DJ Akademiks, like many others in hip-hop culture, still has Kendrick Lamar on his mind despite him not dropping any music recently... Yet. That's because the battle with Drake is still on everyone's mind, whether due to ICEMAN or due to K.Dot and his status still being a hotly discussed piece of context and contention for rap discourse. But beyond the pgLang creative, Ak thinks there are no other artists from the West Coast that have any significant "motion" right now.
In a livestream clip caught by Akademiks TV, he reflected on Kendrick's success over his career but also his absences, and claimed the only relevant bit of music out of the West Coast these days is Fenix Flexin's "RUBBERZ." Of course, that track had some AI assistance, so it's not exactly a compliment.
"They're all begging at the feet of Kendrick Lamar, the only guy with clout," Akademiks claimed. "I love you guys on the West Coast, but y'all got zero motion. There's nothing going on over there. It's a bunch of floppers... The hottest thing after Kendrick on the West Coast right now is an AI song. Let's think about that one. 'Watch The Party Die'? He watched the Coast die... Dead. And they don't want to admit that... Everybody was having this hoorah about The Game and YG doing a Verzuz. YG can't sell 20K. YG got more buzz for a murder than he got for music... Somebody got to say it... At least when the Coast was dead, Game threw that b***h on his back. Carried it for a while... [After Kendrick's battle,] No help, no tweets, no nothing. L.A. rap is dead."
Read More: Is The Game Looking For Beef With Kendrick Lamar?
Kendrick Lamar & The Game Beef
For those unaware, DJ Akademiks referred to Kendrick Lamar and The Game's tensions in this clip, albeit indirectly. He more directly criticized both artists for the feud, whether it was Game optically seeming jealous or Lamar allegedly not rightfully reciprocating respect.
Of course, there are many West Coast artists doing great right now in hip-hop, such as Baby Keem with Ca$ino (if we're expanding this out of California) and earlier drops like Tyler, The Creator. But we'll see if the West Coast has a big moment soon that matches the ruckus around Kendrick's success.
