Atlanta DJ Blasts Young Jeezy for Payola Tactics

“I’m going to make sure your ass is blackballed, believe it!”

Hot 107.9 on-air personality ET made his personal issues with Young Jeezy known via a scathing, Atlanta nightclub diatribe.

The short clip begins in the midst of the rant, and fails to capture what started the dispute. ET cautions present rappers to not come to stations expecting their music to be played through money payments, otherwise known as payola. He alleges that Jeezy was forced to apologize after trying to use the tactic to obtain record spins to promote his much-delayed Thug Motivation 103 album.

“All that money he had, all that shit he was talking…fuck your money!” ET bellowed. “He had to apologize.”

Payola through radio stations is illegal unless that station discloses the payment on air as “sponsorship.” In recent years, labels have focused on using DJs directly as “third-party” recipients of payola. The third-party title was considered a legal loophole, and allowed labels to still influence radio, as many DJs also work at stations. In addition, labels have turned attention to popular websites and blogs for payola contributions.

At press time, Young Jeezy has not commented on the accusation.

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Something else had to have happened to make ET feel this slighted, because payola is very common. And not just here in Atlanta, but all over the country in all genres of popular music. A few months back, I attended a soul music conference. One of the speakers worked in the marketing department of a major label. During the Q&A, the label employee was asked the minimum budget she could work with to push a new artist. After taking a few moments, she estimated $75,000.

“We have to get a good chunk of that to the DJs to make sure they play the record,” she said matter-of-factly.

I understand why it goes on, despite how counter-productive it is to ensuring good art remains accessible in the mainstream. Payola takes away the choice of the people to decide what is quality. Instead of fans making a record, it’s the one with the biggest duffel bag of money.

Nonetheless, there are still reputable sites out there that put music quality first. And thankfully, the Internet allows fledgling artists to bypass label politics and go straight to the fans. There’s no need to despair over radio, a medium most dedicated Hip-Hop fans wisely began ignoring years ago.

It’ll be interesting to see how Jeezy plays this one in the coming days.