AKAN Speaks: Shares Insight on His Music, Growth and Grandfather’s Influence on Him
“Everything I said on the album is something I’ve gone through or seen somebody go through these experiences. So it was about me expressing how I feel when I get’’- AKAN
When rapper AKAN released his debut album, “Onipa Akoma”, the consensus was unanimous: he’s the future of rap. The 14 track album is fantastic in conception, brilliant in execution, deep in messages and exciting in visualization. As we emphasized in our review, ”Onipa Akoma” is the best rap album released in the last decade.
After wrapping up the second leg of his ‘’Akoma Mu Nsemsem Tour’’, Akan graciously accepted our offer for an interview, in which we expressed thoughts on a myriad of issues regarding his music and life.
Listening to ”Onipa Akoma” is like hearing the truth about one’s self. ”It’s really about me being able to reflect on myself as an individual and asking myself where I want to go with the art”, AKAN explained.
That humanized version of events and the capturing of life’s themes make the album relatable to a lot of people. Akan isn’t surprised by this. Touching on the making of the album, Akan revealed it took him two years to make the album; with over 8 months spent on writing and thinking about concepts.
As to who influenced him and inspired the album, Akan readily credits his grandfather for Opanyin Kweku Appiah, a linguist whom Akan used to visit during his younger days. ‘I didn’t have the chance to even have conversations with him. It was really about me paying attention and listening to what they were saying‘, he disclosed in the interview.
To Akan, Opanyin Kweku Appiah was his grandfather and not the respected linguist that he was. The conversation he heard his grandfather and members of his family had eventually led to his appreciation of language, its power on people his own actions.
‘Somewhere around AKAN EP, I realized the kids around were looking (up) to me… It meant whatever I say in my music, they were listening. I had to pay attention and know what to say and what not to say’.
The legacy left by his grandfather, on which his relatives still live and the memory shared by these relatives about his fulfilled life set him asking himself questions about his own future and what he would be remembered for.
The interview covered his tour and the experiences he felt, his upbringing and life, spirituality and relationships, his future plans for his career and how to grow and sustain a formidable fan base.
Did you know that the original album wasn’t going to be ‘’Onipa Akoma’’? Did you also know Akan formed a rap group during his years in primary school? Also, did you know how one of his songs, Akoma No Abuagumu was first written in… (Find out more on the interview with Akan on our first episode of the series: #DaCNVO)
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Photo credits: @samuelkorteyb and owula kpako
