The Roshua Review May 2015 | Page 7

Backstage Pass

with

A.K.i.L.

I haven’t seen you in about a year right? So what’s happened within the past year?

I’ve just been recording music. Just working on myself and tryna find myself as an artist and find my sound. You know, crystalize my sound. Performing a lot, you know what I’m saying. I started with these open mics; I finally got my first show today.

This is your first show?

My first real show; you know, actually paid on ticket sales.

Wow. It was a great show and I’m not just tryna gas you up cuz the dudes after you I wasn’t feelin that. You offer something real different and you had a lot of emotion with it too.

Ah, preciate that for real. I tried to just give it my all on the stage, you know- everything I got.

So what type of high is that? You looked crazy, like wild afterwards.

Bro it’s crazy. It’s just like you just got done doing everything, I mean you got done getting everything off your chest; that’s how I see it. I love performing because I just get to speak my life and how I see things. It’s a crazy feeling; it’s better than anything really. It’s just the best feeling in the world.

What is it like rapping “I’m on stage,” words from your song “Blow Up” that was written while you had yet to have your first show?

Man, it felt crazy; I just felt amazing. Finally being on stage in front of people, I had people there supporting me, so it was dope.

So what’s next for you?

Next? Grind. I’m back in the studio tonight. Just grindin, getting more songs, and just working on this EP I’m bout to do, so it’s bout to be cool.

Release date on that?

Uh, no release date yet, but really people don’t have release dates no more; you just drop it.

Alright. I know Afton’s really helping you showcase your talents. Are you looking at a label anytime soon?

Naah. I mean I had a label come at me before, an independent label, and they was trippin. I don’t really like labels, I prefer to be independent cause I’ve seen it done from Chance the Rapper to even Kendrick Lamar with TDE, you know they’ve made their own thing happen. You know A$AP Rocky. I mean eventually they signed onto major label, a couple of them, but I feel you don’t need em anymore with the internet.