Get To Know Akir!

Q. Thank you for the chance to inter­view you. Could you explain why and how did you choose your artist name Akir?

I grew up with great admir­a­tion for graf­fiti. So around high school I decided to find my own tag. At the same time I was find­ing my iden­tity as an emcee. The acronym (Always­KeepItReal) came later promp­ted by a good friend of mine.

Q. Was there any spe­cial event or moment that make you decide to become a rap­per?

It all star­ted when the record skipped. South­paw and I had a radio show with some friends and one day the turntable was not work­ing. He star­ted beat box­ing, I star­ted rhym­ing. The rest is his­tory

Q. With­in the hip hop move­ment recently the word con­scious gets used a lot. What is your take on the word with­in the con­text of hip hop and would you class your­self as a con­scious rap­per?

I am glad that out of the oth­er sub-hip hop genres there some­thing overtly pos­it­ive how­ever, I am not really into labels. I would hope we are all con­scious.

Q. To people out there that have not heard of Rebel Armz could you explain what it is and why you chose to join them?

Rebel ARMZ is a crew of tal­en­ted and respec­ted artist who are tar­geted in pro­gress­ive stance.

Q. Could you explain a bit about why and how you star­ted to work with at risk youths teach­ing writ­ing, pro­duc­tion and record­ing with the non-profit organ­iz­a­tion called Art Start?

My fam­ily always encour­aged out­reach and social pro­gress so it was nat­ur­al. I was invited to work at Art Start by a young lady I went to school with. I was very for­tu­nate to be a part of it.

Q. Who have been your main influ­ences thought out your music career?

Stevie Won­der, Rakim, Bob Mar­ley, Earth Wind and Fire, etc.

Q. Lastly what can we expect from you in the near future?

I have two new pro­jects com­ing up soon. The first is called FOCUS (ep) and the second is THE PLAN (lp)

To check out Akir’s work click here. 

Arash Shari­fi

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Arash Sharifi

Author at I Am Hip-Hop Magazine

Arash has been pas­sion­ate about Hip hop for many years. He believes through hip hop you can teach, edu­cate and empower people to become bet­ter ver­sions of them­selves and help and sup­port their com­munity and oth­ers. Hip hop is more than just music, it can be a teach­er to us all.

Latest posts by Arash Sharifi (see all)

• POD­CAST ALERT | ARASH THOUGHTS (@Arashthoughts ) — DIS­CUSS­ING RACISM, STRESS, HOPE AND MORE. — March 12, 2018
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• Inter­view: In Con­ver­sa­tion With Soweto Kinch (@sowetokinch) — Octo­ber 13, 2016

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