Hip Hop - DJ's - Mixtapes and the RIAA Raids

Rascism, Power & Drama-What's Really Behind the RIAA Raids By Davey D

As stated earlier, many are starting to suspect that there are deeper implications to the RIAA Raid. DJ Drama's sister Aishah Shahidah Simmons who did the incredible documentary 'NO' lays out some compelling thoughts in the essay 'Thirty Strong And A Gun To His Head…Pay Attention?' following my remarks that all of us need to think about.

As I noted in my first reports on this incident- The raid on the offices of DJ Drama and the Aphilliates WAS NOT about mixtapes, this is about inserting power. Please bear in mind that over the past year, many deejays from all around the country have been quietly organizing and weighing their options while assessing their collective power. For example, last month several hundred deejays met at a highly publicized West Coast Summit. Already we have TJDJs, The pioneering DJs who are down with Tools of War, The Core DJs, The Heavy Hitters,The Big Dawgs, The Beat Junkies Nasty Nes and the RappattackDJs and The Bum Squad DJS all running profitable businesses and working in a collective fashion. Some of these DJ Collectives have been behind the scenes organizing to demand Health Care and other provisions from the industry. When folks got together in LA, it was to start demanding more work opportunities. In all these DJ collectives, they have been asserting that they 'run the industry' because the deejay has the ability to make or break records.

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