Akir is an American hip hop

recording artist A musician is a person who composes, conducts, or performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general term used to designate one who follows music as a profession. Musicians include songwriters who wr ...

, producer,

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music ...

activist and, teaching artist known for his complex lyrics and social-political content. His name is an acronym for "Always Keep It Real".

Biography

Akir first entered the hip hop scene as an on-air personality at the

high school radio High school radio are radio stations located at high schools and usually operated by its students with faculty supervision. The oldest extant high school AM radio station is AM 1450 KBPS in Portland, Oregon. Portland radio station KBPS, first ...

station,

WNMH WNMH is a high school radio station broadcasting a Variety format. The station is owned by Northfield Mount Hermon School. From 1984 until 2010, the station was licensed to operate on 91.5 FM from Northfield, Massachusetts, United States and fea ...

, from 1994 to 1996. In 1998, he ranked second out of 50 in Howard University's Verbal Armageddon, MC competition. Akir sought to improve his musical talent and began to focus on production. Collaborating with his brother and business partner SouthPaw, he co-produced one track on

Immortal Technique Felipe Andres Coronel (born February 19, 1978), better known by the stage name Immortal Technique, is an American rapper. Most of his lyrics focus on controversial issues in global politics, from a radical left-wing perspective. Immortal Techn ...

's ''

Revolutionary Vol. 1 ''Revolutionary Vol. 1'' is the debut album by rapper Immortal Technique, released on September 18, 2001, and re-pressed in 2004 (by Babygrande Records). The first edition had no distribution and no bar code; it was sold by the artist on the stree ...

''. Soon after, Akir released his first song, "Best Friend", on DJ N'finite's mix CD, ''The Blockbuster Vol. 1'', through his own production company, One Enterprises. In November 2005, Akir and ten other up and coming emcees formed the group The Reavers, and released the album ''Terror Firma''. Soon after, One Enterprises and Viper Records joined to release Akir's debut solo album, ''

Legacy In law, a legacy is something held and transferred to someone as their inheritance, as by will and testament. Personal effects, family property, marriage property or collective property gained by will of real property. Legacy or legacies may refer ...

''. Soon after the release of ''Legacy'', Akir was featured in ''

The Source ''The Source'' is an American hip hop and entertainment website, and a magazine that publishes annually or . It is the world's longest-running rap periodical, being founded as a newsletter in 1988 by Jonathan Shecter. David Mays was the ma ...

s Unsigned Hype sidebar in the January/February 2005 issue, and the "Off The Radar" spotlight in the April 2006 issue. Akir was also featured in '' XXL'' magazine's Chairman's Choice in the October 2005 issue, and Show and Prove spotlight in the June 2006 issue. In 2006, Akir appeared as a model for Mecca 5star apparel, appearing in ad campaigns in magazines and billboards. Akir has completed over 10 international tours (Rock the Bells 2006-2012,

Vans Warped Tour The Warped Tour was a traveling rock tour that toured the United States plus three or four stops in Canada annually each summer from 1995 until 2019. It was the largest traveling music festival in the United States and the longest-running tour ...

2004, Fort Minor 2006, Redman Tour Fall 2007), over 15 domestic tours and over 1000 shows. The festivals he has performed at include: Coachella, Bella Terra, Roskilde (Denmark), Culturanova (Netherlands), L'Boulevard (Morocco), Qart (Norway), Hultsfred (Sweden), Hip Hop Al Parque (Columbia). Additionally, Akir has been involved with the

Flocabulary Flocabulary is a Brooklyn-based company that creates educational hip hop songs, videos and additional materials for students in grades K-12. Founded in 2004 by Blake Harrison and Alex Rappaport, the company takes a nontraditional approach to te ...

project collaborating with

9th Wonder Patrick Denard Douthit (born January 15, 1975),
better known as 9th Wonder, is a Romeo and Juliet ''Romeo and Juliet'' is a tragedy written by William Shakespeare early in his career about the romance between two Italian youths from feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular plays during his lifetime and, along with ''Ham ...

'' into a hip hop song for school curriculums. He was also referenced in one of their texts called ''The Rappers Handbook''. In 2007, One Enterprises and Viper Records in partnership with Koch Distribution reissued Akir's second album ''

''. In 2008 he was made the head of artist relations at the Hip Hop Caucus during the Respect My Vote '08 campaign which featured such celebrities as

DJ Green Lantern James Christopher D'Agostino (born July 7, 1975), professionally known as DJ Green Lantern, is an American hip hop DJ and producer from Rochester, New York. In 2002, D'Agostino was signed by American rapper Eminem, to become the official DJ for S ...

, TI,

Maino Maino may refer to: *Maino (rapper) Jermaine John Coleman (born August 30, 1978), better known by his stage name Maino, is an American rapper from Brooklyn, New York City. His debut single " Hi Hater" peaked at #16 on Billboard's Hot Rap Son ...

, Dawn Richard, and

Pharoahe Monch Troy Donald Jamerson (born October 31, 1972), better known by his stage name Pharoahe Monch, is an American rapper from South Jamaica, Queens, New York. He is known for his complex lyrics, intricate delivery, and internal and multisyllabic rhy ...

. AKIR also found himself working with at-risk youth teaching writing, production, and recording with the non-profit organization Art Start, working in a studio donated by Bruce Willis, Russell Simmons and Queen Latifah. Akir is also a member of a hip-hop artist/activist collective called Rebel Army (a.k.a. Rebel Armz) Including:

, Poison Pen, Diabolic, Swave Sevah, Da Circle (Slim & Fatz),

Hasan Salaam Hasan Salaam (born January 12, 1981) is an American rapper and sex educator born in New York City and raised in New Jersey. His lyrics touch on such subjects as "post-colonial exploitation of African ( hip-hop) culture", "the African diaspora". ...

, CF, DJ Static, SouthPaw, and DJ GI Joe. In the fall of 2009 he released a mixtape entitled ''The Secret'' hosted by DJ Static and

Statik Selektah Static may refer to: Places *Static Nunatak, a nunatak in Antarctica United States * Static, Kentucky and Tennessee * Static Peak, a mountain in Wyoming **Static Peak Divide, a mountain pass near the peak Science and technology Physics *Static e ...

. ''FOCUS (EP)'' was released August 20, 2013 and ''The Plan'' (LP) was released on September 24, 2013.

Discography

Albums

* ''Street Edition Volumes 1 & 2'' (2003, One Enterprises) * ''

'' (2006, Viper Records) * ''Supporter Sundays'' (2011, One Enterprises) * ''The Plan'' (2013, Viper Records)

Mixtapes

* ''The Secret'' (2009) (with DJ Static and

)

EPs

* ''Focus EP'' (2013)

References

External links

Official WebsiteAkir
on

Discogs Discogs (short for discographies) is a database of information about audio recordings, including commercial releases, promotional releases, and bootleg or off-label releases. While the site was originally created with a goal of becoming the ...

Akir
on

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Music ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Akir African-American male rappers American male rappers African-American songwriters East Coast hip hop musicians Living people Musicians from Buffalo, New York Rappers from New York (state) Songwriters from New York (state) Underground rappers 21st-century American rappers 21st-century American male musicians Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century African-American musicians American male songwriters