In another startlingly foolish move, the RIAA, the oft-maligned industry watchdog group of the music biz, pushed authorities into raiding the offices and studios of Gangsta Grillz, the mixtape empire run by acclaimed DJ Drama. Coming down hard, the raid involved a SWAT team and resulted in the arrest of Drama and his colleague Don Cannon as well as the seizure of their computers, studio equipment, thousands of mixtape CDs and even their cars.

According to the always sensational Fox News, the raid was provoked by the RIAA seeking to crack down on "bootlegging" and "counterfit" CDs. However, mixtapes like those in the Gangsta Grillz series are not exactly bootlegs or counterfit in any way. According to most folks knowledgeable about this shadowy side of the hip hop music industry, mixtapes are generally unlicensed, meaning that they feature instrumentals without appropriate clearance as well as vocal contributions from artists under contract to multinational record labels.

That said, they are in instrumental part of the promotional mix, and many record labels actually have staff dedicated to "mixtape" promotion." In the news clip on Fox Atlanta's website documenting the raid on Gangsta Grillz, there is a quick shot of a platinum plaque for TI's King, one of the biggest rap records of 2006 and one which was launched in no small part thanks to the support of Drama and Gangsta Grillz. The RIAA grants these plaques, one of which found its way to Drama's studio via TI's label or the artist himself, indicating a level of cooperation between label, artist and mixtape DJ that this raid has ignored.

Further muddying the waters, many of the Gangsta Grillz mixtapes are hosted by major label artists, who actually pay to be involved, which indicates that the artists and record labels are working hand in hand with mixtape DJs to generate buzz even while the music industry itself is launching a fullscale assault on the practice. This isn't the first time the RIAA has cracked down on the mixtape world. A couple years ago, they raided New York's Kim's CD store, arresting the manager and several employees for stocking unlicensed promotional mixtapes like those produced by Cannon and Drama. This is the first time, however, that the RIAA has prompted authorities to launch a full scale investigation of the DJs themselves or pushed for their actual arrest.

In an interesting side note to all of this, fellow mixtape kingpin Clinton Sparks, owner of Mix Unit has said that he understands that Drama and Canon were targeted for tax evasion and failure to pay royalties. While the story on Fox depicts the DJs as renegade bootleggers, running a well staffed but wholly illicit business, the truth may in fact be somewhat more mundane. The DJs, who are selling upwards of 50,000 mixes a month, may not have adequately accounted for their business. As it grew into the influential powerhouse it is, perhaps the RIAA started feeling like they were making too much profit off of their promotional mixes and helped contrive this raid to bring the business back down to the small-scale operation it used to be.

Learn more about this situation here, here and here.

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