INNERVIEW 021: "Phantasy" w/ Akete

Akete @ Swiss Army Records x For Keeps Books [10.13.2024] | Photo by Keo

AKETE So this came off of a run starting with Naestetic, produced by Devine Abstract. And then you could say the first phase of that run ends with Phantasy produced by ILL KALIL. In between that we had Overdraft and Yolanda’s Score, which Overdraft is a mixtape, you might find if you really want to. And Yolanda’s Score is produced by freespottie. And these are all just close friends around the city that we've, you know, linked and have common, you know, common interest, and we're able to work together. So Phantasy is an extension of that. And, you know, I basically hit up KAHLIL ans said,

Yo, let's set something up. I'm pull up on you. Let's go through some beats. Let's try to do an EP.

And went through, looking through these beats. We got five picked out, and I went back, and I handled the songwriting side of it. Try to pull a song up out of those, and a lot of the time, not gonna lie, the beat will just straight up give you the song. Like, shoot on track five, “Get Along” literally. When he sent me that beat, it was called “Get Along Better.” It was already called “Get Along Better,” you know, like, okay, and then, you know, it just kind of wrote itself, you know. So it's always a blessing when something like that happens. Sometimes I have to, like, sit and listen to the song and try to find where the topic is. So yeah, that's what I'll say about that.

JAMEKA Do you feel like it was like that for all five of the tracks that they just kind of came to you like that? AKETE

Or, let's say three of them, the concepts came pretty easily. Actually, no, no, I'm not gonna lie. I gotta say four now. KALIL be having some good, good names for his beats. JAMEKA Sets you up. AKETE With the perfect name, like, oh yeah, that makes perfect sense. Run from there, because if I go through what the beats were called, not to go in order on the track list. JAMEKA Okay. AKETE So, “Eugene and Eric”. JAMEKA That’s an interesting storytelling track. AKETE Yeah, so, that one the beat was called “Generic 2k, Lo-Fi.” So, I'm sitting there looking at that. And, you know, we come from a more avant-garde perspective most of the time, so us being on a classic boom bap trap is a little rare for us. So, I'm looking at the word generic, and I'm kind of playing with it. And I figured this might be a way that we could get the ILL KALIL little feature onto the tape, because I try to get a feature with the producer, you know, for all these tapes on this run, you'll see you'll see that. So I hit KALIL up. I'm like, “Hey, man, I think I got an idea playing with the word generic. Think about eugenics, for some reason. “Eugene and Eric,” you generic.

So that's how we came up with the concept of two brothers. One, you know, is more along the straight and narrow path, the classic family man path. Other one more of a world traveler, eccentric type, but they come back together, you know, and find that common ground; they still brothers. So “Eugene and Eric” is a fun one.

“2 from 90,” literally, that beat was called "88," just 88 and so if you do 88 that's two from 90. There's also 88 keys and a piano. So yeah, you know, I kind of took that, started playing with some metaphors there.

“Work Denim.” I remember all the names for these beats because, they literally, now I think about it... he gave me the name for it. He gave me each one of these songs straight up. “Work Denim,” it was called, "Blue Rawls.” You know, you got your blue overalls, perfect.

For “Phantasmagorical” the beat was called “Fantasy.” So the “Phantasmagorical” is a bit of an extension of a fantasy.

JAMEKA

But it fits. It fits with the whole concept of the EP and the sound that it gives, right.

AKETE

As soon as I got that, I was like, oh, this is the one, yeah.

JAMEKA

And it's like, it felt like, the whole thing felt like shamanistic in a way. It feels like ethereal in that sense, right. But especially when I got to track four as well, I was just like, oh, there's a different type of density to this project. Like, did you perform these tracks when we, when you had the showcase?

AKETE

At For Keeps?

JAMEKA

Yeah.

AKETE

Yeah, I did. I did, definitely did “Phantasmagorical” and “Get Along” there.

JAMEKA

It's so wild. Like, it was great seeing you perform, but hearing it, like, getting to sit with it, I was able to, like, ingest it a whole different way, where I was just like, wow, I didn't catch this stuff in a live performance.

AKETE

Ohh, word.

JAMEKA

I was like, this is, like, very philosophical.

