Source: Robin L Marshall / Getty
We’ve heard plenty from Black celebrities about things they are often pressured to do behind the scenes by gatekeepers in their respective industries in order to succeed. Katt Williams even touched on it a little in his viral (to put it mildly) interview with Shannon Sharpe on Club Shay Shay. Now, Louisiana rapper Dee-1 is getting candid about his experiences in the rap industry, which he said includes being propositioned by “gatekeepers” who wanted sexual favors for a lucrative record deal.
During an interview with Art of Dialogue published on Wednesday, the “I Don’t Wanna Let You Down” artist spoke on rap industry executives who control which artists get signed to deals on major labels, who gets on “some major media platforms” and who gets on “mainstream radio.”
“Bro I’ve had gatekeepers in the music industry who have literally tried to hold a record deal behind their back and let me know like, ‘Look, if you a part of this homosexual act that I’m tryna take part in? Yeah, come on! This door will open real quick for you,’” Dee-1 said. “I got a song where I’ve talked about that before called ‘The Devil’s Playground.’”
“This is real, dog,” he continued. “And the only way that type of stuff can work on you is if you let them have all the leverage to where you want what’s behind that gate that bad. So that’s a real thing.”
And as a certain comedian once said, “You gotta tell’em no.”
The “Against Us” rapper is known for being outspoken and challenging the morals of fellow rappers like Rick Ross, Meek Mill and Jim Jones, whom he recently got into somewhat of a beef with after saying they need to consider their lyrics’ impact on their communities. He has since backpedaled on those comments and said he hopes he, Ross, Mill and Jones can all be friends.
Anyway, you can watch Dee-1’s full Art of Dialogue interview below.
