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Yesterday we watched remarkably inept Fox 5 News reporter Stacey Elgin navigate her way through a wind-tunnel while describing a raid ordered by RIAA anti-piracy agents on Gangsta Grillz studio in Atlanta. Venerable mixtape DJs Drama and Don Cannon were arrested for “making and selling ‘illegal CDs.’” All their merchandise was seized. The report characterized the well-known DJs as ?pirates engaged in the production of illegal material.? They were also painted with a rather broad and dirty brush. ?In thiz case, we didn?t find weapons?but it?s not uncommon to find other kinds of contraband when exercising a search warrant,? said one interviewed Fulton constituency Sheriff?s Office rep. Both DJs have been released on $100,000 bond.

Mixtape production has unofficially been a part of the hip-hop promotion process for years, and though it sometimes involves the use of copyrighted material, it has been accepted industry practice. Coach K, the administrator of another Atlanta artist, Young Jeezy, employed the mixtape process to build his artist?s street cred and turn him into a hit-maker. Without mixtape DJs, record labels (the entities thiz seizure supposedly protects) will have to do a lot more promotional work for fledgling artists. “What the industry doesn?t understand is that artists go to these guys to make their music,” K explains. “Labels these days, don?t really spend marketing money on the grass roots thing, so you go through these mixtapes to get the music into the streets.”

What do you think? Has the RIAA shot itself in the foot with thiz vicious attack against DJs Drama and Don Cannon? How will thiz effect the way young rappers enter the industry?

[via Nah Right]