Just about three months after DJ
Drama’s “Gangsta Grillz” office was raided by the RIAA and the Georgia Police Department (in which 81,000 CDs were confiscated
(as “evidence”), along with cash, cars and frozen assets), Drama speaks.
“A lot of the impact is still up
in the air because people are waiting to see what comes of our situation. But,
I try to look at everything in a positive manner. The mixtape game needs to change for the better.
People need to learn from this,” Drama stated during an interview with
Billboard.com.
Since the incident in January, there have been theories upon theories that
attempt to explain why the RIAA had a case against Drama. A major one that has
circulated the hip hop world was the face that Drama doesn’t include his
company’s address on the CDs packaging.
“It was just never something I did. I don’t have bar codes on my
mixtapes, because that’s not what the tapes are for. None of the products that
were in Best Buy,
FYE or Target came from DJ Drama,” Drama said in defense of the allegation.
So is it the end of the mixtape? Is the industry dying?
“I’ve heard the ‘mixtape martyr’
term, but I don’t go backward, I go forward. Not just where does DJ Drama go,
but where does the mixtape game go from here? People need to realize how
important mixtapes are to hip-hop and the music business. Just look at the
careers of people like 50 Cent, Young
Jeezy, DJ Clue, and Jay-Z.
There are people in very powerful industry positions that owe a lot to
mixtapes.”
