AkademiksTV, the “news and updates” page owned (but not run) by DJ Akademiks, made several negative posts about SZA following the online altercation between her and Nicki Minaj, which caught the attention of TDE president Terrence “Punch” Henderson. Of course, Minaj and SZA were involved in a quarrel on X (formerly Twitter) on July 15 and 16. After Minaj unloaded on Punch, deeming him a “liar” and accusing him of bullying, harassment, and engaging in a smear campaign against her, SZA issued a post about “not taking the bait.”
Minaj and the Barbz interpreted the post as a sneak diss in Minaj’s direction. Minaj went on a lengthy diatribe against SZA, saying she sang like a “dead dog,” was faking her streams, called her miserable and a “fake girl’s girl,” and made several insulting assertions about her face and body. SZA responded by citing her successes and coming with a screenshot of Minaj asking Punch if she was available for a feature. The feud between those two specifically cooled down quite a bit after SZA provided a receipt. However, Minaj threw in another dig about her alleged fake streams.
The specific posts that caught Punch’s attention came when the person behind the Akademiks TV page called her a derogatory slang term, and another where they made what was supposed to be a joke about SZA’s perceived changes in religion, which did not land as intended. From there, Punch and Akademiks exchanged several tweets to one another. This included allegations that a surprising figure was behind the demeaning captions about SZA. But what was said and what has the fallout been?
What Happened Between DJ Akademiks And SZA?
Akademiks and SZA have been feuding since 2017, after the media personality made several disparaging remarks about her. Back then, he made fun of her appearance before getting cosmetic surgery. The comments led to the jeopardization of the relationship between SZA/TDE and Complex. SZA then made an appearance on the Akademiks and Joe Budden-hosted show Everyday Struggle, without knowing about the comments before then. He’s bodyshamed SZA multiple times since then, saying that she was “as fat” as him. “You w***es are fat, just like me. […] You suck that fat out of [your chin] and put it into your a** and your a** be looking lopsided,” he said in a scathing rant from August 2023.
He also called the singer a “fat mini Lizzo” in the same rant, adding fuel to a long-running fire that has not quite gone out. About a week later, Punch sent out a tweet, saying that Akademiks “has to answer for the disrespectful things he said about SZA.” Akademiks initially pushed back on those comments, saying “none of y’all are Suge Knight” and that Punch “don’t strike fear in [his] heart.” However, Akademiks did eventually apologize for those specific remarks on stream. He sent her “love and light,” adding that he was going to continue to do so, and that he was happy she puts out music that people enjoy. Clearly, there is still no love lost between the two. He recently confirmed that SZA still had him blocked on X.
Read More: DJ Akademiks' 7 Biggest Beefs
AkademiksTV Takes The First Shots, Punch Questions The Page
Shortly after the spat between Nicki Minaj and SZA on July 15, the AkademiksTV account made a post. The post included a clip of Akademiks recounting his past comments to SZA on Kick. During the clip, he claimed that Drake and SZA were sleeping with each other at one point. He also said that she cried to Drake after Akademiks made the aforementioned comments. He further detailed that Drake asked him to apologize so the two could finish recording “Rich Baby Daddy” and “Slime You Out,” both of which appeared on For All the Dogs. Akademiks previously said that it was the first time he ever received an actual phone call from Drake. AkademiksTV posted the stream clip and labeled SZA a “treesh,” which is a New York City slang term that describes promiscuous women. Punch saw the caption and told Akademiks to “chill” and to give him a call. “Let’s just keep it cool this time around,” he wrote in his first response to the page.
The page made another post that compiled three different SZA Instagram Stories. Two of them feature SZA paying respect to her Muslim roots, while the other one features Christian imagery. “One day she’s Muslim, the next day she’s Christian,” read the caption. That prompted Punch to quote the post, tagging Akademiks directly in a question he had for the infamously confrontational figure. “Ayo… didn’t you say that the homeboy personally write the captions for Akademiks TV? Or were you capping when you said it?” Punch’s quote immediately led to the deletion of the original post. But, his reply lives on.
Read More: SZA & Nicki Minaj Twitter Beef, Explained
Akademiks Responds To Punch’s Inquiry
Akademiks responded to Punch by asking him who “homeboy” was. “You know who homeboy is,” Punch replied. Punch’s ominousness came with an implication that Drake was actually the mastermind behind the account’s captions, and that he wrote the ones that were disrespectful to SZA. Akademiks quickly jumped on that insinuation, firing off the first in several tweets about AkademiksTV and who actually runs the page. “Oh I love this. Let’s clarify and set the record straight. Drake never wrote a caption on my page. I have a team that does it,” he wrote in a statement. He restated the story he told on his Kick stream, where the only reason he stopped being as hard on SZA was because Drake told him to walk back statements so they could finish recording the songs for For All The Dogs.
