Akala at The Old Blue Last, Shoreditch – 18th September 2007

You might be surprised to see that my first step into the blogging world is a live review of the South London hip-hop artist named Akala. Indeed, as you will soon find out, I am about as hip-hop as Gordon Brown is hip. However, there was something about this youthful lyricist with his raw passion and talent that caught my attention and helped me think differently about a musical genre I have been previously unfamiliar with.





The 23 year old, Kingslee ‘Akala’ Daley, who has more than escaped from the shadow of older mercury-award winning sister Ms. Dynamite, has been enjoying huge success with his debut album ‘It’s Not A Rumour’ for the last 18 months now, which scooped up the highly prestigious MOBO award, for best hip-hop album, fighting off fierce competition from Busta Rhymes and Kanye West.


The night's free single release party at The Old Blue Last in the heart of Shoreditch is the ideal venue, the lack of air ventilation and poor lighting added to the intensity and ferociousness of Akala perfectly. Joined onstage by a live drummer and a DJ, playing backing tracks of diverse genres, such as a classical violin piece on 'Tragedy, Comedy, History.' and even a Siouxsie And The Banshees riff on 'Love In My Eyes', it really helps separate them from other rap acts and there is definitely a strong music ethic on display. Akala merges genres as easily as the delighted crowd give their approval.


Opening new song, 'Freedom Lasso' is a fast paced, electro driven, onslaught that gets everyone immediately into the party atmosphere that tonight was intended. The whole crowd have their hands in the air and it's difficult to distinguish whether the pounding repetitive thud is the bass or the ceiling of the pub below crumbling to pieces. There seems to be some reoccurring themes to most songs, which mainly centre on gun crime, poverty and every day difficulties, the surrealism of American rap and regularly, what it's really like being a youth growing up in London. The crowd clearly relate to what they're hearing, and every chorus receives a rapturous response.


In anthem, 'Now That's Bullshit' Akala seems to criticise anything and everything wrong in his Britain, from the way the Iraq war was handled to the congestion charge. Akala has clearly earned everyone's respect though, and is confident and charismatic as though in a room of close friends, he wasted no time in giving his views on the huge million dollar names in the US, exclaiming how, 'Owning 20 Mercedes and living in a mansion in Miami, telling kids you shoot three people a week is definitely not real.'


But it’s not all political rants and criticism of the American hip-hop scene. Akala has successfully managed to juggle being a well-respected artist in an aggressively competitive UK underground hip-hop scene and the art of not taking yourself too seriously. I'm sold.


Further listening:
www.myspace.com/akalamusic
'It’s Not A Rumour’ out now on Illastate Records (2006).
‘Comedy. Tragedy. History.’ Out in October 2007 on Illastate Records.