AKETE

Oh, that's dope. Yeah, we try to, we try to have fun with it, but we definitely out here tackling concepts.

JAMEKA

It’s inevitable, mhm, it’s very apparent. I love it. 

AKETE

So, yeah, “Phantasmagorical,” literally, the moment I said the word, I don't even think I tried to say it in any kind of way; it just fit perfectly with the beat. So it just, we just ran from there, and then “Get Along” like I said, it was already called “Get Along Better.” So, you know, it's tough to tackle those emotional concepts for me. Like, I have a harder time diving into that. I try to keep things lighthearted, you know. But, um, I do appreciate the fact that, you know, a song like “Get Along” was able, like, I appreciate KALIL, you know, shout out to ILL KALIL, the God you know I'm saying, for being able to help me access some of those thoughts and emotions. 

JAMEKA

Yeah, and that kind of made me think about, like, what were your thoughts and emotions that catalyzed this creation?

AKETE

So actually, it came at an interesting time. It was where I didn't have a way to record at the time. So, I ended up, wait, actually, no, this is slightly before that. I've gone through a lot of periods where I don't have ways to record, and it'll be just like, a lot of downtime.

JAMEKA

What do you mean by that you don't have a way to record?

AKETE

Um, like, I don't have a studio space I can set up. There been times I didn't have proper electricity to get things going…

JAMEKA

I gotchu.

AKETE

So just in between situations. But then even outside of that, there's the flip side of where we've had access to dedicated studio spaces. So it's just, it's definitely an ebb and flow. And it's been interesting. I appreciate that because it's like it forces me to sit down.

So this was, this was right before another one of those moments came up. And I was; I was actually going back to New York for the first time, which is, that's where I was born. I was born in New York.

JAMEKA

Ohh, okay.

AKETE

So you probably, you know, the influence is there. You're gonna hear it. That's why.

JAMEKA

That makes sense.

AKETE

You know, the Hip Hop is just in me, you know. So I got to go back to New York for the first time in over a decade. And when I got there, I was, you know, going by myself and got myself an Airbnb because, actually, I'm supposed to stay with my aunt, but then that ain't ended up working out. So I guess Airbnb, you know, got the Airbnb, and I'm, you know, just in the city by myself as an adult, seeing it a different way. And I got to link with some of my old friends from when I was a toddler. And I'm up there, and I'm writing; that's where I wrote, “Work Denim,” finished up “2 from 90,” and by the time I got back, I had all the lyrics done, and the songs were done. So sometimes at that point I was like, I'm gonna just write everything and then record everything. So I got back, around the New Year, to record everything, and I think I got everything done by like February or March, and this is in 2022, at that point.

JAMEKA

Okay.

AKETE

So finish that up. I actually dropped “Phantasmagorical” a year before I dropped the rest of the tape.

JAMEKA

Right.

AKETE

So I have “Phantasmagorical.” That was like the one single that's out everywhere; that's on all streaming services. And, you know, it was kind of like a real plateau moment—where it's like you made it over the ledge to a new level. Because coming back from New York, having that, that rekindling of, you know, touching base with my brother… like this, I'm talking toddler age, and then having we ain't seen each other in a decade.

JAMEKA

Wow.

Phantasy by Akete [2024]

AKETE

Get back; it's like nothing ever happened. You know, saying it's just like experiences like that. I performed. I went to an open mic while I was up there. It's the same open mic they've been doing for 20 years. They were doing this when I was a toddler. My parents performed there and all these things. So it's like all these layers kind of set in. And, you know, that Phantasy to me, it kind of solidified me being able to tackle a topic within a song, you know? And I feel like since then, it's been a little easier to reach that space. So it's definitely a monumental moment I feel, and even more so when you add in that, it lines up with the same time learning about pressing vinyl records, and it ends up being the first vinyl record we make. So definitely, definitely a very potent project in the journey. I definitely feel that way.

JAMEKA

A mile marker.

AKETE

Yeah.

JAMEKA

So then, what can you tell me about how would you describe your sound?

