"AKS, hailing from Deptford in South East London, is one third of the talented Midas Touch collective together with self-assured fellow rapper Phoenix and shrewd rapper/singer J. Tha eXodus. AKS is currently working on his album Do Miracles Happen? In his own words:
"We’re about to find out!"
AKS is no stranger to the stage. He began performing at the Albany Empire Theatre in Deptford, after managing to clambering onstage, aged 7, whilst his dad was singing. His father's music has been an influence on AKS, encouraging him to draw on different genres whilst forming his own style. AKS describes his father's music as a form of afro-beat with elements of jazz and a sound similar to that of Fela Kuti. His father was a major influence on AKS throughout his childhood, and he wanted to be just like him. After his first impulsive experience in the spotlight, AKS developed a taste for the stage and performed there many times after this singing his dad's songs.
At primary school AKS formed a singing group with some friends in his school choir, and they performed self-penned pop-orientated songs (think Kriss Kross meets Backstreet Boys!). Along came secondary school, puberty and rebellion, all of which saw AKS rebelling against music and parental encouragement for him to learn the piano. Instead, AKS discovered emceeing and writing lyrics in the early stages of the garage craze that swept London. This led to him doing radio sets on pirate station N-tyce for the pure enjoyment of it writing came easily to him, and he kept going on the wave of positive feedback he would receive. Then one day at college AKS was inspired by hearing complete and utter sense spat in a form resembling articulate prose over a hip-hop beat, and was astounded that somebody from these shores could write something emotionally and politically productive, and articulate it in a way that touched. "It is one thing to appreciate the 2Pacs and Nas' of the world on CD - but to hear someone rap with skill and impact first-hand, and without an American accent", evoked an "I gotta do that" response from AKS.
AKS cites his contemporary influences as talented rappers on the UK shores who haven’t quite got the shine they deserve, his favourites being "Baby Blue without a doubt she’s doing her thing. Klashnekoff goes without saying, and the whole Terra-Firma connect". Not content with becoming another UK rapper who fails to break out of the underground, AKS wants to be the one that does it big for the UK. "I want to be a figure that, in however many years time, someone can pick up a CD of mine and say Yeah...he smashed it! I don’t wanna fade into the background doing a 9 to 5! Cause that ain't me! It may be somebody else...and they should do THEM! BUT IT AINT ME". AKS philosophises on why so many UK hip-hop artists struggle to maintain successful music careers: "To be able to grind like Tony Hawks...you need the rail to grind on...and if the rail ain’t there you’re gonna fall. I think the industry in the UK remove the rail sometimes for peeps in our genre." Gwan!!!! .
His lyrics are often introspective and frequently ruminate on the two-way relationship between himself and his environment; drawing on experiences that are commonplace and can be related to by all, even the most negligible of conversations. Above all, AKS just wants to relay the most accurate representation of himself, tired of the get-this-money factor that consumes the subject-matter of many rappers and leaves one wondering what happened to the person behind that, and the things that person went through. AKS explains his grievance with this phenomenon: "Yeah you've gotta get dough, but you're also a person. I just want to show that person. For me, its not a case of what sounds good, but more about what sounds right." AKS has a strong stage presence, and a commanding voice with a diverse flow, impressive tools with which to exhibit his memorable and talented skill for writing lyrics. He spits deeply and provocatively, catching your attention from his first utterance due to his sincere and impassioned delivery, attention-catching murmurs, and earnest words.
The forthcoming album from AKS, entitled "Do Miracles Happen?” is largely autobiographical whilst attempting to teach that if it happens for him, it can happen for you. "Everyone has their own miracle that they are striving for." The album thematically examines the idea of making it. It seems that everybody’s life is geared towards making it and yet not everyone does, for one reason or another. AKS wants people to hear his music and have hope in their own dreams, or at least not be afraid to dream in the first place. He considers it to be an apparent trend that if you are well off, you stay well off; and if you aren’t - you’re screwed. Yet AKS is neither well off nor the complete opposite, so making it feels like something of a miracle. In posing the question Do Miracles Happen? The outcome of the album is the answer. Make your own mind up... 'Do Miracles Happen?' COMING SOON!
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