DJ Akademiks linked up with Drake earlier this year to help with his ICEMAN stream and get his OVO chain. While some fans clown the dynamic, Akademiks doesn't mind the hate if it means he's standing by the music he loves. During ComplexCon yesterday (Saturday, October 3) in Los Angeles, he, Adam22, French Montana, and Jordan Rose had a panel to debate about 2026's album of the year, and he took the chance to throw some criticism at J. Cole and The Fall-Off as well.
Complex caught a moment in which Ak explained why he didn't take his OVO chain to the event, making a reference to the Kendrick Lamar battle. "L.A n***as was gon' try to snatch it," he remarked. "I thought Kendrick put a bounty on it." Akademiks also said he wanted to get Drizzy and French to collab again.
He also explained why he believes ICEMAN is the album of the year. "Drake do everything better than everybody. He made the best West Coast song... He made the Florida joint that's bumping... Y'all n***as talk about rap? Shout out to all the West Coast rappers, but y'all need to pick up a stick. My boy Drake was rapping his a** off... My boy's really giving it up... I like when your number is called, and your back is against the wall, and you answer it... If he didn't come out with a joint like ICEMAN, the new Ja Rule would've been Drake... But now, we see he's still back number one. This album is the reason why. He answered everybody, he didn't show that he was obsessive, all these songs are lasting, and he's doing it without a label."
Drake & J. Cole's Albums
But ComplexCon is an L.A. event, so many folks in the audience didn't agree. HipHopKlipz36 on Twitter caught how 60% of audience members who voted in a poll thought ICEMAN was overrated.
As for DJ Akademiks' thoughts on J. Cole, he compared the Dreamville MC to Kawhi Leonard concerning his album The Fall-Off. "I was let down," Ak said. "I was never no super fan of him, 'cause I knew he wasn't like that in terms of him being an MC. It's not about talent, 'cause I do think he got the talent.. When we look at the top rappers in the game, you have to have that will to be number one... Talking about basketball, Kobe [Bryant] had it.
"J. Cole's like Kawhi..." he continued. "I was one of the people who, in the year right before the battle... I was saying that Cole was rapping the best... On this album... I thought he was going to wow us so much, we wouldn't give a f**k that he fell back out the battle... I just feel like it fell short of that... He's been hyping it for three albums... It's not a bad project. But for a guy who I know personally could go toe-to-toe, whether it's him with Kendrick, him with Drake, he was supposed to give us some s**t that was supposed to last a year. That s**t was out of here in three weeks."
