Amid ongoing reports of rappers losing their lives to gun violence, one Hot 97 DJ is making changes. DJ Drewski has been a staple on the famed radio station for years and even made appearances on Love & Hip Hop, and recently, he made an announcement regarding the content he will feature during his show. Drewski has decided that he will no longer play any music related to diss tracks or "gang music," and the response from the public has been mixed, to say the least.
“I’m not supporting no more diss/gang music! If ya dissing each other in the songs, don’t even send it to me!" the DJ wrote on his Instagram Story. "I don’t care if the artist sends it, the label sends it, your big Homie sends it! I will not support or play anymore Diss/Gang records on the radio! We r losing too many young men and women to the streets!"
“If you make drill music, there are a lot of drill songs without dissing your opps or smoking your opps! Step up your pen game and creativity. No reason why every week someone is getting locked up or killed. I can’t change the world, but I can stop supporting the nonsense. I admit I’m a fan of the drill records and supported from the beginning. But it’s only getting worse. SMH.”
Fellow Hot 97 host Ebro Darden issued a call out to others on the radio station when he added, "Ok @sodrewski …. @funkflex what we doing? @tttorrez whats poppin?" Other radio stations and DJs have shared Drewski's message and have also joined the movement by declaring that they, too, won't be spinning those records.
After revealing his plans, Drewski spoke with Complex about what led to his decision.
“I feel music has a super strong influence on our culture and streets,” he said. “So when we keep showcasing and promoting these records that are inciting violence it just adds fuel to the fire. When we make it cool on major platforms to go ‘shoot up the opps’ we are sending the wrong message.”
"Radio DJs like myself are supporting it and record labels are putting money behind it and it’s just getting out of control. Every week another young man or woman is getting killed or going to jail. There will always be violence in the hood because of the way it’s structured but I won’t be the one to add to this broken system.”
He also clarified that a diss record “is when you name an individual or specific gang in your lyrics insinuating you are looking to do harm to them. Even when you mention a deceased person and insinuate you are ‘smoking on your dead opps’ like that’s not cool. The genre is at a point it can grow and the artist making the music can level it up.”
Do you think that more DJs should follow suit?