DJ Akademiks Vows To Police Lil Baby’s “FRESH” Numbers: “No Botted Streams Will Get Past Me”
DJ Akademiks is not letting Lil Baby’s FRESH rollout breathe. With Baby’s new album in its first week, Ak went on a full run of posts on X and appointed himself the chart police for the week: “I’m on Spotify and Apple ass this week. No botted streams will get past me. Trust me. Let that boy receive that flop in peace.” He doubled down with the election bit: “I’m hand counting the streams like it’s election results .. dw im counting the ballot boxes even if it takes me all night 😂😂😂😂😂”
The shots kept coming. “Lil Baby flopping this week is actually good for the game. Time to slow down wit all that bs music! Give gunna back his style and lane!” Ak wrote. He also says he has reached out to Billboard and Luminate to warn them about “fraudulent sales” — bundle finesse, bulk-bought copies, all of it. To be clear, those are Akademiks’ claims and his claims only: he has presented no evidence of any fraud, and Billboard, Luminate, Spotify and Apple Music have not said one word about FRESH. He even dug into the vault and resurfaced a post from 2016, from back when he told Young Thug, “Boy slow down dropping all that BS music…” Same energy, new target.
So what does the actual sales picture look like? FRESH dropped Friday, November 6, and the tracking week is not even closed yet — there are no official numbers. Talk of the Charts is projecting around 60K first-week units, and that is a projection, not a final count. Ak has already laid down his marker anyway: “Remember if yall see the final numbers like 80k. his label bought 20k copies. Love yall capitol / QC but yall can’t save dis one! A Fresh Flop.” Meanwhile, FRESH tracks sat at the top of the US Apple Music song charts on release, and even Ak admits Baby runs stronger on Apple.
The timing is what makes the whole thing spicy. Just days ago, Baby sat down with Nessa on HOT 97 and said the “fell off” talk is basically engagement bait — say the Baby album is trash and watch the numbers move. Now the loudest voice in the numbers game is spending his entire week trying to make the flop narrative stick before the first official count even lands.
So let’s keep it a stack: is Akademiks really policing the game, or is he just farming Lil Baby’s rollout for a moment? Sound off in the comments.
Story via HotNewHipHop.
Read next: Lil Baby On The “Fell Off” Talk: “Hip Hop Has Fallen Off — But I’m Hip Hop”
