Akilah Brock has been in the game for years, but it has not made her an animal thankfully. The New York-based rapper has been through a lot and has a lot to get off her chest in this exclusive interview. A few short years ago, she made headlines after she was unjustly detained by the New York Police Department after telling them that Obama followed her on Twitter. The only thing is, the first Black president did follow her on the social media.
However, her amazing story of persistence and perseverance in music and Hip-Hop is her story. The Jamaican native has a unique value proposition in a game of conformity and meek-minded creatives. She hugs the exclusivity of underground, but has her eyes set on superstardom. Finding the pathway is where her challenges lie. Get to know Akilah Brock.
AllHipHop: Give people a sense of your style of music?
Akilah Brock: Teddy Riley said, you gotta name your sound. So I like to call my music Gangsta Gospel. I love dropping jewels about love in my music and that’s what Gospel is. Teaching about Christ and Christ is love. I’m from one of the most gangsta towns in Jamaica called Jungle. So I like to add a little bit of my roots; not in how I speak, but the way I ride the beat is reggae vibes; very subtle but it’s there- on songs like Imagine, The Police & Type A Way you can hear it clear. I don’t like to make one type of sound or flow though. I love switching up my style. So you will hear a variety like House/ R&B vibes on The Night or Party vibes on Get Light or Gangsta vibes on The Pray or Gospel vibes on The G. It’s all Gangsta Gospel to me though. A vibe for every mood.
AllHipHop: What would you say is your story, what makes you different from the pack?
Akilah Brock: Music chose me. I’ve always loved to write. I used to write poems, well I still do but when my mom got sick with cancer, I wrote her a poem and she never got the chance to hear it. To help cope, I started reciting the poem to anyone who would listen and it became rhythmic. By happen stance, on the one year anniversary of her passing I recorded the poem as a song and on that day Akilah Brock was born. I told my story on my first album though, Te$timoney. Funny thing is, Te$timoney’s album art work is very similar to BREEZY’s Deluxe Album artwork- same concept basically. Actually those are the things that I love to see, you know the similarities between me and the greats and these kinds of signs help to continue to drive my passions.
I see it like, great minds think alike vibes, you know. What makes me different though is my approach to the industry. The way I think about fame and fortune. I love making music to help heal the world. To really make an impact on healing the world, I need to be filthy rich! But I always say I don’t want to be famous. Keep the fame- give me the fortune! Ha! It ain’t easy to be rich in this industry without the fame though.
So that’s my dilemma, I gotta figure that part out- how to get mainstream fortune being an “underground” artist. So for now, until I get the fortune, I believe I’m this exclusive artist, you know- The One. lending my influence to the influencers that have the fortune to help make an impact to help heal the world. As long as it gets done it don’t matter who’s doing it or where they come from. Like Mike Jack said, heal the world make it a better place.
AllHipHop: Talk about your encounter with the police that lead you to being committed. Did you ever sue the NYPD?
Akilah Brock: Well, it’s a two day encounter. On the first day I was working on a video set with Director Picture Perfect. I was headed to the next location when the police pulled me over in Harlem for driving without both hands on the steering wheel. I was just dancing at a stop light okay. You can google Kam Brock story for a few re-enactments and articles made by the media. I really don’t like talking about it but long story short the police took my car for smoking weed and driving. My Dad picked me up from the precinct and I went to get my car the next day. My Dad gave me money to get there because the police didn’t give me any of my property, it was all left in the car. So no money, no I.d’s, no nothing. So the next day when I went to Harlem from Long Island to get my car I got lost taking public transportation and ended up at the wrong precinct in Harlem without I.d. and no more money, no cell phone, no nothing. I told them I was lost but my car was confiscated yesterday I dont have I.d it’s all in my car but they didn’t believe me.
I gave them all my info they requested. They didn’t believe my age, they didn’t believe I owned my car a bmw, they didn’t believe anything I was saying. I told them I was from Baldwin Harbor Long Island but they thought I was from the Harlem Projects. I kept trying to tell them help me get to my car please I knew the street the precinct was on I told them they said it’s not in their system. The police never booked my car in the system as being confiscated. They tried to arrest me cause I would not leave the precinct until they helped me, so I ran out of the precinct but a police officer came out and convinced me they would help. I remained calm until they brought me to the hospital. At the precinct they said they was taking me to my car, but when I saw Iwas going to my car in an ambulance I asked them, “you taking me to my car in an ambulance?” I was so confused but I went with it. When I saw the hospital and not my car I tried to leave again and they stopped me by injecting me and kept me for 9 days. I did sue NYC. They offered me money to settle but I took it to trial and had an all white jury and lost the case. I regret not taking the settlement. But I do plan on making a documentary about it one day. Hopefully soon. Kam Brock VS NYC.
AllHipHop: What sort of moves do you make now in the name of mental health, if any?
