Akira the Don first popped back into my head maybe 18 months ago when he dropped the “Stunners 130″ mixtape, including a dirty bootie of Pip/Knifehandchop/Nirvana, although the track is great the best thing about it isn’t that Pip and I are on it, its ATD’s flow that makes it, his voice is somehow monotone but melodic, lazy yet empowered.
A few years ago while I was stuck sucking the corporate cock that is HMV, the hype monster picked up ATD and ran with him, for a minute all the sweaty children of record retail expected ATD to boom, the AAA EP was a decidedly a pain in the arse to get hold of , but as usual with this filthy little industy of ours he didn’t boom, the hype monster got it wrong. Thankfully there is no giving in for ATD, being signed and dropped just gives him another line for another song and I firmly believe quality in the world will always win out, eventually.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m in no way suggesting that ATD’s 2006 debut long player “When We Were Young” was a failure, I’m fairly sure that he’ll have sold more records than Pip & I, but if we were playing UK Hip Hop Top Trump’s then his card should be as monsterously unbeatable as Dizzee Rascal’s or Lethal Bizzle’s, in fact isn’t ATD responsible for Bizzle’s transformation from street urchin garage star to middle class indie boys dirty little sercet? ATD providing production duties the BZA’s “Police On My Back” and “Babylon’s Burning the Ghetto”. Although V2 are really to blame/thank.
So anyway I’ll stop rambling, a couple of days ago i saw the MusicLikeDirt top 200, you might know MLD by the fact that it was the very first place you could download Thou Shalt Always Kill nearly 4 months before release and 3 weeks after we finished writing it, again anyway what do you think was top? Only the man ATD with a double dope remix of Chily Gonzales, it is spunky for want of a better word, ATD’s content and flow just stands shoulders above his peers. The lad is honest and fills the track with mundanity (which isn’t a word btw) to commentary, and to be honest it just made me smile.
Gonzales – ‘Working Together’ (Akira the Don Remix)
Akira the Don – ‘When We Were Young’ itunes
Akira the Don Website
About time I had Akira at No.1, my best of 2006 had him at a criminally low 35 with Thanks For All The Aids (dont know what I was thinking!)… some other chancers were at No.9 with “Angles”.
Grab 11 in my mind and the ATD podcasts if you havent already. As you say he describes the mundane wonderfully well, always makes me chuckle.
You can’t turn piss into wine
You can’t rub pennies in a wound and expect it to be fine
There ARE no diamonds in the mines -
Cos we teefed the lot
So I’m a be on Top Of The Pops singing…
THANKS FOR ALL THE AIDS!
Incidently I think you and Pip need this Voluntary Butler Scheme T-shirt
http://i142.photobucket.com/albums/r104/robenspiel/CF022636.jpg
Yellow doesnt suit me
hey thanks for posting this. i never heard of akira the don before and i find it funny as shit not to mention great to rock out….like his take on yr song and the remix and all….plus im a big kc fan so just goes to shiow…anyways thanks….love the clicky clicky thinga:)
Great colab! I loved akira back in the day! i’m glad to see he’s still on the out and up.