“Even if black people were not here, it would be someone else. Akala describes himself to us as “a hip-hop artist, writer, and educator” (on his website, “historian” replaces “educator,” but the point still stands). It's a buoyant, addictive, charming piece of alt-pop... Plus, check out the new single from the Beats In Space lynchpin... Sadie Dupuis breaks down her remarkable new album... What hope is there for musicians in 2020...?

Correlation, of course, does not prove causation – but that doesn’t mean it’s not interesting to map trends across the decades. It’s not rocket science: if you challenge very dominant, powerful people then they can get upset with you sometimes.”. Because that, by definition, means that their own parents are also whatever the latest insult is for poor people.” The way rap has been used over the years, he says, has distorted it. Like it’s Bounty Killer.” This, he suggests, is one of the reasons why Jamaica has produced so many great songwriters – because they grew up listening to country music.

This is something that Akala appears acutely aware of. Social media and the Web more generally have seen an apparent redistribution of influence; reams of so-called ‘alternative news’ sites seek to challenge the alleged social and political agendas of the mainstream media. I haven’t seen that level of ‘fuck foreigners,’ basically, being acceptable.”. In 2006, grime was hitting its peak after a couple of golden years; today we see the same names that were previously found scrawled across car boot white labels topping the charts and picking up Mercury Prizes. “The biggest music in Jamaica, you’d never guess what it is,” he says, “it’s fucking country music. And what does moving forward mean for Akala today? “I’m kind of happy that there’s so much independence because it gives artists the freedom to speak out, to say what they want,” Akala offers, “to create the music and the culture – in many ways it’s reminiscent of early hip-hop.”. This high valuation of genuine dialogue and mutual co-development is today more vital than ever, and not only because of the social echo chambers within which technology has helped us to enclose ourselves. In Jamaica, you will go to the ghetto of the ghetto of the ghetto and the baddest man on the block will be playing Celine Dion. “Cultural exchange has always occurred. Rapper, poet and scholar Akala joins James O’Brien for a scintillating interview, in which they discuss two issues that run to the heart of modern Britain: race and class. A common by-product of confirmation bias, and something that has come to thrive in the Internet age, is the conspiracy theory. Ultimately though, what underpins this is something much greater – and less tenuous. “I think in ten years time I’ll be 60% writer, 30% educator, 10% hip-hop artist,” he says, “I’ve got a lot of books that I want to write, and a lot of direct education work that I want to do.” This includes a plan to build a school, or a learning foundation, based on a philosophy of getting the most out of every individual student and creating an environment in which the teachers are learning from their students as much as the other way around. An audience with the hip-hop artist, writer, and educator... On his new album, relationship with Kanye, and the legacy of Nipsey Hussle... Will Toledo on the creative chase that underpins their work... Paul Klein on their new album, dating, and heartbreak... K-Pop idols break fresh ground on their new single... Havana Club Presents Image Gang's Cultural Story, A$AP Rocky and Justin Bieber Celebrate Fifty Years Of Calvin Klein, Kai Isaiah-Jamal Models Christopher Shannon x Atlantic Records, Silver Synthetic's 'Unchain Your Heart' Indulges In A Little Time Travel, Listen: Maths Time Joy - 'Two Steps' (feat. The vitriolic soundbites will no doubt stir something in many of his existing fans – and undoubtedly new ones too – but they feel more hollow now than in the past. Somewhat thankfully, Akala is not a person you’d likely find after performing such a search, though he is occasionally guilty of falling into the same trap with which we knowingly began our conversation: conflating correlation with causation. “In many ways, ten years later the issues are the same,” he tells us, “I feel equally cynical about the state of the world – it’s a constant fight and a constant negotiation.”. ...if you challenge very dominant, powerful people then they can get upset with you sometimes. In the few minutes we spend chatting outside the pub after the interview has formally ended, Akala is approached separately by a shy-looking female student, a man who looks to be in his late-twenties/early thirties, and a middle-aged private hire driver who pulls in to say hello (his passengers in the back recognise the rapper too).

“You start to look at a pattern of the kind of artists that get killed or end up in prison: Bob Marley got shot and mysteriously dies of cancer, John Lennon got shot,” he says, eyebrows raised, “You know, I’m not saying that definitely all of these people got killed, I’m just saying it’s very interesting. He goes on: “When rappers who come from poor communities spend most of their songs disrespecting poor people, I find that really interesting. This year has seen a noticeable shift in this status quo, or perhaps just the realisation that going it alone is not only possible but perhaps more lucrative too. In the few minutes we spend chatting outside the pub after the interview has formally ended, Akala is approached separately by a shy-looking female student, a man who looks to be in his late-twenties/early thirties, and a middle-aged private hire driver who pulls in to say hello (his passengers in the back recognise the rapper too). 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You don’t have to search online for long to find people warning of the dangers of chemtrails, or water fluoridation and how both or either are being used to control the population – generally in service of the New World Order. Looking on, a comment we noted down earlier starts to make a lot more sense: “I think too much emphasis is placed on the artist. This applies to the press as well as the music industry’s own infrastructure: it’s not at all inconceivable for an artist today to have an online following that’s larger than a magazine’s circulation or, in more limited cases, a major record label’s distribution network. “The problem comes when people borrow and then try to play down or deny the source of the borrowing.”. When you understand the way the world works, you understand that my ability – even me, with all my left-leaning principles! Where does he see himself in another ten years? You need to enable JavaScript to use SoundCloud. People have always borrowed from other cultures,” he says. When the music industry had complete control, they could ignore us... A potential downside to this strictly independent approach and its adoption of the Web and social media to curate an audience, however, is the echo chamber effect it can cause. Rapper, poet and scholar Akala joins James O’Brien for a scintillating interview, in which they discuss two issues that run to the heart of modern Britain: race and class. “But when the music industry had complete control, they could ignore us, not play us on the radio – I know for a fact that ‘it’s just too black’ is something that A&Rs said very commonly [about UK MC-led music].”. With age, it seems, he is finding a balance between his cynicism and the idealism that ultimately drives it. He’s marking his ten year milestone with a retrospective compilation – the tracks for which were selected by fans on social media – and a mammoth UK tour that will be followed by dates in the US and Australia. It was the Jews and the Irish before we got here.” Akala says the UK has a long, racist history, that’s not unique to its black population. He breaks this down into a 60/30/10 split, but explains that he sees the three as dovetailed and complementary. Kevin Garrett), CMAT Returns With 'I Wanna Be A Cowboy, Baby! “We’ve known as UK MCs that our music could do the numbers, and we could tour and have fanbases – we’ve known that since the beginning,” says Akala. “For me, the idea that rap should be used as a force for education is not new or revolutionary or strange,” he continues, “I’ve always perceived it that way. Akala will be on tour in 2015 with his EP of the same title.Soulheights soundtrack courtesy of Atummanagement - Eneeks Track Title: B Girlsreleased 15 November 2014Drums : William Francis Keys : Daniel Taylor Bass : Davi Lannes Vocals : Jennifer Dawodu Engineer Robert Strauss of Wax Studios It’s an education. The conversation that followed was an explosive and uncensored insight into some of Akala’s views on politics, race, history, spirituality, education and more. Loud. You can read the first chapter and prologue here.