Akala
Akala: rapper, activist, historian, speaker, poet, and as Monday’s gig proved, an awesome live artist.
Real name Kingslee James Daley, Akala dropped by the Waterfront for the first stop Ten Years of Akala. Long time Akala fans knew this tour would be special, recent fans such as myself soaked up the anticipation when the rapper introduced himself with a rousing video montage of political activists.
Said backdrop complemented Akala’s performance; the projector played accompanying music videos. Occasionally the visual accompaniment seemed unnecessary as Akala’s diction clear enough to follow without the sporadic lyric video.
Akala tore through his impressive back catalogue, mixing old songs and new. This was no tidy greatest hits tour. Highlights included a medley from rebellious first album It’s Not a Rumour; energy taken up to maximum levels by the accompanying DJ and drummer. Akala slipped from Grime and bass beats to sobering spoken word poetry, silencing the audience with commentary on issues such as capitalism, war and race.
Although heavily political, Akala was in no way humourless. At one point, he donned a top hat and dinner jacket to perform a satirical number as a capitalist, silver spoon branding, “cunt”. (Akala’s words, not mine). Banter with the crowd made us feel as that although he has spoken at the Oxford Union, he was our intellectual equal.
Akala may not have gone platinum, gotten Radio 1 airtime or sold out stadiums, but Monday proved that his 10 year commitment to music and activism has been well worth it. To make a crowd feel elated, angry, dejected and joyful in a few hours is a rare thing, and we can only hope that Akala gives us another 10 years of it.
<iframe src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4heZkvPcd1M" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
