Words by Ian Marshall

Some characters are so different, so immediately “out there” and interesting that your consciousness absorbs them immediately and their work becomes even more fascinating as a result. Akira the Don is one of these — a very modern musician, comfortable in the age of the Internet and agile in his use of words to spread his message. His website serves as a repository for his engaging and amusing thoughts interspersed with links betraying fulsome online surfing habits, the latest news in hip-hop and insights into government corruption and conspiracy theories. These themes are vividly present in the music as well, and the controversial nature of his lyrics actually led to Interscope refusing to release his début album last year. The voice of Akira the Don’s site is perhaps not surprising from someone who started out as a music journalist and who clearly understands how the industry works and is changing. As he prepared for a Christmas gig in London, ‘Sup talked to him about his turbulent past, his hopes for the future and the music that has allowed him to avoid getting a “proper” job.

It’s been quite a journey, yeah? From Playlouder.com, through Crack Village and then solo, gaining and ditching a major and now looking at the second album. Has the world domination master plan always been in place or have you just taken it as it comes?
Yes it has! I realised yesterday it’s been nearly four years since I had a “proper” job. I guess stuff is going pretty well. As for world domination, all I ever wanted was to be able to do what I do. Well, OK, I did wanna be as big as Adam Ant when I was 8. But since then I’ve just been doing what I do, all day every day.

Starting at the beginning, you got involved with Playlouder.com when you were very young and had an excellent column talking about your crazy life back in those days. Firstly how did that come about?
I came to London in ‘99, specifically to get into music journalism, suss out how the “industry” worked, form a band, and, um, do what I’m doing now. I had this fanzine called Chemical Nation, and an awesome fellow called Nik Moore spotted what I was doing in it, and recommended me to the people at PlayLouder. My first job for them was reviewing Glastonbury 2000. It was amazing. That was the last year before the “superwall” – it was like Dante’s Inferno. Anyway, they kind of let me carve out my own niche over there – and for a little while that involved detailing all youthful foolishness I was engaging in. There are many worse ways to make a living, and I am thankful, although much of that stuff makes painful reading for my enlightened older self. Ho ho.

Secondly, what has happened to all that stuff? The new Playlouder Web site looks quite interesting but all the old content seems to have disappeared.
Apparently it’s still in there somewhere. There is a way of finding it, I’m not sure how. The new Playlouder is in a period of transition, I’m told. They’re trying to do some revolutionary shit. I hope they succeed.

So Crack Village are still going as far as I understand, but you started off with them while you were still at Playlouder?
Yeah. I haven’t seen the boys for a long time, Pete sent me a message when he heard I had pneumonia some months back. I really appreciated that. And Lois Winstone (Baby Bo) has been dropping round lately, and I’m gonna be helping her with her solo album. She lives round the corner from me now. She’s great.

Leaving after artistic differences, you have continued to collaborate on almost all of your releases with various parties. Obviously some of these people will have added new directions and different spins on your work, but who would you say has understood what you were trying to do the most?
Well, Bizzle understood what I was doing straight away, that’s why the stuff we did was so great from the off. But Narstie, since the moment I met him, we got each other implicitly. Every time we get together it’s brilliant, I love that dude.

So Interscope wooed you, took you to the States and built you a home studio before deciding that your album wasn’t for them. What would your response to another big label be if they came calling for the second album?
Well, never say never. A lot has changed since then. I have learnt a hell of a lot. And the business itself is different. This time round we’re doing the whole thing ourselves, before we decide how it’s going to be released. The role of a record company is different now. I said before I signed that Interscope, in an article I wrote for Tank, that a record deal is basically a bank loan with a load of extra advisors – you still need the loan, if you’re going to push it hard. It doesn’t necessarily have to come from a label though, if you’ve got the right people in place. So we’ll see.
Anyway, this new album is kind of incredible, if I do say so myself. Had the first session with Stephen Hague yesterday, which went great. The stuff sounds massive.

When We Were Young is ace by the way, and it was well received by the press for the most part, while perhaps not selling as much as it would have done if Interscope were still involved. Do you think physical album sales are any sort of indicator of the popularity of an artist these days?
Thanks, droog, I’m glad you enjoyed it. As for physical sales – they matter still, to an extent . V2 got bought out recently, and they got rid of pretty much everyone bar The Stereophonics, who still shift mad CDs. Maybe Lupe Fiasco does more downloads, but those boys shift crazy plastic. Someone said this is probably because Stereophonics fans can’t work computers. HO HO! Time is running out on that front. But, say, Timbaland, who had one of this years biggest albums, also had one of the years most pirated records. That thing gave me mad ratio on Oink. But, of course, there are artists who are loved globally, but sell fuck all records. These are Interesting Times.

