A lot of rappers from your time seem to have disappeared but you are still here. How do you keep it going?
I think what keeps me going and keeps me current and in tune is I’m always a fan of hip hop in general. You know from the first time I started listening to hip hop and wanting to be into hip hop I listened to whatever the hottest artist is and whatever the hottest songs are. I always try to do my version of that and keep my own originality in it. But you know it’s almost like I’m sparring with whatever the hot thing is at the time and you know being a fan and never looking at today’s sound and style and looking at it like it’s not good enough or it don’t represent the early days, I’m always a fan of it. I’m always looking for the good music and the good artists, the hot artists and I kind of spar with them in my own way. I still do my own style of music. But I spar with them to make sure I’m competing on that level with those particular artists and their particular sound at the time. I think that keeps me going. That being said there’s a lot of artists from my era that are still doing their thing.
Before you I hadn’t heard of Blues Rap. Was that something you started?
I would say I started my version of Blues Rap with the Memphis flavor and in a way where I am fully dedicated to it. Everything I’m recording, every song is a blues rap vibe and it’s certain styles of blues that I try to represent and there’s a lot of eras of blues. From the early days, like the late 1800’s to the early 1900’s and so on and so forth on up to this day. See you gotta remember that the blues is one of the earliest forms of black music expression in America. It goes all the way back to the slavery days. It’s a lot of bluesmen that was born in those slavery times and I get a chance to kind of tell the history of the blues and the history of the black struggle since it started in the slavery days. From those days into the Jim Crow era, I get to talk about their history and also get to relate their history with what is going on today. I show the similarities and the good and the bad and things we can learn from what happened when black people had a different type of unity that we don’t have in so many ways today. Hopefully once we make those connections we can learn and do better and be stronger as a black community through the history of blues music and through the art form of rap. I gotta shout out to Boosie though because he has released a couple of blues albums but they’re more southern soul. Southern soul comes from blues. I give Boosie full props because he’s done two southern soul blues albums. And of course when I do live shows I have live music, I have real musicians come in and play the sounds and the styles. Of course when I’m doing shows I have live blues players on stage with me from the guitar players to the keyboards to live drums. Whatever the venue can accommodate.
Who comes up with the music?
Mostly I come up with the music, especially since the beginning because I was really trying to create what was going on in my head. I had to really direct the musicians I was working with to give me that sound that I was looking for. So once I did enough songs that I created from scratch, it was easier for me to relate if I am working with a producer that can do it all without me being around. It made it easier for me to relay what I’m looking for because I set the foundation in the beginning. I started out creating that whole sound and style and now I can work with other producers and beat makers that can actually do what I’m looking for.
When did you start doing Blues Rap?
I really started by doing songs throughout my career dating back to the early 90’s. If you listen to certain songs it has a blues guitar and that bluesy element in it on certain songs I can literally go to the first album I ever did and point out certain songs that has that sound in it. I think it really hit me maybe around 2016 or 2017 and when it hit me I started playing all the songs from the different projects that I have done and I’m like, Maaaaaaan. I did a lot of different songs that has the blues sound to it and my first though was, how about I put all those songs together and then add a couple of songs and present it that way. But once I started working on those couple of songs to add to a compilation of blues rap songs throughout all the albums I had, I kept going and before I knew it I was making all originals to the point where I didn’t even need to use the songs from the previous albums. That sound gave me the voice to really present myself lyrically in that way.
Who is in the band?
I don’t have specific band members right now. I work with different musicians. Musicians have to work when they are hired so unless I am going on a tour or have a full string of shows I can’t lock musicians down where they can’t go and work in other ways cuz they still gotta eat. Musicians have to perform at different venues so I don’t have specific band members right now but I do work with a lot of musicians.
When you do shows is it a hip hop crowd or a blues crowd?
That’s the cool thing about what I’m doing. It’s actually a cross between hip hop and blues. I think that is the dopest part of what I’m doing. I bring hip hop and blues listeners together under one umbrella and I make sure I respect both genres to the utmost so the fans know that they are getting the real deal.
Is it hard for you to fit into shows because you’re not really just blues and you are not just rap?
Actually it’s not hard because hip hop is the dominant sound right now and by me adding blues to it it gives it such a unique sound and the live band along with me performing just brings a completely different element. So it’s actually not hard. I actually fit in both settings. The crowd is so diverse from different ages to different races, I can’t explain it, you have to be there to see it but it’s pretty wild to see that diverse crowd in unison to hear this new style of music. So naw, I fit in both some kind of way and it works.
Do you have CDs and a lot of songs now?
I don’t have CDs right now, I am in the process of getting that done. I actually have vinyl. There’s a big vinyl market out there so I thought it would be cool to put the whole album on vinyl and start it out that way. It’s called The Blues Rap Mane. And you can also listen to that on my website. AKMEMPHIS.com. CDs are coming but you can get the vinyl and you can hear the EP on all streaming sites and my website.
How do you feel about things moving from the streets to the internet?
