‘Oh my God, I know Akala!’
James Mills is a History student at Newcastle University.
Without knowing anything:
Oh my God, I know Akala. If you know the UK Grime scene, you know this guy, he’s everywhere. He’s a political activist who puts his message out with his song. I’m surprised you chose this song, it’s not one of his most well-known ones, but it’s got a really strong message behind it. ‘If you ain’t got nothing to die for you never lived’, which is completely true. I think the problem with Akala is his messages are always so aggressively put across that it tends to put a lot of people off his music and therefore off the message, doing the exact opposite to what he wants. Also, in terms of Grime – it’s my favourite genre to listen to – the song itself is nothing special… Actually it’s probably a lot more basic than other grime. His rhyme scheme doesn’t flow as well as other artists who are putting out the same message, so he’s not as mainstream… If any grime is mainstream? He also name drops himself in his own music a lot, which I’m not particularly keen on.
After being informed:
I knew a lot of what you just told me before but it does underline one thing… Grime in the UK is underrated. It was created here, it thrives here, it tells an important story but it’s so often overlooked for music that is more easy-listening. Commentary on the government is an ever-present theme in grime, but the way Akala turns this back on the people as opposed to being with the people is something different… And something that listeners may not have liked, which is probably why it has so few views.