"The Labels Are Leaking The Music Themselves & Acting Like It's Not Them"

[As having music released without consent rapidly becomes today rapper's inevitable fate, NY's Power 105.1 mixshow spinner DJ O. Minaya gives his take on why he believes the leaks are more of an inside job than most would expect.]

Leaking a record is usually like when you get an exclusive [nobody] else has. That's a little bit easier because you're going to be the first [deejay] to play it. But breaking a record is a little bit harder because you're getting it from people trying to push it hard and [the song may not be] as good as [the promoters] think it is.
You usually have to put extra effort into breaking a record. But it comes with the business. If you're a good deejay, you can make any record sound good. You can make any record sound good and brainwash people. That's the way the game is though.

These days, the labels are leaking the music themselves and they're acting like it's not them. A lot of times, deejays don't even care. They'll be like, "I'm going to play this joint. I got it early." But then somef times labels will try to play the deejay. It's a psychological game they play, like, "Oh, you're the only one that's got it," meanwhile they don't know how many of us deejays know each other and who has the record. So they're playing the same story on them.

These days, they're just trying to get anything they can get. Nobody is buying records, really. And so you have the labels trying to push whatever they can.

If a record is hot, then I'll play it. But a lot of times, when it comes to those [beef diss records], they won't even last a week. It will generate buzz for a second but a lot of times, they're not even a hot record that you can play.

DJ O. Minaya who was born in the South Bronx, New York began his DJ career at the age of 12. Before he was known as DJ O. Minaya he was a simple boy from the Bronx who enjoyed music. This is the life of someone who was destined to be a DJ. Once introduced to a turntable at the age 12, he took flight and knew this was just the beginning. By 1999 DJ O.Minaya broke into the club scene, and knew there wasn't a crowd he couldn't cater to, creating a following with various promoters and consumers. DJ O. Minaya is now known as The Most Diverse DJ. He is now part of Da Union, a select group of the best DJs in New York City.

(sohh exclusive)