AKETE

So I actually started making music as a jazz fusion artist who didn't want to be classified as a jazz fusion artist. I wanted to make music that extended beyond jazz fusion, because jazz fusion is often boxed in and sort of lumped in with rock. It's like you got jazz fusion and progressive rock, and they're kind of siblings. It's a great thing. Amazing music. I love it. You know, I've always loved some good jazz fusion, but I didn't like how jazz fusion ended up being sort of pigeonholed into a specific space of instrumental music, you know, because some of the forefathers of jazz fusion, you know, and there's so much overlap between jazz fusion and progressive rock, so some of the forefathers of that, it's early on. It's lyrical music, you know; it's developed out of funk and bee bop. It's in between there. So seeing how the industry takes stuff and kind of morphs it and specializes genres, I said, I don't. I gotta come up with something new. And I decided I was going to be a bluesian artist, which is blues fusion. So that's my whole musical journey it started there. I was like, Nah, I'm gonna make whatever kind of music I want to make. I'll put it all together. It's gonna be called bluesian.

I did that, probably right after I got out of high school. In between that and playing in different bands, I played drums in a lot of bands with a lot of different artists around the city.

JAMEKA

Do you still?

AKETE

Not as much right now. Yeah, I'm kind of more focused on my solo career and my musical catalog, and developing that. So at the time, though, I think it got to a point I was in four or five bands at once.

JAMEKA

Wow.

AKETE

And it, yeah, it gets overwhelming, but it's a lot of fun. A lot of fun.

JAMEKA

Were you playing more than drums in them? 

AKETE

In my band, my bluesian band, Clear Blue Audience, I actually led the band on bass.

JAMEKA

Wow.

AKETE

My first album I made out of high school, I was playing all the instruments, and that's how I started making music. The second album I made, I produced in Ableton. So this is, you know, it's all kind of dictated by the space of the setup. A lot of time, that plays a large part. You know, what tools I have to create the music.

So, after that, I had got Ableton, a copy of Ableton from my friend, like a crack version of Ableton. Ableton is expensive. And I was using that learning that and ended up producing a project that was called Akete and The Clear Blue Audience. So it's kind of in between there. After that, I have one more Clear Blue Audience project before my first time having no way to record. It was thrust upon me, you know. So it was like, I ended up breaking my interface in like a crazy accident. Probably could have been a little calmer. That's a story for another day.

Yeah. So break the interface, and I'm like, dang. I ain’t have enough disposable income to be like, let me go get another one. Nope, I'm sitting here. I'm like, what am I gonna do? Some months go by, I open up my laptop and start trying to produce just with the laptop keyboard. And, you know, I think I had a MIDI keyboard I found, and that's like, shoot… this is how we are doing it, you know. Straight out, off the laptop, I ended up learning how to make beats.

And through that process, when I say learning how to make beats, because, you know, let me preface that by saying I come from a musical background. Like, I've always been around music. My parents were in a band together when I was born. Like, I've been on stage with them up and, you know, with my toddler years this whole time.

So I've always been around music. And even when I was younger, like, I remember when we visited, go to New York to visit pops, he'd have GarageBand on the computer. So me and my cousins up there, we mess around on GarageBand making beats. You know, I remember one dope moment when we found the drum loop from “Umbrella” like, you know, Rihanna / Jay-Z joint. We found that in GarageBand, we were like, they’re using GarageBand, that’s crazy. So, yeah, I've always been around it. It's just as I got more into, you know, practicing live drums and doing that, I kind of was definitely more focused on that. 

The X Files by Akete [2021]

Like, I even remember thinking like I was anti, you know, I got to the point of being anti I went so far the other direction. So being kind of forced to sit down and come back to, like, solo production in that way, that's where we get the project called The X Files, which I dedicated to Malcolm  X. Ended up using, like, some quotes from from his speeches on there, “By Any Means Necessary,” which actually, now that I think about it, makes even more sense than I thought about like back then, because it was kind of by any means necessary. So, yeah, yeah, we get The X Files out, and then from there, over this whole time I've been able to record with the homie Dev, Devine Abstract, so he’s like the reason I'm rapping for real. 80/74+ percent, Devine Abstract. Like he’s sending me beasts, you know, making sure we link up. And we also do jazz jams too, like he pulled up to my place. We jammin’ in the basement. Me, him, Riot Oblivion. Shoot the homie, Nick, bunch of friends. That used to be a spot. We used to jam in the basement at the house.

