"Drake was asking iHeart for information" - DJ Akademiks responds to Charlamagne Tha God's remarks about him covering the rapper's lawsuits

Charlamagne Tha God recently criticized DJ Akademiks for his alleged coverage of Drake and his lawsuit against Universal Music Group and iHeartMedia. On March 4, he mocked Akademiks after Drake canceled the petition.

However, later, after watching the clip on one of his livestreams, AK mentioned during the same livestream on YouTube on March 5 that iHeartMedia is the owner of The Breakfast Club. He went on to say that it is "absolutely untrue" that Drake canceled the petition because it was pointless, as Charlamagne claimed.

He continued:

"The reality of that petition is that Drake was asking iHeart for information and maybe documents and maybe payments that could prove that they were getting paid by Universal.”

The back and forth happened after the Toronto rapper decided to abandon his case against iHeartMedia and accept a settlement after discovering that they "did nothing wrong." According to a March 3 Rolling Stone story, iHeartMedia is no longer a defendant in the rapper's inquiry into allegations of payola connected to Kendrick Lamar's song Not Like Us.

---

Drake recently dropped his petition against iHeartMedia after the FCC started looking into the company

Drake is still going after UMG (Image via Getty Images)

DJ Akademiks further said that Charlamagne Tha God's jokes were false in response to his remarks regarding his coverage of Drake's lawsuits. Speaking on the same, he alleged that the FCC's decision to look into iHeartMedia's payola claims had an impact on the choice.

For context, the FCC has issued a warning to the owners of the company that it is taking tough measures against what it refers to as "payola" practices.

As per BBC’s February 25 report, FCC chairman Brendan Carr stated in a letter to iHeartMedia CEO Robert Pittman on Monday, February 24, that the agency is closely examining the company's operations, especially in relation to the live music events it organizes all year long.

Additionally, it further stated the FCC also wanted to determine whether the company is improperly pressuring artists to play for free at events. As per the same BBC wrote, Carr also wrote in the letter:

“It would be particularly concerning to me if, on the heels of the FCC’s Enforcement Advisory, iHeart is proceeding in a manner that does not comply with federal ‘payola’ requirements…”

The letter continued:

“Indeed, I want to know whether iHeart is effectively and secretly forcing musicians to choose between, one, receiving their usual, ordinary, and full scale compensation for performing or, two, receiving less favorable airplay on iHeart radio [sic] stations.”

Now, amidst this, Drake dropped his petition against iHeartMedia and reached an amicable solution. The company is no longer the subject of pre-suit discovery, according to court documents that were delivered to the Bexar County District Court.

As per XXL Mag’s March 3 report, an iHeartMedia source explained:

“In exchange for documents that showed iHeart did nothing wrong, Drake agreed to drop his petition. No payments were made – by either one of us.”

In the court filings, the God's Plan singer's legal team also made it clear that the dismissal is "without prejudice," meaning that none of the accusations made against UMG in the petition should be impacted. This is because the rapper has decided to focus solely on UMG.

The One Dance singer made this withdrawal three months after filing a petition against iHeartMedia and UMG on November 21. However, this was a precursor to potential legal action rather than a lawsuit.

The main aim of the petition was to investigate the brands' operations and obtain proof to back up his claim, which were the goals. According to the allegations, UMG allegedly "funnelled payments" to iHeartRadio as part of a "pay-to-play scheme" to "inflate artificially the metrics" and push Kendrick Lamar's Not Like Us on the radio.

---

However, UMG has refuted all these claims. Given that iHeartMedia was removed from the petition, it is unclear how Drake's legal dispute with UMG will turn up.