Metro FM radio host, DJ Sabby, spoke on his opinion on how he believes gatekeeping will never end in the music industry due to emotions that affect musicians’ progress.
DJ Sabby: “I think the gatekeeping thing is not going to die anytime soon”
The popular radio host was invited as a guest on DJ Cosmo and Scoop Makhatini’s POPcast podcast.
They used the platform to talk about Uncle Vinny’s newfound success, collaborations, and gatekeeping in Mzansi.
However, they dove deeper into the theory of gatekeeping, which blocks artists from having their art played on radio and other methods of gaining listeners.
Sabby also voiced his opinion on how it mostly happens with rappers in the hip-hop industry adding that gatekeeping will always be around due to people getting personal when it comes to their business.
Obviously, this is not fair as it allows favoured rappers to succeed, while rappers they don’t like suffer from not having their music played.
“I think the gate keeping thing is not going to die anytime soon cause dudes bring their emotions into business you know, just to bring another industry we hear it a lot in the acting community how people are black balled,” said Sabby.
“They’ll say Yo Scoop did this to so and so, f*ck Scoop. You come for castings, they don’t even record when you do an audition,” he added.
Many people feel as if gatekeeping is just a myth and believe if a song is a hit, it should deserve a place on radio waves.
However, many claim it’s a real thing that occurs with many artists and a perfect example is A-Reece, who is one of the biggest rappers in Mzansi, however, you rarely hear his music anywhere on radio channels.
Sabby continued to emphasize his statement.
“Gate keeping is so real in the industry and it’s people who have personal vendettas against you,” Sabby continued.
“Hence I always say just be nice to everyone man because the kid you’re mean to today when they’re trying to get your attention, fast forward three years from now they could be the ones signing your cheques,” Sabby stated.
And it’s not just radio that is the main instigator of gatekeeping, with the industry being able to attack artists in other ways.
Sabby mentioned another case of rappers being gate kept and the artist he mentioned was Emtee Da Hustler.
“When you look at Emtee for example guys. Emtee, everytime he gets to another level something happens,” claimed the DJ.
“Like Logan reached number one on the charts, it’s doing amazing stuff all of a sudden he lost his Instagram account. How? We don’t have to put any names to it but there’s always a another hand at play. Emtee will get to a totally different level, this thing pops up or a scandal breaks out,” he concluded.
Is gatekeeping becoming a real discussion?
It was only last week where we saw Cassper Nyovest voice out his concern about gatekeeping in hip-hop and why Amapiano has become such a successful genre.
However, it was the radio DJ, Rashid Kay who responded to Nyovest’s tweet, rubbishing his claims of gatekeeping.
The discussion about gatekeeping is becoming a real issue in hip-hop and many still debate if it’s really a myth or if it actually happens.