So over that time, we’re recording tracks for Naestetic, and it's just like slowly been building up. Oh, this beat. Okay. This is dope. And around the same time, after I dropped The X Files, this is 2020, now we've made it into 2020 and we dropped The X Files. Now it's a lockdown. I had to go figure out work. You know, my whole work had been shut down. I had to go. I end up going to California. And then by the end of me being out in California towards the end of 2020, I hear about a studio in Atlanta that was available to rent at The Goat Farm.

Naestetic by Akete x Devine Abstract

So, come back to Atlanta, run up there like, hey, is it available? I see the studio, it's got a vocal booth with the double door glass room that the person before built. And, you know, they ain't charging double door with the glass booth numbers. I'm like, oh, how much it costs. What? Oh, run it. So, yeah, we ended up having a studio at The Goat Farm.

And when I moved in there they were about to renovate in February. So, this is in January – I'm like, alright, whatever a month. I'm still gonna get some work done, this is a cool studio. You know, get in there and they kept pushing back renovations. So the first couple months I'm just in there by, I know, I didn't want to invite too many people because, you know, it's about to be gone. You know, let me try to get a couple things done. Then they keep telling me they're pushing it back, pushing it back. 

We start doing something called Tap in Tuesdays. I'm gonna save that story for another day. It's just, it's so much. We did Tap In Tuesdays and we ended up being at The Goat Farm for about a full year. That goes by, so much music... Overdraft comes out of that. You know, postmark, and Naestetic is finished up. Yolanda’s Score, actually, no, not Yolanda’s Score, just an Naestetic and Overdraft, and then some unreleased music that I'm still working on getting out.

So, after that, another one of those periods where there's not much I don't have a specific way to record, go a few months in that way.

JAMEKA

You ended up leaving The Goat Farm?

AKETE

Yeah, they ended up doing their renovations they were supposed to do!

JAMEKA

Ohh, okay.

Overdraft by Akete x freespottie

AKETE

Yeah, we ended up getting full year there, so they didn't do it till like, the next February. So that was a blessing, in and of itself. Did so much great stuff, made a lot of great connections, you know, a lot of great memories.

And then from there, that's kind of when the seeds of the Nu’Bn collective, kind of was sown around that time. So, at the same time, I go into one another one of my phases. I didn't have a way to record. Still hella inspired off of it, though. I'm thinking. I'm like, what can we do? What can we do? I get the beats for Yolanda’s Score. Get the beats for Phantasy. Actually did an Naestetic Part Two. So what you have is called Epis Trophy, which I'm doing a re-release later this fall or 4/20 next year.

JAMEKA

Epis Trophy, what is that?

AKETE

Epis is, is a Haitian like sofrito that's made with, like, it's like, all their spices. They mix it up, pepper spices, all that, and they throw it on everything makes it taste delicious. Atrophy. We know what a trophy is, right? So, I like to play with words and do a lot of compound meanings.

JAMEKA

I see. 

AKETE

So epistrophe is also repetition. So it's like you can repeat something to the point of epistrophe. “Epistrophy” is a song that I love by Thelonious Monk, one of my favorites. And it's also, we're doing a second Naesthetic. 

So, Dev has this folder of beats that is just sitting there. And like, he keeps adding beats and keeps adding beats, like 100 beats in here. He's like, yeah, I just put the thing there. And like, people want it. I'm like, alright, but I let it sit for a while. And then I was like, no, Imma have to take some of these, right? So I let him know, like, hey, Imma take this one, this one, this one, this one. And then he's like, Well, just not that one. I'm like, okay, bet – Epis Trophy. That whole time right after The Goat Farm, which we call Ancient Future Studios. That whole time after that was where Yolanda’s Score, Epis Trophy, and Phantasy were created.

And I ended up recording those, like, right behind my bed. I like, threw up some of the foam panels I have in the studio and, like, put the mic in there, and I was like, alright, this’ll work. Boom, we recorded all that there. And I think that kind of fills in the story. But it's like, it's definitely been a lot of steps in the process, you know.

