWS STATIONS?? ahead of fucking
MURDERS, RAPES and GAY ASS CATHOLIC PRIESTS WHO PLAY WITH LITTLE BOYS
BOOTYHOLES???? are you fucking SERIOUS???
Already, conspiracy theories have begun to circulate
surrounding the bust, alleging that someone in the Aphilliates camp might be a
�snitch.� A �Free Drama and Cannon� illustration (see photo) is popping up all
over the Internet, and someone put together a petition that currently has over
650 signatures.
MTV.com interviewed doo-doo-hot rapper Lil Wayne, who
collaborated with DJ Drama on the Dedication
series. Last year, Dedication 2 received the
most acclaim of Drama�s Gangsta Grillz tapes.
It was listed on Pitchfork�s Top 50 albums of 2006, named the top mixtape of
the year by Justo�s Mixtape Awards and XXL
magazine, and is nominated for a 2006 Plug Award for best hip-hop album.
"You gotta do it right," Wayne reiterated."It's gonna be a message. [The authorities] ain't playing. They gonna make
an example. They gonna straighten the game out. A lot of companies take a fall
with those mixtapes. N---as be caking up off them mixtapes. The artists can
drop his album � and everybody knows that hip-hop [album sales are in] decline
� nobody ain't gonna buy the album, and everybody gets the mixtapes off of the
Internet or whatever way they get it. The artists ain't caking, but the n---a
you made the mixtape with is caking up. Thank God I ain't got that problem, but
I know a lot of people who do."
Lil Wayne�s comments may be a result of jealousy � Drama got
considerable credit for the Dedication 2 mixtape.
But it could also reflect a previously unspoken tension between artists who
give their tracks to mixtape DJs for use on mixtapes; and the DJs who
subsequently �cake up,� making thousands (and, in Drama�s case, hundreds of
thousands) of dollars from selling those mixtapes, while the artists usually
only get free promotion.
Either way, the RIAA�s punitive raid against the Aphilliates
is a major correction. It won�t wipe out mixtapes, an industry that�s been
around since the late �80s. But things will change. Already, major sites like
Mixunit.com have begun removing mixtapes from their catalog. You better get to
Amazon.com and pick up some Drama joints while you can � they�ll be collector�s
items soon.
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