Akala (rapper)

Akala
Birth name	Kingslee James Daley
Also known as	Akala, Black Shakespeare
Born	(1983-12-31) 31 December 1983
Origin	Kentish Town, London, England
Genres	British hip hop Grime Alternative
Occupations	Rapper, MC, poet, songwriter, author and revolutionist
Years active	2004-present
Labels	Illa State Records
Associated acts	Ms Dynamite, Lowkey, Sway DaSafo
Website	http://www.akalamusic.com

Akala (born Kingslee James Daley, 1 December 1983) is an English poet, journalist, rapper and educator known most for his influence within hip hop music. Originally from Kentish Town, Camden, London, he is of dual heritage of Scottish and Jamaican roots, and his older sister is Ms. Dynamite.

Themes

Akala's lyrics focus upon social class struggle, social conditioning and alienation among the proletariat. Many see him as a force in the UK underground scene and a driving factor in a new generation of British Music that focuses upon disseminating ideas of real social change, while exposing harsh truth of the British and Western social systems, through his lyrics.

His knowledge is shared through his website, blog, articles on The Huffington Post and YouTube.

Discography

Albums

Album Information
It's Not a Rumour Released: 1 May 2006 Singles: "Roll Wid Us" "Bullshit" "The Edge" "Shakespeare"
Freedom Lasso Released: 10 October 2007 Singles: "Bit By Bit" "Electro Livin" "Comedy Tragedy History"
Doublethink Released: 3 May 2010 Singles: "XXL" "Yours And My Children"

EPs

Akala - Acoustic Remixes

• Released: 10 October 2008

Mixtapes

Mixtape Information
The War Mixtape Released: 1 August 2004 Singles: "Welcome To England" "War"
A Little Darker Released: May, 2006
The War Mixtape Vol.2 Released: September 22, 2008

Singles

• "Welcome to England" (2003)
• "War" (2004)
• "Roll Wid Us" (16 May 2005) - UK #72
• "Bullshit" (24 October 2005)
• "The Edge" (featuring Niara) (10 April 2006)
• "Dat Boy Akala" (featuring Low Deep)
• "Shakespeare" (3 July 2006)
• "Bit by Bit" (17 September 2007)
• "Comedy Tragedy History" (2008)
• "Freedom Lasso" (2008)
• "Where I'm From" (2008)
• "Yours and My Children" (3 May 2010)
• "XXL" (2010)
• "Yours and My Children" (21 September 2010)
• "Find No Enemy" (31 March 2011)

Live performances

In 2006 Akala was the first rapper to perform his own headline concert in Vietnam.^{[citation needed]}

Akala has performed at UK festivals: V Festival, Wireless, Glastonbury, Reading and Leeds Festivals, Parklife and Isle of Wight and supported artists such as Christina Aguilera, M.I.A., Richard Ashcroft (The Verve), Audiobullys, DJ Shadow, The Gotan Project and Scratch Perverts on their UK/European tours.

In 2008, Akala has also featured at the South by Southwest Music festival in Texas, as well as performances in New York, Los Angeles and in Brazil.

In 2010, Akala toured the UK with the Nas & Damian Marley Distant Relatives tour, which included the British rappers Ty. In November 2010, he also embarked on his own headline tour of the UK (20 dates).

In November 2010, Akala headlined a live performance at the British Library, to launch the Evolving English exhibition and featured performances by the renowned British poet Zena Edwards, comedian Doc Brown and British rapper/activist Lowkey. The live event also included Akala taking part in a hip hop panel discussion alongside Saul Williams, US professor M.K. Asante and Lowkey. He was also present at One Love:No Borders Hip Hop event held in Birmingham UK in April also with acts from artists such as Iron Braydz from London, Lowkey, Logic and other up and coming UK artists.

Use in other media

The song "Roll Wid Us", was used in the British film, Kidulthood.
The song "The Edge", from Its Not A Rumour, was used in the NBA 2K10' video game.

References

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sEOKgjoxoto

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gOoa_iACOQc

External links

• Official website
• Article on Akala
• Akala on Myspace
• Akala (rapper) on Twitter
• Akala (rapper) on Facebook
• BBC Blast
• Choice FM article