JAMEKA

So like, those moments where you're without recording. How do you get through those moments? How like, what does that look like?

AKETE

Fortunately, I don't. I've never felt like I need to record. Like, I can musically go sit down and play drums for a couple hours, and I'll be like, musically fulfilled, you know? So during those times, I kind of get by just playing drums, you know, picking up the bass, and just kind of playing and, yeah, so I don't feel like it ever, it never gets that bad. But it's like the recording part, like the documentation, isn't there a lot of times. So the ideas are coming, and I might just have to set them aside, and they just kind of built up, you know.

JAMEKA

Mmhm, marinate a little bit.

AKETE

Yeah, and I have no problem marinating, like, if I got an idea, like, oh, that's it, that's the song. If it's good, I remember it, then that's really the song. But if I, if I go away, I forget it, that might not have been it, you know, saying, like, I definitely try to take my time. Sometimes I'm starting to work on doing stuff immediately. You know, like yesterday, I had an idea to do a freestyle.

JAMEKA I saw you put that up on BandCamp. AKETE Yeaaah. JAMEKA That’s the same one? AKETE Yeah, and I was like, I'ma just do it and drop it today. Like, I woke up, and I was like I think we was listening to Graduation. Um, so shout out, Kanye. Um, listening to that, I hear “Champion.” I'm like, oh yeah, man, I love this album. Steely Dan, great, you know. So I go outside, I think of the other song, which I end up flipping and doing a freestyle all over and, um, you know, took some inspiration from ariesfoolmoon, who definitely is a proponent of this, and has inspired me with her thoughts on it, of just, you know, expressing and just sharing the art. So, you know, I took a little extra push from that. And I was like, nah, dude, put, put the track out. JAMEKA Yeah.

AKETE So, yeah, just, you know, finding that balance. I think, I think there's so many great ways that amazing things get made, and there's no reason to force any one way, any one type of way, you know. JAMEKA Yeah, it kind of reminds me I'm forgetting what song is from, but the lyrics were just all like, you know, basically you're saying, just put it out. It doesn't have to be profound. AKETE Yeah, oh yeah, that’s in “Get Along.”

JAMEKA Yeah, it seems like you don't apply that type of unnecessary pressure to your artistry. AKETE Yeah. I try not to. I try not to, like, I do my best when I record it, I try to satisfy myself and feel like I've done my best, and then I step away from it and know that that was that time and place. Like it's rare that I'll attempt to re-record something or something like that. And I like even that was something I tried to do with my first album with playing all live instruments. I recorded the first one on my iPad in GarageBand with this little mic that plugged into the headphone jack, and I tried to re-record those songs two more times, and they never came out sounding quite as good like it didn't have the same emotion. It didn't have the same… there was something about the quality of it being recorded on that iPad. JAMEKA Texture. AKETE It was meant to be recorded that way, you know. So I feel like the art happens as it's meant to and you have to allow yourself to let the art create itself. There's a balance between you deciding to create art and just creating art. You know, it takes a little bit of both. And it's, it's something that I definitely I try not to think about it. If the thought comes, then take it from there. JAMEKA Yeah, definitely can create your own obstacles. I feel like with too much pressure, its unnecessary. Of Phantasy, what would you say was the most challenging track to make? AKETE Yeah, I gotta say, in second place “Work Denim.” It was cold. I literally, I was really standing on the stoop, you know, in my blue rawls, right in this shit, like I was really sitting on the stoop sipping a brew. It's cold outside. I'm trying, you know, smoke my little whoop dee, you know and write some lyrics. It was cold. That was kind of hard.

JAMEKA You were out East at the time? AKETE I'm writing this. I’m in New York, it's icy! So, “Get Along” definitely. Like, that's without question, though. Like, I probably shed a couple tears trying to do get along. JAMEKA So, emotionally… and the other one was more physically? AKETE

Yeah, yeah, right. JAMEKA What was it about “Get Along”?

