Akira the Don

Last updated

Akira The Don
Akira The Don - Normal World.jpg
Akira singing during a set on the Normal World Show
Background information
Birth nameAdam Jan Narkiewicz [1]
OriginUK
Genres
Occupations
  • Musician
  • DJ
  • record producer
Years active2004–present
LabelsMeaningwave (2020–present)
Living in the Future (2009–2020)
Something in Construction (2004–2009)
Interscope (2005–2006)
Website www.meaningwave.com

Akira the Don (real name Adam Jan Narkiewicz) is a British musician, DJ, producer, and YouTuber.

Contents

His music and production traverses the boundaries between pop, hip-hop, indie, and dance. He lists influences including Ice Cube, Adam Ant, Morrissey, Big Bang, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and the Wu-Tang Clan. His debut album When We Were Young was co-produced by James Brown (Foo Fighters etc), Emile Haynie and   Danny Saber. In 2017, Akira the Don released mixtapes in the form of a new genre he created, referred to as "Meaningwave" [2] – a fusion of wave music with meaningful lyrical content and lo-fi hip-hop.

Career

Rapper

Prior to launching a solo career, Akira the Don was a member of hip-hop group Crack Village, another member being Lois Winstone. [3] [4] In 2006, Akira rapped on Brave Captain's album Distractions. [5] He released his first album When We Were Young the same year. [6]

In May 2011, he released his second LP, The Life Equation. The album is co-produced with Stephen Hague and features collaborations with Gruff Rhys (of Super Furry Animals) and Envy. [7] Akira often produced his own videos. [8] In 2012, Akira performed and hosted panels at Grant Morrison’s MorrisonCon alongside My Chemical Romance’s Gerard Way. Grant had said that Akira was his favourite artist. [9]

In March 2014, Akira released A.T.D.R.I.P.. He played his final gig as a traditional rap artist in London on 19 May,. [10]

Producer

Akira has produced songs for a number of artists including two top forty hits for Lethal Bizzle [11] along with songs for Newham Generals' Footsie, Big Narstie, Envy, G-Mane, Littles, Marvin The Martian, Issue, and Time.

In 2011, Akira collaborated with Chilly Gonzales on mixtape. [11]

In 2015, Akira produced a cover of Adamski's "Killer" featuring Grant Morrison. [12]

In 2016, he released a remix of the Stranger Things theme. [13]

Since 2017, Akira the Don has been integrating philosophically inspired lyrical content into his music. He created and developed the Meaningwave Universe which is aimed at inspiring people to find wholesomeness in their lives, and promotes the ideas of peak performance or flow consciousness. [14] He's sampled soundbites from Jordan Peterson, Alan Watts, Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, Fred Rogers, [15] Anthony Bourdain, and others. [16] In February 2018, Akira entered what he deemed a new era of "hyper productivity", and has since released 109 albums. [17]

In September 2021, Scott Adams appeared as a guest on the Fox News Channel talk show Gutfeld! to promote his album with Akira The Don, The Basket Case Theory. [18]

In 2021, Jordan Peterson appeared on Akira's podcast, an experience he went on to discuss with numerous podcasters. [19]

Performances

In October 2014 Akira relocated to Los Angeles, where he formed the party rap duo MIDNITEMEN with long time collaborator and nightclub organizer Wade Crescent, and began DJing every week in Hollywood nightspots like The Roosevelt Hotel, Blind Dragon, Hooray Henrys and Bootsy Bellows. The latter is co-owned by David Arquette, for whom Akira provided accent coaching for the actor's role in a stage production of Sherlock Holmes. [20]

In December 2015, MIDNITEMEN produced an official remix of the song "Sunrise" The Kooks, featured in their album Hello, What's Your Name?

As resident DJ at Blind Dragon, he DJed parties for the likes of The Weeknd, Nylon Magazine [21] and Harry Styles. [22] He DJed for Justin Bieber at Hooray Henrys following his VMAs performance. [23]

In November 2022, Akira performed at Decentraland's Metaverse Music Festival, sharing the virtual stage with renowned artists such as Björk, Ozzy Osbourne, Dillon Francis, Soulja Boy, Izzy Bizu, Megadeth, and many more. The event brought together a diverse lineup of global talent, showcasing Akira’s music in the immersive, cutting-edge environment of the metaverse. [24]

In early October 2023, Akira performed the entire ANTHEM EP—a commissioned by the Atlas Society at the Atlas Society's 7th Annual Fundraising Gala, [25] an event that brought together prominent figures from the worlds of business and philosophy. Notable attendees included Jennifer Grossman, CEO of the Atlas Society, billionaire entrepreneur Ricardo Salinas, and tech visionary Michael Saylor. Akira’s performance added a unique musical touch to the prestigious evening, celebrating the intersection of art, philosophy, and innovation. [26]

Appearances

In June 2023, Akira appeared as a guest on The Will Cain Show, where he discussed the impact of failing societal systems on the erosion of meaning and beauty. He delved into how these broken structures contribute to the decline of communities and shared insights on recognizing the individuals and forces responsible for bringing them down. [27]

In October 2023, Akira appeared as a guest on Blaze TV's "The Normal World Show." [28] During the episode, Akira performed a special set near the end, featuring a song that incorporated the words of Ayn Rand, blending his unique musical style with philosophical themes..

