What’s happening between DJ Akademiks and Maino? Online beef explained

Culture
DJ Akademiks attends Complex's inaugural List[ed] event at Zaytinya on October 24, 2025 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Bryan Steffy/Getty Images for Complex)

DJ Akademiks and Maino have been embroiled in a beef in recent times. The beef started when DJ Akademiks called out Fabulous as old-fashioned for wearing a headband. This led to Maino calling out DJ Akademiks for teasing his long-time friend, stating in an episode of his podcast:

"Akademiks, I know you not talking. You got the audacity to be speaking on what n***as is wearing?… You built like a d*ke […] a wet bag of laundry […] a jar of relish."

Akademiks then retaliated in another livestream, stating:

"You couldn’t win a rap battle. Don’t come over here thinking you could win a battle on these microphones… I’m Jay-Z, Kareem, Wilt, Michael Jordan, and Tom Brady rolled up in one. You can’t f**k with me."

This then led to Maino digging up Akademiks' old viral audio clip, where he is heard stating that there is no difference between 17-year-olds and 21-year-olds, a comment for which he faced backlash at the time as well. Speaking after posting that clip of Akademiks, Maino added:

"You got too many things going on. The only thing that belongs to you on the internet is your ti***es and that bottle of Hennessy."

This led to the DJ Akademiks bringing on other people into the feud. He posted a tweet of Charleston calling him and pointing out that Maino himself was accused of s*xual assault in the past, possibly referencing the Melanie Monroe accusation in 2014, which was dismissed based on the examination of video evidence.

In another post, Troy Ave is featured, who calls Maino a snitch, aka an informant. Ave suggested that Maino got out of jail for his robbery case after serving 10 years for it in the 1990s by snitching. He also suggested that people knew Maino was a snitch, but they let it be because he was young at the time.

Troy Ave is a long-time rival of Maino and was previously involved in a shooting incident that also involved Maino's girlfriend at the time, Maggie Carrie Heckstall. Hackstall was shot in the leg during the incident. Troy Ave's bodyguard, Ronald McPhatter, was killed in the shooting.


DJ Akademiks has been involved in several other beefs as well

DJ Akademiks has been involved in numerous other feuds as well. One of the more notable feuds he has been involved in is his feud with Meek Mill.

The feud with Meek Mill started back in 2010, with Akademiks claiming that Mill was upset at Akademiks for not promoting his album. The podcaster went on to claim that he was threatened by Meek and his compatriots for that reason.

Later on in 2020, Meek Mill called for Akademiks to be canceled. In 2024, Akademiks called out Meek Mill as being involved in the Diddy case, which Meek Mill took offense to, reigniting their feud.

Another person DJ Akademiks has a beef with is Yung Miami. Akademiks has had a long-standing social media animosity with Miami. The latest incident involved Akademiks calling out Miami for not speaking out against Diddy after the start of his lawsuits. Akademiks has also been involved in spats with Meghan Thee Stallion, after he took the side of Tory Lanez, who shot Stallion.

In other news, DJ Akademiks was recently banned by Twitch after he made inappropriate and s*xually explicit comments to a 15-year-old minor. Before that, in 2024, he was accused of assault by Fauziya "Ziya" Abashe.

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Edited by Amey Mirashi