AKETE

Um, just trying to do my best to speak to common experiences, like, I talk about, you know, having arguments with your significant other, you know, saying, like, it's something I'm sure everybody gonna go through in life at one point. Trying to understand the struggles that we go through. You don't go through them alone, you know, that's something I noticed, like performing that song it really resonates, you know, like even more than a lot of my other songs, you know? Because, you know, I don't tend to usually tackle heavier topics like that. So I feel like it definitely found a sincere way to tackle some heavy topics.

JAMEKA

Yeah, that one's one of my favorite tracks, I think because of the vulnerability aspects. I mean, it's all vulnerable in its own way, yeah. But the emotional aspect, I was like, ohhh.

AKETE

I’m not like stone drying!

JAMEKA

I don't think you are, but you definitely come off reserved when it comes to emotional things.

AKETE

Yeah, definitely, you know, definitely.

JAMEKA

So I was like, oh, wow, a little light shining through.

AKETE

Shout out ILL KALIL.

JAMEKA

I don't know if I asked this in this way, but did you have a particular intention with creating this? Were you like five songs?

AKETE

Yeah, definitely. We did start off and say it was gonna be an EP, because I want to do more of these EPs, especially now, knowing the, you know, learning more about a seven inch record, you know, and knowing that that's even something that's possible to do so that just, it's a fun concept to try to keep the project shorter and concise. And it's a nice balance between, like, going the full TikTok music route, where it's like, I'm just gonna make a one minute song. It's like, it's not a one minute song, but, it's a 10 minute listen. You know, it's something you can kind of just mix in wherever you can see it. Check it out real quick. You don't have to, like, set up full time aside to do it. It's something you take a little break and, oh, cool. Let me check this out. You know, you can do it on your break from work. You get a 15 minute break at work.

JAMEKA

Definitely, like, depending on the listener, it's not a quick listen still, although it is only 10 minutes. There's a lot of depths and layers to it, you know.

2nd verse from "Get Along"

AKETE

Oh, always, yes. And hopefully it is something that, like, people would want to, like, run back and because I shoot, I can't wait for the day that they looking at it, you know, I'm not even gonna just say, just my lyrics, because it's so many, so many of my peers that I respect that are, you know, y'all know them yet. But you know, when folks are digging through our lyrics, like, oh, that's what that means. Because they'll say some stuff, and I'm like, oh, that's what that means. It's like, there's a lot of folks have a full deck for show, but they only showing you, like, four or five cards at a time, you know. So always understanding that, and like, you know, hopefully people want to keep flipping through the deck.

JAMEKA

No, I was real grateful you put the lyrics up on the project, because, yeah, I'm a reader and like to read through it too.

AKETE

Ohhh yeah, for real. I have a couple friends who said this to me, and they make music too. So that surprised me to hear their perspective on lyrics like that. It takes them a few listens for lyrics to stand out as words. Like a lot of folks here, lyrics are a melody, you know, and it'll come out and like it just is a part of the song. If it sounds good, it sounds good, but they might not be catching every single word that's going on. I even noticed there's a lot of music I'm getting. Lately I've been pretty good about it, but there's some songs that come on I'm like, oh, it's rocking but I don’t know what they’re saying.

JAMEKA

Yeah, yeah, that happens a lot. I'm definitely the type that lyrics mean the most to me. I think it's very... especially when it comes to like, I know that your multi hyphenate genre, if there's even a genre for what you do, right, but in terms of what you do in the hip hop realm, like, to me, I just feel like, like you said, there's so many songs where we don't know what's being said, but lyrics are always the most important thing to me. Like, whatever I am propping up and being like, yo, this is great. This is recommended. Like, it has to actually have good lyrical content, yeah, I'm not gonna put out some stuff that's self-destructive towards us.

AKETE

Oh, no, definitely, not.

JAMEKA

I mean, of course, there's some things that really make us dance, and that's just as important. But I think for this era that we're in, the lyrical content is paramount.

AKETE

And that's like, that's what I'm searching for, is that balance between, like, having the lyrical content and still being able to dance to it. Yeah, so, like, because I even I started experimenting with, like, house music and electronic that kind of started with The X Files, where I kind of, you know, started learning I do like house beats. House beats are cool, you know. So I started experimenting with that a little more and trying to find that balance like I used to look at a house beat and it would seem so hard to add lyrics to it, like, I don't see how, like, where's this gonna fit? And now, as I've done some attempts, and, you know, practice with it and sort of marinate on the idea, like, I'm starting to get there, we gonna be, you know, we're gonna be able to make them dance to, you know? We make them dance. We make them think, you know, yeah, trying to try to take them on a journey.

