DJ Akademiks

Livingston Allen (born May 17, 1991), professionally known as DJ Akademiks is an American media personality, Youtuber, podcast host, and rapper. His Youtube channel and social media pages, which have amassed over 7 million combined followers and 1 billion views, are known for their coverage of Hip-Hop related news and gossip. Allen is also known as the co-host of Everyday Struggle on Complex from 2017 until the show’s ending in 2020. He currently hosts a podcast named Off the Record featuring interviews and roundtable discussions with major Hip-Hop personalities, releasing three episodes each week on Spotify. Allen also raps under the name Lil AK, having released his debut single "Blue Clues" in April 2018.

Early Life

Allen was born in Spanish Town, Jamaica and moved to New York City when he was in high school. During high school, Allen found solace in Hip-hop music and began to post blogs to Rap forums. After high school, he attended Rutgers University majoring in Biomathematics. During his time at Rutgers, Allen began to DJ and adopted the name DJ Akademiks, hosting a radio show and experimenting with music production. Allen has cited his upbringing with immigrant parents as instilling his work ethic.

Career

DJ Akademiks
Born	Livingston Allen May 17, 1991 Spanish Town, Jamaica
🏫 Education	Rutgers University
💼 Occupation	Media Personality, Youtuber
Television	Everyday Struggle

Early Career (2012–2016)

Following his time in college radio and DJing local events, Allen started the website latenightcreep.com in October 2012 and an associated Youtube channel "LateNightCreepVids" focusing on Hip-hop entertainment news and gossip. While early videos featured interviews with personalities such as Charlamagne Da God and Ms Drama as well as album reviews, he found early success with the unique video style he is now known for, featuring a mix of fact-based and opinionated voiceover commentary over still images and often humorous GIFs covering the day’s news and gossip in Hip-hop. Allen is notable for his prolific output, releasing multiple videos each day, every day, over the course of many years. In July 2015, his original channel had been suspended, and he began uploading to his current channel to which he still uploads to this day.

Everyday Struggle and podcast (2017-present)

On April 17, 2017, Allen began co-hosting Everyday Struggle, a daily morning show for Complex, with Joe Budden and Nadeska Alexis. The show quickly became highly watched for its roundtable discussions of daily hip-hop news, which resulted in spirited and heated exchanges between Allen and Budden. In addition, Allen and Budden would frequently have confrontational exchanges with notable Hip-hop personalities and performers as guests on the show, such as Lil Yachty, Vic Mensa, and the Migos. Budden left the show and was temporarily replaced with New York radio personality Star, and then by artist management veteran Wayno in 2018. Allen continued on the show with Wayno and Alexis until its cancellation in December 2020.

Following the end of Everyday Struggle, Allan continued his broadcast career; in September 2021, Allan started the Off the Record podcast, published three times a week exclusively on Spotify. The show features roundtable discussions and in-depth interviews with prominent Hip-hop artists and personalities, and has featured guests such as 21 Savage, Rich the Kid, Soulja Boy, and Tekashi 6ix9ine.

Other Ventures

Allan also began to stream on Twitch in November of 2016, but had begun to do so in earnest at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, experiencing growth to over 300,000 followers. Allen also raps under the name Lil AK, uploading his first single "Blues Clues" to his youtube channel in April 2018. As his rap persona, he dons colored dreadlocks and parodies modern rap trends and aesthetics. His subsequent songs and videos have been featured on WorldStarHipHop's Youtube channel. Allen also collaborated with Tekashi 6ix9ine on the songs "LANES" and "GATA".

Controversies and Feuds

Due to the content on his Youtube channel, Twitter, and Everyday Struggle Allen has been involved in numerous feuds that have manifested on social media and in real life, including ones with Vic Mensa, Chrissy Tiegen, Freddie Gibbs, the Migos, Nav, Meek Mill, Casanova, Desus Nice, and the Kid Mero.

Vic Mensa

From 2014–2017, Allen actively maintained a Youtube channel titled "The war in Chiraq" solely focused on coverage of Chicago gang violence and Drill artists who had been involved. Chicago rapper Vic Mensa appeared on the June 19, 2017 episode of Everyday Struggle. During the episode Mensa told Allen "I wanted to slap you in your face", for what Mensa perceived to be sensationalized and trivializing coverage of Chicago gang violence, Chicago Drill music, and the deaths of individuals associated with the scene. The abrupt and unexpected moment later went viral on social media. On the episode the following day, Allen later clarified his respect for Chicago artists, and his wish to never disrespect an artist who was a victim of violence. Allen later further antagonized Mensa in the lyrics to his debut single "Blues Clues". After Allen discussed Mensa's public criticism of Tekashi 6ix9ine, in July 2018, Mensa stated on social media "it's on sight for you when I see you", and went on to call Allen several profanities.

Tekashi 6ix9ine

Allen has a close association with Brooklyn rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine, having been an early proponent of his music, and later having been seen with him publicly, and collaborating with him on music. During the Trial of the Nine Trey Gangsters, in which 6ix9ine was heavily involved, Allen's involvement in the matter was brought into question. Allen denied all involvement and had no involvement in the trial. While 6ix9ine's role as a witness in Nine Trey Gangsters trial was heavily condemned and criticized by the Hip-hop community, Allen maintained support for 6ix9ine through the trial, and has featured 6ix9ine on his Off the Record podcast following his release from prison.

Chrissy Tiegen and Complex suspension

In July 2020 while streaming on Twitch, Allen alleged that Tiegen had "sneak-dissed" him and proceeded to call her derogatory names and insult her physical appearance. He further criticized her husband John Legend's recent album sales. The rant was widely received as misogynistic, and Allen was suspended from Complex shortly after. Following the cancellation of Everyday Struggle on Complex in December of that year, Allen himself cited the controversy with Tiegen as being a precipitating factor, stating that Complex had expressed he had made content he "probably shouldn't [have] been engaged in"

References

This article "DJ Akadamiks" is from Wikipedia. The list of its authors can be seen in its historical and/or the page Edithistory:DJ Akadamiks. Articles copied from Draft Namespace on Wikipedia could be seen on the Draft Namespace of Wikipedia and not main one.

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