Your on-line presence has been important, with the always interesting blog, mixtapes, and the immediacy with which you can communicate with the fans. I’ve had mixed responses from bands who find the on-line side of things to be a chore but it seems to really work for you. Do you enjoy that side of things?
Yeah, which is why it works. It helps that I can write. It’s not for everybody. I don’t hit pirate radio every night, but that works for some people. My advice: Do you.

You have often offered free downloads of your music and of course the legendary mixtapes. I’d like to hear your take on the whole “free music” phenomenon. With a number of bands releasing albums on-line last year from the highly publicised Radiohead pay-what-you-feel thing to The Crimea offering their album for nothing, are we seeing the death of recorded music as a commodity?
We’re seeing a transition period. No one knows where the chips are gonna fall yet, but we do know, thanks to the actions of the music industry, that a whole generation has grown up expecting to be able to cop their records online for free. Back when Napster was going on, the industry could have got together, offered some kind of high speed, virus free subscription program, and cleaned up. But they were greedy and scared, so they sued people. They made outlaws out of nine year olds. They made stealing music cool. Then dickhead bands on MySpace begging friends and spamming kids made music uncool. So now, music is totally uncool, and paying for it is totally uncool. But, as I said, things are still in flux. Shit will settle. We’ll still be able to make a living from making songs. And I don’t think the album, as a Thing, is dead. Changing songs every three minutes, making playlists, that stuff is long. People want to be able to click play and get an hour of awesome music. That’s why my mixtapes are so popular. So, people have to put the effort in. Make a whole block of brilliant music. Some shit that goes beginning to end without you wanting to skip anything. That’s the challenge. Anyone that can do that is gonna be cool.

One thing that seems clear is that there isn’t much money in being a young artist these days, do you find you make enough to pay the bills? Do you think the internet has helped make a new DIY music industry or just ruined the existing model as Nicky Wire suggested last week?
I scrape by, just about. Some months are better than others. I know for a fact that I wouldn’t exist as I do without the internet. Like I said, four years without a proper job. I am very proud of that. And I am not alone. There are a hell of a lot more people making a living out of their music today than there were ten years ago. We’re not rich – but we’re here. We’re doing what we’re good at, which keeps us relatively sane in the midst of all this lunacy. Put a dude like me in an office and see what happens. So we’re good. It’s only record sales that this has affected. Publishing is cool, people are going to gigs, songs are played everywhere, from video games to shopping malls. Dude, they charged people £16 to replace records they already owned on cassette on a crappy little plastic disc they said would last forever and started disintegrating within 4 years. They deserve what’s happening to them. The existing model was a fucking rip off.

Talking about the music now, I understand Hypocrite is being released as a single in a new version, how is that coming along and is it going to be a physical release?
Nah, that happened a while ago. It was just digital;. We did a really sweet video, did you not see it?

There were a few harrowing autobiographical songs on the debut, can we expect more on the follow up or are you focusing more on the outside world for the new one?
Funny you should say that. I’d say the focus on the new album has moved from “I” to “We”. Of course, one can only describe the things that affect us all by being honest about how they affect us individually. So its still personal. Some of the super-personal stuff, recorded around the time of the Interscope severing will turn up on Thieving though, which is a sort of bridge-gapping mixtape album I’m putting out in January.

Now you have done various different live shows, both with and without your fellow contributors, and you are doing an acoustic set at Bush Hall in a couple of weeks – how is that going to work? And what do you see as the best way to showcase the Don in an ideal world?
I’m still a long way away from the ideal. Getting closer though. The ideal involves a lot of lights and dancers and video and fire and drummers and a cannon and all sorts of shit. It’s gonna be awesome. The Bush Hall gig will be intimate, and involve no laptop, which is a first for me, but that’s all I can say for sure right now. We start rehearsing tonight.

Politically, you have written extensively both on your blog and also in some of the music about the state of the world. With Blair gone and Howard out in Australia it could be said that the last of the axis of evil is left with Bush, do you approach the political process with a positive mindset or are you concerned that our institutions are not serving the purpose they were put there for and that is irreparable?
I see the whole thing as a hydra. Cutting off Blair’s head just left room for a new one to grow (which it has). Shit wasn’t so different under Clinton, and it won’t be when his wife takes the reigns next year. I see politics as a Punch And Judy show distracting us from the foul shit the puppeteer is doing with our children behind the screen. I don’t think it’s irreparable though. I’d have to kill myself if I did.

Finally, I’d like to know how you feel about London having lived here for a few years – do you find it an aid to your creativity? Where do you go to chill out?
Well, I have seen many sides of London over the past eight or nine years, and it has certainly shaped my methods, my outlook, and, um, me in general. I met some amazing people. Right now though, I kind of long for fresh air and stars in the sky and stuff of that nature, so I might move. We shall see. I don’t really go out so much any more either. I used to go out all night every night. Now I stay in and write songs. I like to go to Clissold Park in Stoke Newington when I get a chance, and feed the ducks.