JAMEKA

Yeah, gettin’ back to the 70s/80s feel.

AKETE

Right, real disco.

JAMEKA

We having a good time but we put this good knowledge in there too.

AKETE

Right.

JAMEKA

How did you get connected with Swiss Army Records and that collective?

AKETE

Yeah, so Swiss Army had already been rocking for a while, you know, and I didn't even like officially tap in until probably over the last year.

JAMEKA

Ohhh really, so it’s really that recent?

AKETE

Yeah, like me and me and Promise, had met a few times here and there, um, been in at similar shows and similar spaces, and just never fully got this like, sit and chop it up for real. So I always remember the homie Dev, because he was early on with Swiss Army, like he had been locked in with them early. And he would always tell me, yeah, homies, Swiss Army, yeah, Chebba, Promise, you know, Promise doing this.

And I'd be like, oh yeah, bro, that's cool. What you doing with this beat? Just kind of in my own land, you know. So as the time went on, more and more, and I didn't meet Chebba until, like, literally, I got to give props to spottie for this man. Shout out, freespottie, this man is a real, genuine soul, like for real, just very embracing, and he managed to, kind of bring folks together in a way that hadn't been before. So, like, that was my first time getting to meet Chebba was pulling up to a session at spottie’s place and got Chebba in there. I'm not mistaken. That might have been how I met KALIL, too. And then ended up later on being like, oh, Yo, you got some extra beats. And then now we got Phantasy. 

HALL SESSIONS VOL III by T'ALIIA B.

So when I, when I finally met Chebba, put a face to the to the name of the music, because they got him and Promise they got a series called T’ALIIA B..

JAMEKA

Yeah…

AKETE

Which is gas. Like, I love that one. I love  T’ALIIA B, that shit is great. Like that was the one that was the track that Dev showed me when he's like, yeah, this song. He's all like, actually, go listen to it. So, um, me and Chebba, he's seeing the type of person and then putting that with the music, and then now diving more into the catalog since I done actually met folks in person now and just gaining a new respect for these folks. Like Promise me and him, working with him and seeing, like, how much his hands are in so many different places of creativity.

JAMEKA It’s wild.

AKETE

You know, like, I wouldn't have known he was like that much on the camera, but then also that much on the visual art in general.

JAMEKA

Yeah, and he’s real humble about it and he doesn’t have to be.

AKETE

It's the point. He's so far doing like, so many things that it's like, it'd be like, hey, bro, you got a beat and be like, real quick, like, a, two minutes of a beat, and be like, yeah, alright. But I was also like, just, like, so much dope stuff going on. And, um, so, yeah, working, working with everybody in Swiss Army, and seeing, like, the overlap, like, even, even ONELOVE, like, with Love Village over there.

We NEED God by ONELOVE [2024]

JAMEKA

Yeah, yeah!

AKETE

I love what they do. That's so dope to see folks having a residency, keeping it consistent, being out there so the community, so we got somewhere to go. Like, shout out to them. Shout out to AUXIGEN, you know, Controllerise, all our hip hop institutions, Soul Food Cypher like, shout out to everybody in Atlanta, holding it down for real. Shoot.

JAMEKA

It's a lot of good stuff out here.

AKETE

It’s a lot of good stuff, right? And it's like, you wouldn't even think, because, you know, our mainstream is so different from what a lot of what's actually going on in the city.

JAMEKA

That’s why I love it here… the independent underground scene is, a lot of it is untapped, yeah, but it's so diverse.

AKETE

Mm, right. No deadass.

JAMEKA

It's a majority more so to me, like, when I'm in the city and going to like events, looking for things to do, it's like, it's really the underground.