Akademiks also conceded that the page is run by “heavy Drake fans” like himself. However, he also said said that if the rapper doesn’t respond to what they post, it’s because he doesn’t care. He then revealed part of his recent conversation with Anthony Saleh, Kendrick Lamar’s longtime manager. The two spoke on June 11, when Akademiks attended the Detroit stop on Lamar and SZA’s co-headlining Grand National tour. Per Akademiks, Saleh paid for a private investigator to look into who actually runs AkademiksTV, and Saleh told Akademiks his name.
Akademiks Rants About Issues Stemming From The Kendrick Lamar & Drake Beef
After Punch’s initial questioning, Akademiks had several more tweets to let off about some of the more behind-the-scenes aspects of the Kendrick Lamar and Drake battle. He posted about several conversations he had with people around the battle. Some of the names included Saleh and Dave Free (Lamar’s best friend and longtime creative partner). He revealed that Saleh asked Akademiks to tell his employees to ease up on the captions that include non-public people. Saleh’s reasoning was they were not involved in the battle and shouldn’t be mentioned. Akademiks said he agreed, though he questioned why Saleh got mad at fans for getting personal when Drake and Lamar were the ones who went there first. Akademiks also revealed that Free was very upset with what Drake said about Lamar’s children. Again, he questioned why so many people were talking to him about what Drake said instead of talking to Drake himself.
“Tde acting like fans made up the dave free dot kid angle… the Whitney DV allegations and basically the posting of non public ppl like Anthony getting posted by drake. N***a Drake violated yall like that fans just laughed and indulged yall made millions and on tour too,” he wrote in one of his many tweets about the situation. He also suggested that Drake and Kendrick Lamar need to “take accountability” for their actions during the feud. He pointed to how divided the situation left fans. “Until u two grown men do that .. both of yall stfu. Yall made MILLIONS,” he stated. After concluding his tweet barrage, he told Punch to focus on the fact that Nicki Minaj called him a liar. “N***a wats that s**t bout let’s [get] back on topic,” he wrote.
Read More: Meek Mill & Akademiks Beef Timeline
Punch And Akademiks Trade More Words, The Dialogue Fizzles Out
Punch responded to Akademiks’ post by reiterating his question about whether Drake handles the negative captions toward SZA or not. He followed up by saying that he had no issues with what Drake said during the battle, as it’s a battle and he was “supposed to say” what he said. Instead, he claimed to be looking for “clarity” on the personal insults that had nothing to do with the battle (i.e. Drake posting photos of Anthony Saleh during the feud or the more recent captions about SZA).
Akademiks responded to the post. He once again said that Drake has no involvement with the content that is posted on AkademiksTV. “Drake don’t and can’t write our captions. However we fw him n he fw us. Last time he was the only reason I let up off sza. Nobody else . That was the point,” he said. Punch responded to that statement by simply writing “Ok.” After that, he made one last post pertaining to the words he and Akademiks had, calling out the replies for being “angry.” Akademiks did not have much else to say on X after that. “Tde beefin wit @AkademiksTV more than Drake is crazy,” he wrote. The two have not interacted since, but the simmering tension was on display for fans to see.
Akademiks Gets On Live, Says He Checked Drake Over Dealing With Kendrick’s Team
On July 17, Akademiks went live on Instagram to address issues pertaining to Drake, SZA, and TDE. He revisited some of the stories he’d previously told on stream and added additional information to them. He stated that both XO (The Weeknd’s camp) and TDE are upset with him over his posts. Later, he told a story about Drake attempting to press him over being scared of Kendrick Lamar’s team. “When Drake told me that s**t and was like ‘yo, bro they had you scared,’ I said ‘Drake, I pulled up, are you gonna pull up?’” He didn’t stop there. “I’m the most b***h made n***a in the game, and I’m pulling up, I’m seeing people. Y’all are the thugs, y’all ain’t seeing nobody!”
Akademiks intended on attending Kendrick Lamar’s show in Toronto, but passport issues prevented him from leaving the country. “They’re coming to your city, are you pulling up?” he claimed to have told Drake directly. He reiterated that all of these disputes are for content, and no one is actually “crashing out” over these things. Based on how things have gone in the 14 months since the end of the Drake-Kendrick Lamar battle, Akademiks’ run-in with Punch will probably not be the last time the controversial media personality engages with someone from TDE.