Akilah Brock: Mental health to me is very personal. I’ve never been crazy or needed professional help. Like, to be honest, I have thought about suicide at some of the lowest points in my life, but I’m still alive. I don’t think like that anymore no matter how bad life gets. I do respect those that go seek help from a professional like a psychiatrist, but for me- I choose to go to God, my family and friends. That works for me. When my mom passed, I tried to see someone but it didn’t feel right to me. I think because I am such a private person telling a stranger my personal business feels weird to me. Praying helps me the most. It calms me, I have no anxiety, no worries. I rest assured believing it’s all good and I will always be good. Even when someone ask me how I’m doing my response is I’m always good. Because no matter what I truly am. I stay at peace by keeping my mind in a happy place. Knowing trial and tribulations will come but also believing I have the power to overcome.
AllHipHop: Do you feel like you have PTSD?
Akilah Brock: I used to have it real bad. I do think they did something to me in there. The courts never gave me the footage I requested from the hospital or precinct. After I tried to leave the hospital they injected me and I woke up in the hospital to a room full of doctors taking off my underwear and they injected me again then I went back unconscious again. The put a catheter in me without my consent okay. So yes, I think I may still have a little PTSD but not as bad as right after they discharged me from the ward. The main issue why they kept me is because They didn’t believe Barack Obama follows me on Twitter, which he still do. That I own a BMW which I still do. And that I was unusually happy which I still am. Can you believe they diagnosed me as unusually happy? No lies, it’s in my medical records. It blows my mind the length these people will go to try and assassinate your character. Research Drapetomania, I believe what happened to me is the modern day version of that. So, I try not to get to happy around people anymore, but I’m a really happy person once you get to know me.
AllHipHop: How have these experiences impacted your music?
Akilah Brock: My first album Te$timoney was all about my life and some topics about whats going on in the world on tracks like “Oh Summer.” My mixtape Turn Me On was me exploring my sexy side on tracks like “Let’s Get Naked” and “Get Fluid.” When I made Mayday 3x, it was after a well known rapper who I thought was my mentor killed my dreams of opening up for him because I stopped dealing with him like that. So on songs like “Fallen” and “Mayday 3x” I’m expressing my frustrations about what happened between us. Women in this industry are taken advantage of far too often. That’s why I decided I didn’t want to talk about sex in my music that much anymore. To me female rap has turned in to strippers performing. Shaking ass, sexy stripper like outfits and the topic is mostly sexual. It’s like ratchet music is celebrated and spreading love music gets silenced. Let me digress though. Let me get back on topic, my fault.
Anyway, after what happened to me, I made The Love album and I can hear the difference. I made a song called “The Kill” talking about what happened to me. Picture Perfect directed the video too. He also directed Boday Yellow for Cardi B. “The Kill” is one of my best videos in my opinion. Another track “Caught On” is me cursing AmeriKKKa out. “The Police” is a track talking about how bad they treat us. So my experiences most definitely shaped the topics of my music now. Although, I do feel what happened to me hasn’t impacted my music as much as it has impacted me as an activist. For sure, I wrote about what’s going on in the world more so now than before. But I have also become more involved and invested in the betterment of we the people. I’ve even received The Power Of Influence Award for my Activism. I believe everything happens for a good reason. I’m more of an empath to tragedy now. It may sound crazy, but sometimes I think I can feel it coming.
AllHipHop: You have been rapping a while. What keeps you going? Have your goals changed at all?
Akilah Brock: God keeps me going and my fans, The Ones. The Ones are no joke. They are the best fan base ever! They keep me exclusive and I love that about them. When they see me- they know what time it is and it keeps me going. My family and friends encourages me too and let’s me know what they feeling and not feeling. They holds no bars okay. Plus God be on my back like you better keep going. And Love, Love stays in my head like- Can’t Stop Won’t Stop. I just gotta get to that Knowledge Is Rich philanthropic foundation bag asap so I can get in it and stay in it. If I had the resources to compete on my talent level I know I would break records and make history. I believe I have so much to accomplish so I do what I can everyday to get to my goals. Above all goals I have one main goal though KILL HATE. That goal will never change.
AllHipHop: What do you have coming up?
Akilah Brock: I’m on tour with TopMics so I have some shows coming up in Jersey, CT, Philly, Miami, Texas and Virginia this year. I am also dropping my music video for Audi 5000 sometime soon and releasing my next album Queen Of The Underground comes November 11, 2022 or Jan 11, 2023 depending on my pockets. It’s hard being an independent artist. Without real support paying for videos, studio time, marketing and promotion, etc is rough- but I believe in my dreams so imma keep going.
AllHipHop: Final words?
Akilah Brock: I love you AllHipHop. Thank you to all my believers and belovers. The Ones- ya keep shining! If you don’t know me come get familiar, follow me @akilahbrock on all platforms. Stream my music today and tomorrow, subscribe to my YouTube and Spotify. Buy some Akilah Brock tunes where ever sold. You will hear true stories get told, can’t you see I never gets old. I am The One, love me don’t leave me alone. Let’s rock on.
Music
Videos:
https://youtube.com/user/akilahbrock
https://www.instagram.com/akilahbrock/?hl=en