AKETE

Right? It's all local stuff. Because, yeah, besides, like, Atlanta doesn't have a lot of venues, you know, we have, like, State Farm, Mercedes Benz, like arenas. And then we have, below that. We have, like, the Buckhead Theater, Coca Cola, Roxy, and then like, Tabernacle. And then everything else is, is like, local are folks renting out a venue, throwing an event. They find in a spot, we find a spot like, there's not the same kind of, like, bar music scene that a lot of these other cities have, because Atlanta is kind of, like, in between being one of the most major cities in the world to where, like, Live Nation has, like, lots of stock here, you know, like, it's a if you're doing it, you know, the major artists doing a big tour, it’ll probably hit in Atlanta. 

You know, it's like, so our musical scene kind of, like, it thrives off of that, because we have, we get a lot of mainstream looks. You know, a lot of industry money is funneled through Atlanta. But that led it to a majority focus on that, you know? I'm saying which is unavoidable. You know? That's the nature of the beast. What's great about Atlanta is it still manages to pump out so much unique, you know, diverse music, and it's just an honor to be a part of it. I'm not sure if I answered the question there.

JAMEKA

Yeah, definitely. Are you part of besides, like, being connected to, like, Swiss Army, Nu’Bn and things like that, which is, they're connected anyway, right? Is there any other collectives you’re part about here or out East?

AKETE

I used to be more actively involved in the woods. I work with literally my father's label, Rally Up Music it's a Reggae label.

JAMEKA

Oh wow, what?

AKETE

Ohh yeah!

JAMEKA

You have Reggae roots? Where are you folks from?

AKETE

Ohh yeah! Like, Binghi. So I got Caribbean family in St. Croix, so that's actually just got to see them recently. So I was able to get a week down there away from the cold, it was amazing.

JAMEKA

Ohh, that’s where you were these last few weeks.

AKETE

Yeah. So, yeah, that was good. Got to see family I see in probably every couple years, yeah. I'm named after the Rastafarian ritual drum. The Akete Drum is the center, the lead drum, the talking drum that plays the melody over, you know, so, yes.

JAMEKA

So symbolic.

AKETE

Big up Rasta reggae ting!

JAMEKA

Wow, that is so cool – so your dad has a label.

AKETE

Yeah, yeah, actually, we just did another song that came out nice. Its got a real Afrobeat/soca vibe. Like, I do production with him. So, like, he'll send me tracks if he want some, like, synth lines, or like, hey, as I'm here, you know, maybe a bass line, or, like, really, like, send beats. So, I try to make some beats and, like, send beats. I'll send a beat to my pops, and then he'll arrange it in a different way.

JAMEKA

Whoaaa.

AKETE

And then get the artists on there. So, yeah, there's always something musically going on. Like, I'm always doing something.

JAMEKA

That's really beautiful.

AKETE

Yeah, it's been dope. Like, even they've been going for like, probably about six, seven years now.

JAMEKA

That’s amazing.

AKETE

Yeah and and they have probably about 15 artists, 15 plus artists, because artists that came and only done a couple songs, but it's like, 10 artists that are just, like, consistently with the team. He produces for him. He mixed them, he helped them record, he might engineer them, you know.

JAMEKA

That’s really cool, you really come from it.

AKETE

Oh yeah, oh yeah. My mom was performing while I was in her belly, like she was up there singing.

JAMEKA

That is really cool. I have no other words for you. This is all adds so much context to the project, and also, just like you as an artist.

AKETE

Word, because I be wondering, like, that's something I do, like, wonder if like, because it's so much to try to condense, and it's something I have, like, actively tried to condense, you know, so that it could be reasonable and approachable, you know. Because I'm knowing I want to make all kinds of different music, and, you know, shouts out to people who have kind of helped pave the way for stuff like that. Because, you know, that's something I know is like, it's very difficult to do. You know, getting into it like people, it's easier to latch on to a brand, it's easier to sell something that is specific, you know. So that way they know what it is. They can know if they want. But with the way I'm making music, I'm kind of trying to convey – it is my philosophy. You know, it's kind of like I just try to make sure my philosophy is understood and woven into the music, so that way whatever kind of music it ends up being it's gonna have that same uniqueness. It's gonna have my specific touch on there, which is a lot of times about the funk. Try and make y'all move, like, for real, moving every part we try and try and get it flowing, you know.

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ALL THINGS AKETE HERE.