Will Smith’s acting caused most people to long forget
his rapping. Much the same, Akinyele’s recent reputation for sexually explicit
tracks allowed many to forget just how nice of a grimy MC this legend was.
Ten years ago, his debut, V##### Diner was
treasured by many a Hip-Hop purist – and still is. But due to label politics,
the album was never allowed to shine as greatly as it deserved to. So Akinyele
went another route, and as a result, even your little sister knows to "Put
It In Your Mouth."
The saying says if it ain’t broke, don’t fix,
and Ak hasn’t for two following LP’s, and a movie.
But the hardcore Hip-Hop never goes quietly.
Akinyele was constantly bothered as to why he abandoned his original style.
He waited until now, to reveal that he never really did. Akinyele is a Hip-Hop
legend – so get knowin’. Check it out as Akinyele and AllHipHop remember the
come up with Nas, Rob Swift, and Main Source.
You’ll also get a great justification of why
Ak did what he did, as well as an inside look into his new album of unreleased
gems. He’s rude, and even in a simple interview, you might get offended. The
great instigator, Akinyele. If you don’t feel him, he might just out-rock you
at one of your shows. Recognize!
AllHipHop: You’ve been labeled a misogynist.
Maybe it’s true. But it’s funny that I constantly meet women who are very familiar
with your work. That’s sort of a paradox to the criticism. How do you feel about
your female audience, verse your male audience?
Akinyele: I think overall it isn’t different,
it’s the same – like whatever. When I do songs about sex, I try to do it in
a fun manner, in a rude manner. Hip-Hop is just rude. Every Akinyele song from
album one: V##### Diner has just been classic Hip-Hop, where I just felt
like I was bein’ rude with everything. Everybody likes it. It’s almost like
heroin. People do it, but you never know who [exactly does] it. It’s like parents.
Nobody can actually visualize their mother actually giving their father head,
but it happens! They can identify with it. It’s part of life.
AllHipHop: All publicity is good publicity.
Akinyele: Yeah, all pub is good pub and even
when you have something to say about Ak, negative or good, you know what it’s
about. At the end of the day, I feel like I conquered Hip-Hop – I hate to sound
like one of those muthaf*ckas "Hip-Hop this, Hip-Hop that", but like,
I feel like I just conquered, I made a statement. I got a song that’ll luckily
play forever. Not ‘cuz it’s the greatest song in the world, but just luck. Rap
is all luck. If there was a right way to do this, we’ll follow the guidelines
and everybody would be rich. There’s a correct way to become a doctor. There’s
a correct way to become a lawyer. But there’s not no correct way to have a record
that’ll play almost when you’re long and gone. That’s all you can be fortunate
for in this game.
AllHipHop: Why was Put It In Your Mouth
an EP, especially since that single was a hit before it was ever released?
Akinyele: You know, it’s funny. Every song you
do as an artist, you feel like it’s a hit. You love it. Every album I ever dropped
that flopped, was still part of me. When you’re doing an album, it’s like having
a baby – and having a miscarriage when it flops – it’s always part of you. Every
song I ever did, I think it’s f*ckin’ fabulous.
AllHipHop: You never tried to do filler.
Akinyele: Right! I don’t try to do filler. I
don’t think no artist is an artist who does filler, but some people just don’t
take the time out to listen to it. Like me. I don’t like a lot people’s sh*t,
but only when I’m taking a long road trip and I’m listening to they whole album,
I’m like, "Wow, this is kinda okay." You kinda get to go into the
artist’s dimension. So the reason I did an EP, was I just thought of making
music that I liked at that time. Every song I make, I [think] if the people
bite into this sh*t, it’s gonna get into their veins and gonna be heroin – that
dope. At that time, it was funny because I wanted a gold album so bad. A gold
something. So I said, "Let me do an EP. Because if I sell 250,00 EP’s –
it’s considered gold." But right at that time I did it, the RIAA actually
changed it and said, "Nah, 500,000." So I said, "f*ck it."
AllHipHop: But the new album, Music Killz,
we’re saying producers like Dr. Butcher, Large Professor, J-Zone, Buckwild.
This is for the hardcore Hip-Hop.
Akinyele: Right, this is for the writer. This
album is dedicated to the Hip-Hop [journalist]. Because the number one question
I always get is, "Why did you stray away from your first album?" In
my heart, I strayed away from it because yeah, it’s fun, it’s cool. But I wanted
to make songs that were cutting edge rude, and I had to make sure that Bow Wow
and little mothaf*ckas coming up weren’t talking about the same sh*t ever. So
on this album here, I got lost classic songs that I had recorded in 1994 and
I did new songs with J-Zone, just to show – Hey, I can still do this type of
stuff and it got a lot of live interactions with me and Rob Swift. I try to
go back to the essence. I am Rap. I been doing this for a while with the DJ’s
and turntables and all that. If this album doesn’t sell and work, then let’s
get ready for the next album called, "Sex Sells" by Akinyele [laughing].
This album is to call their bluff and say, "Look mothaf*cka, the reason
I don’t do this sh*t is because you motherf*ckas aren’t even supporting this
type of sh*t that you talk about!" Kinda like you see the Black mothaf*cka
who’s like, "Black power, Black power!" and then he doesn’t follow
it all day. It’s like Public Enemy says "Black power!" and then Professor
Griff gets kicked out the group and they don’t stand with him. It’s like Brand
Nubian saying, "One for All, All for One" but Grand Puba says, "Look
God, I need more money." [laughing]. Come the f*ck on.