Akir - Politricks

The acronym and the promise to Always Keep It Real, gave him a name and a prophecy to live by. AKIR grew up throughout New York City, DC, Massachusetts, New Jersey, Atlanta, and Maryland, theses vast surroundings contributed to his diversified sound and ability to switch it up at any style and dialect that relates to people from all walks of life.

Early Career
AKIR first entered the hip-hop scene as an on-air personality with WNMH 97.9 (Mass.) from 1994 to 1996. In 1998, he ranked 2nd out of 50 in Howard University's Verbal Armageddon, MC competition. AKIR sought to improve his musical talent and began to focus on production. Collaborating with his brother and business partner Southpaw (studio engineer and producer for immortal technique and Viper Records) At the end of 2001 One Enterprises, Ltd (A Production company Akir co-owns) released Street Edition Vol. 1& 2 which have moved over 15,000 copies to date.

Collaborations

Akir co-produced for Immortal Technique's, Revolutionary Vol.1. And was featured on the immensely popular "One" remix on Revolutionary volume 2. In November 05 he and 10 other up and coming emcees formed the supergroup The Reavers, they released the album Terror Firma. Then in March 06 One Enterprises, Viper Records and, Fatbeats Distribution came together to release his long awaited album Legacy. featuring guest appearances by Jean Grae, Poison Penn, Hasan Salam, Mojo of Dujeous, and Immortal Technique.

Accolades

The material from Legacy helped AKIR received the honor of Source Magazines (Unsigned Hype-Jan/ Feb 05 & Off The Radar-April 06), XXLs (Chairmans Choice-Oct. 05 & Show and Prove-June 06). The magazine exposure continued as Mecca 5star apparel began to launch an ad campaign (magazines, billboards, etc) shot by Dave Meyers featuring AKIR. Always looking to improve, in a joint venture with film producers FatKings, the video for vinyl single "Treason" Ft. Immortal Technique was successfully produced and released. The response has been phenominal over 150,000 collective views on youtube.com. Based on the albums reviews and accolades BabyGrande/Koch partnered up to re-release "Legacy" in the summer of 07 followed by a tour that fall whenAkir opened for Redman in over 20 citys across the US.

Touring

Akir has completed a total of: 4 international tours, 8 domestic tours, 600+ shows including Amsterdam, Denmark, London, Morocco, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland and, Venezuela. He has performed with a variety of acts such as: Nas, Kool G. Rap, Mos Def, Styles P, KRS-1, Ghostface, The Game, Talib Kweli, Saigon, Dead Prez, Little Brother, Jean Grae, Masta Ace, Wordsworth, Vast Aire, Brother Ali, and Immortal Technique.

Lineage

In addition to AKIR's vast exposure to varied East Coast flavors, his lyrical influences include: the finesse of
SLICK RICK, the mellow vibe and consistent originality of Q-TIP, the smooth delivery and GQ style of BIG DADDY KANE, the complexity and poeticism of NAS, the rapid fire flow and intensity of KOOL G RAP and, the lyricism of RAKIM. AKIR's vocals are, to say the least, persuasive, melodious, and addictive. His flow is compelling and vividly euphonic with lyrics that are a testament to hip-hop in its purest form.

Nas on Colbert Report - Interview & Performance

Speking of Nas…He was on The Colbert Report last night to promote his chart-topping new album. Colbert’s intro had me rolling: “A streetwise multi-platinum gangsta rapper who has glorified violence and is known to carry a gun.” Even if you don’t watch anything else today, you should definitely watch these 2 videos.The Performance:

Nas Leaks More Details Of New LP - Praises M.F. DOOM

Nas' new album Nigger may never drop, but it definitely appears as though Nas is still promoting it like it's coming soon. Originally slated for release in 2007, then bumped to February, then April, the album is now due, July 1 on Def Jam, until of course it gets pushed back to Christmas time, and then becomes "Greatest Story Never Told Part. 2".

Apparently the album is still being finished, (which could actually explain the delay?) and Nas is leaking details. He recently sat down with MTV and had this to say, "Somebody asked me, what's your inspiration for this album? Everything that's happening every day. I can't really turn an album in when, like, next week it will be something else that will come to light and make me want to write about something. It's hard to finally wrap it up, but I finally got there. I'm finally there now...This year looks like it's going to be amazing." He also stated "Nigger" will include the tracks "Project Roach", featuring him rapping from the point of view of a cockroach (what?), and "Y'all My Niggers", on which Nas delves into the history of the n-word. Other songs include "This Is Not America", produced by Stargate, "Sly Fox", produced by Stic.Man of Dead Prez, and the title track. As of a February MTV.com report, an unnamed DJ Khaled-produced track and a Polow Da Don-produced number called "My Legacy" were jockeying for first single status. Another track called "Be a Nigger Too", co-produced by long-time Nas knob-twiddler Salaam Remi and Big Jack, recently surfaced as well. Jermaine Dupri and DJ Toomp are also rumored to have produced tracks on Nigger, and Rick Ross, the LOX, and both halves of Dead Prez will potentially guest on the record.

