[8] Akademiks's mother left him and his brother back in Jamaica and migrated to the United States, where she worked many jobs, lived in sub-par conditions, and eventually paid an American man $20,000 USD to marry her so she could legally become a US citizen as quickly as possible.

[11] His first YouTube channel titled DJ Akademiks created in October 2012[12] initially highlighted his university disc jockey sessions, interviews, and Hip-Hop/Rap opinions.

[15] The channel played a substantial role in rendering the early Chicago drill music scene accessible to a wider audience.

[20] Since February 2023, this channel was primarily used to host and preserve full-length YouTube livestreams by DJ Akademiks and in September 2023, it was renamed to "The Akademy".

[21] Aside from regularly posting and growing his DJ Akademiks YouTube channel, Instagram account, and Twitter account, from April 2017, to December 2020,[22][23][24] DJ Akademiks co-hosted Everyday Struggle, a daily morning show for Complex, with Joe Budden (eventually replaced by Star, and finally Wayno) and Nadeska Alexis.

[32] In September 2022, podcast host and former rapper Joe Budden criticized DJ Akademiks for sharing a video clip of rapper PnB Rock, speaking about being a potential robbery target, several days after PnB Rock had been shot to death in a robbery attempt.

[33] That same month, hip-hop pioneers LL Cool J,[3] MC Lyte,[34] Russell Simmons,[35] and Spice 1[36] criticized DJ Akademiks for calling older rappers "dusty".

[37] DJ Akademiks said his intention to begin streaming exclusively on Rumble was due to the monetary offer he was provided and also for their lax moderation policies surrounding speech.

[44] In January 2025 in a video game chat, DJ Akademiks made explicit and sexual remarks in relation to a 15-year-old streamer, which received a high level of criticism.