DJ Nabs has called out Dallas Austin for belittling his contributions to Hip Hop in light of the 50-year anniversary celebrations of the culture in Atlanta.
On Tuesday (September 5), Austin posted a video on Instagram to promote the Atlanta Hip Hop 50 Experience that he put together with Jermaine Dupri, and also used the opportunity to address comments that were made about his approach.
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“I’m starting to hear these things about the DJs thinkin’ we left them out, or Nabs sayin’ we didn’t do a wall for the DJs, which is not true,” he said. “How we gonna do Hip Hop without doin’ the DJs, yo? We did a soft opening and all our stuff isn’t up and ready yet.”
He proceeded to explain that the exhibition will be complete in time for its grand opening on Thursday (September 14), and that they won’t be leaving out the pioneering DJs. In the post’s caption, however, he wrote: “Let’s cut out the dj hate because you wouldn’t have these records heard without them! but the artist and producers had to make the songs first.”
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Soon after, Nabs replied in the comments of Austin’s post before posting it to his own Instagram. “Woke up and heard my name,” the iconic Atlanta DJ said. “You’re free to call and not have someone call for you. I started in 84 in NC, on air in Atlanta spinning Hip Hop by 88 and dominated my space for over 30 years and furthermore I documented the actual club and radio scene so I can talk that talk. Your records and acts were good and some have stood the test of time but the DJ is [the] foundation. Not the producer.
“It was your teams decision to make a last minute list and call me for my approval. If you gonna mention my name then tell the whole story. Or do u know the story? Call me. you don’t see me nowhere saying your name online. I took my gripe directly to the person l’ve worked with for over 25 years. There was no need to address you….until now!”
Last month, Jermaine Dupri expressed how he felt about brands in Atlanta not doing anything to celebrate Hip Hop’s 50th birthday. As the culture celebrated its birthday on August 11, the So So Def mogul pointed out in a tweet one week after that his city hadn’t pulled its weight.
“Just for the record! no brands have done any dinners or get togethers in Atlanta celebrating the 50 anniversary of HipHop,” he wrote. “That’s Crazy!!!”
Hip Hop 50 has been on Jermaine Dupri’s mind a lot as of late. Taking to Twitter on the eve of its birthday, he made the resolution to stop all business with anyone who doesn’t understand the culture.
“I got some serious #Hiphop50 resolutions,” he began. “No more business deals with people who have deep pockets but are clueless to the culture #Hiphop50resolutions.”
He concluded: “Everything for me starting tomorrow is value based.”
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Jermaine Dupri will commemorate So So Def’s 30-year anniversary this year with the label’s first-ever festival, going down in the city the imprint was founded in. The music mogul made the announcement of the two-day event just under three months ahead of the scheduled dates of October 7 and 8. Tickets start at $125.