It’s a blessing and a curse. The internet has opened the doors so you can have access to a world wide audience, and it’s a lot easier to get your music out there, so that’s the blessing of it. The thing that is different from the streets is that since it’s so easy to get on now everybody can put music out there and also the internet has created other forms of entertainment through being a YouTuber or just being a social media content creator in general. No matter what social media platform you are on. So it’s not just music based entertainment anymore. You competing with all forms of entertainment. I still think you need the streets. I’m glad that am from the era of hustling your music on the streets as far as going to clubs and touching people personally. That’s something you can’t do on the internet. You can reach a lot of people but that personal contact on the streets is strong and they will go to the internet and represent you. I understand the beauty of both now.
Was the change good for you? Good for rap? Did it take time for you to move from what it was into what it is now?
Yeah it was good, I think it was a good change. Number one, change Is inevitable. If things don’t change it becomes stagnant. I embrace change. I embraced it earlier than most. I literally noticed it when Soulja Boy started really poppin’ off on the internet I noticed it then. I give a lot of credit to my son as well because he was very in tune early on. So when I saw that going on, at that point I knew it’s something going on and I started paying attention to it then. Way before MySpace that’s how early I caught on to what was going on in the internet and music. I embraced it early. I always embrace technology earlier than most. It’s some stuff that’s out right now that a lot of people are not in tune to and I am on it right now. I’m a tech head, I love technology and I embrace change. Now, was it good for rap? That’s always debatable. You got people that feel like the internet has definitely saturated the market and it has, so again it can go both ways. It definitely opened the doors where a lot of people that could have been held back, going through the traditional way of the music business probably never would have gotten the chance, but it also gave people a chance where you know, when it comes to a certain level of talent they may not have it on that level but the internet gave them a voice and they have been able to become successful in their own right. Saying that is, there’s definitely people who will say there is a lot of trash out there, but I feel there was trash in any era. The internet just opens the door to the point where it’s so many people that can get in, so there’s way more trash out there but it’s a lot of good stuff out there as well.
But do you think this change has been good for the OG’s?
I think the OG’s that have been able to adapt, I think they love it because there’s a lot of different revenue streams out there right now and you don’t have the gatekeepers of the traditional music business in the way. So I think a lot of the OG’s who have learned from the past have literally learned how to elevate and hustle in a different kind of way and they are winning right now. One thing about the internet is it moves really fast but the ones that have adapted, it has been good for them.
But do they like the new way of distribution through YouTube and streaming?
I really can’t answer the question for other people like that but from artists I know they like the new way of distribution. It’s a faster way to get to the public without driving from state to state and city to city. So I would say the ones that have embraced the change can see the good in it.
What are some of the rappers from your era doing now? Are most still active?
I would say a lot of the OG’s have seen a resurgence because the 90’s sound of Memphis rap has become popular again and a lot of them mixtapes are selling for crazy amounts of money now so yeah a lot of the OG’s have been rejuvenated. They are seeing a new revenue stream, a new spotlight being put back on them and not only that, the Memphis rap sound in general has become a popular sound even with the younger artists that’s out there today. So that sound, a lot of the spotlight has come on Memphis in general from the younger artists and the OG’s are seeing residuals from that along with the 90’s sound and the 90’s mixtapes the popularity of that, the gangsta walking has evolved into juking now, that’s the Memphis dance that came from the gangsta walk and that is more popular than ever. So in general the OG’s even if they don’t have new music out there are winning with the old mixes and the old 90’s sound. If they had any tapes or any product it’s selling really well for them right now.
Who are the new producers who are hot from Memphis right now?
I know I’m not gonna name every producer and I hate naming because you get people who want to tell you everybody you missed. If I had to name a few, of course Tay Keith is a huge producer out of Memphis, Hit Kid is another hot young producer out of Memphis and the list goes on and on man.
Is there a lot of rap going on?
Hell yeah! The new generation is on fire. Again that’s the beauty of the internet. Way more Memphis rappers have been able to become super popular and this is the biggest number of popular rappers that we ever had in the history of Memphis rap at one time. So yeah this new generation of Memphis rap is on fire right now. Shout out to the young generation. They definitely keeping that Memphis sound and style alive. They repping the OG beats in the new way but it’s still Memphis. The Memphis sound and the Jukin’ is worldwide. Everywhere in the world they know it comes from Memphis and they reppin’. There’s so many new hot artists, the list goes on and on.
What else new is happening in Memphis?
I would say there has been a lot of different styles coming out of Memphis, not just the underground Memphis rappers or the street rappers but you have rappers that are repping different styles here in Memphis. You have a lot of different singers that are getting their just due now and starting to make noise. It’s a lot of different things that is going on and I think that’s back to the beauty of the internet. It’s opened the doors to a lot of different styles of expression. No matter what your expression is, the internet is giving you a chance to give that expression and audience and a lot of people are actually winning with whatever their expression is. The hood street rap is still dominant in Memphis but there’s a lot of different styles and expressions from Vloggers to YouTubers and the list goes on and on. Memphis is really exploding and it’s almost like a renaissance in a way. And I am watching it and loving it and I’m contributing in my way with this blues rap sound that I’m doing.
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