Nas also caught up with OnSmash and stated his praise for both Jay Electronica and get this - MF DOOM. Yep, Nas is trying to lock down some MF DOOMAGE on the new album, either MCing or production, but apparently Nas is having trouble finding him (or at least the real DOOM) and goes on to say that Jay and Doom are his two favorite in the game right now. Another interesting note of the interview is how Nas seems like he's surprised that Jay Electronica took time out of his schedule to record with him. Wow, glad Jay Electronica can fit a Nas collabo in his busy schedule of giving it to Badu and getting his dick sucked by bloggers and message board fan boys. I love rap. Click Here to check out the full video.

Prodigy Lets Loose On Jay-Z, Nas, Little Brother & More

Mobb Deep’s Prodigy (Albert Johnson) had some harsh words for the Hip Hop community earlier. In an extremely long blog, Prodigy let off more than a few vocal barbs towards a laundry list of who’s who in hip-hop, while proclaiming himself and label mate 50 Cent as the “future of the planet.” In the opening portion of his rant, Prodigy exclaims that he and 50 Cent are the “voice of the hood and the voice of the future of this planet. Everybody copies prodigy’s rap, slang, dress code, tattoos, hairstyles, jewelery [sic] and more. Same for 50.”

Prodigy then attacks a long list of emcees including Cassidy, Fat Joe, Jim Jones, Cam’ron, Lupe Fiasco, Talib Kweli, Joe Budden, Jay-Z, Nas, Phonte, Saigon, Keith Murray. The attack on Fat Joe is not surprising considering the feud brewing between the Terror Squad and G-Unit camps and the release of the G-Unit mixtape, Elephant in the Sand [click here to listen]. Prodigy goes on to state how the previously mentioned emcees “suck to the maximum point of sucking.”

After offering slight admiration to Nas, and in some ways, Jay-Z, Prodigy goes on to say that the reality about the two legendary wordsmiths is that “they are both musical punks and street punks.” However, Prodigy was not done just yet, after proclaiming that this rant has nothing to do with publicity for his upcoming album or his looming three and a half year prison sentence, he continued to blast hip-hop, and spends an entire paragraph calling out “one of the members of this corny ass group called ‘Little Brother’” a certain reference to a blog in which Phonte (of Little Brother) praises Mobb Deep, yet also discusses how he believes they have “fallen off” [click to read]. Prodigy replies to that blog, and decrees that Little Brother would not know how it feels to “fall off”, since in order to “fall off” you first have to “fall on”, something he says they have yet to do.

In a surprising move, Prodigy breaks off his negative rant for a paragraph to discuss Soulja Boy whom he praises as “original, innovative, and unique” before continuing in negative fashion. After his praise of Soulja Boy, Prodigy’s rant takes another turn when he opts to discuss the role of whites in hip-hop. After proclaiming that “rap is black hood music for the hood,” he says that Eminem is the only white person that has been “let in” to hip-hop because he “gets busy” and was co-signed by Dr. Dre. He then goes on to lament on every media outlet that covers hip-hop, name-dropping MTV, BET, The Source, XXL and Vibe magazine, as well as calling out 99.9% of web sites that pertain to hip-hop.

Finally, Prodigy offers a new career path for the aforementioned rappers, noting that UPS, DHL, and FedEx are all hiring. Then he signs off as “PRODIGYhnic2”, contributing at least some slight promotion for his new album (H.N.I.C. Part 2) to his personal vendetta against hip-hop.

Nas Targets April For New Album

After stirring up more controversy during the 50th annual Grammy Awards, it appears Nas and Def Jam may be closer to an actual release date for his Nigger album.
"[It's coming out] April 22," says Nas. "I'm over Black History Month. I think we are part of American History and we should have it all year 'round."

Rumors have been spreading about the album since Nas announced the title during a concert in October of 2007. Proposed release dates have included December 2007, and also February 2008. A single entitled, "What It Is" was leaked, but Nas later stated that the song would not be included on the album.

While the reaction to the album's title has been mixed, Nas remained optimistic, despite all of the delays.

"The timing couldn't be more perfect," Nas tells The Poetess of Sirius Satellite Radio's The Foxxhole [click to listen]. "Nobody's going to tell the truth about race relations if they're not offended or angered. Everybody's just hiding behind the veil of half-truths...They think that if you don't talk about it it'll go away."
As previously mentioned, Salaam Remi