In February 2024, Akira appeared as a guest on the "Nights with Chris Boyle segment of OANN TV. He discussed the creation, cultural impact, and creative process of Meaningwave, highlighting its blend of music, motivational speeches, and philosophical ideas. The interview showcased Meaningwave’s growing influence on music and internet culture. [29]

In March 2024, Akira made a return appearance on Blaze TV's "The Normal World Show." This time, he performed a song with lyrics adapted from The Meditations Of Marcus Aurelius, [30] taken from his album MEDITATIONS VOL II, that adapts Book 3 of the Meditations into an album, MEDITATIONS VOL II. This was the follow up to MEDITATIONS VOL 1, which was described as “excellent” by Robin Warterfield in his Annotated Edition. [31]

YouTube

In 2020, Akira started to live-stream daily DJs sets on his YouTube channel, at times doing two sets per day.

Personal life

Born in West Bromwich and raised in North Wales, for most of his career he lived in London. [32] In 2014, he moved to Los Angeles. In 2020, he moved to Texas in order "to secure the future of Meaningwave, his son's childhood, and the very Don Dynasty itself." [33] Since 2021, he has been residing in Mexico.

Discography

Albums

2006

2011

2016

2017

2018

2019

2020

2021

2022

2023

2024

EPs

MIXES/MIXTAPES

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References

  1. ↑ "A LOFI CHRISTMAS SONG". ASCAP. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers. Retrieved 9 November 2023.
  2. ↑ Parrish, Joseph (11 May 2019). "The Rise of Meaningwave Music". Medium. Joseph Parrish. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  3. ↑ Cragg, Michael (22 February 2011). "New music: Akira the Don and Chilly Gonzales – Don't Need a Weatherman". The Guardian.
  4. ↑ "BBC Wales - Music - Akira the Don - Biography".
  5. ↑ "Martin Carr - Ye Gods (And Little Fishes)". Pitchfork. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  6. ↑ "Interview: Akira The Don". Oxford Student. 3 November 2010. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  7. ↑ "Akira the Don - The Life Equation review". The Quietus. 20 February 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  8. ↑ "Watch Akira The Don's Halloween Ready Video For 'Spooky Scary Skeletons'". NME. 26 October 2016. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  9. ↑ "Akira The Don Talks MorrisonCon". Bleeding Cool. 2 October 2012.
  10. ↑ "The final A.T.D. Music video: Akira the Don – LATELY | Akira the Don". Archived from the original on 4 May 2014. Retrieved 4 May 2014.
  11. 1 2 "New music: Akira the Don and Chilly Gonzales – Don't Need a Weatherman". The Guardian. 22 February 2011. Retrieved 23 February 2018.
  12. ↑ "Grant Morrison Appears In Akira The Don's New Music Video For Killer". Bleeding Cool. 2 June 2015. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  13. ↑ "Akira the Don's Remix of the Stranger Things theme". NME. 13 September 2016. Retrieved 17 March 2023.
  14. ↑ "Evolution Of The DJ: An Interview With Akira The Don". prosoundweb.com. 29 July 2019. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  15. ↑ "Akira the Don's Mr. Rogers-themed vaporwave mixtape is exactly what the world needs right now". CL Tampa. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  16. ↑ Byebstaff (9 December 2016). "The Top 10 Most Important Music Memes of 2016". Electronic Beats. Archived from the original on 1 April 2017. Both vaporwave and its offshoot hardvapor are genres as well as memes
  17. ↑ "The Atlas Society Asks Akira the Don Transcript". The Atlas Society. 25 January 2024. Retrieved 3 June 2020.
  18. ↑ "15 September". Gutfeld!. Season 1. 15 September 2021. Fox News.
  19. ↑ "S2 E4: Akira the Don: Music and Meaning". 15 April 2019.
  20. ↑ "David Arquette bringing a zany Sherlock Holmes to the stage". Toronto Sun.
  21. ↑ "NYLON Magazine's Spring Fas... | Photo | firstlook celebrity photos". Archived from the original on 16 August 2016. Retrieved 20 July 2016.
  22. ↑ "Harry Styles birthday party DJ politest millionaire ever". Sugarscape.com.
  23. ↑ Kreps, Daniel (31 August 2015). "Justin Bieber Marks VMA Comeback With High-Flying Performance". Rolling Stone.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  24. ↑ Hasan, Suha (3 November 2022). "Decentraland's Metaverse Music Festival is back for 2022, bigger and better". Wired.{{cite magazine}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  25. ↑ "The Atlas Society's 7th Annual Gala". Atlas Society.
  26. ↑ Sheffield, Jessica Kalei. "Akira The Don & The Atlas Society". Substack Blog.
  27. ↑ Cain, Will (28 June 2023). "The Will Cain Show". Fox News Radio.
  28. ↑ "Normal World". Normal World.
  29. ↑ "Akira The Don as a guest in Nights With Chris Boyle Segment in OAN Live". X (formerly Twitter). 1 February 2024. Retrieved 26 September 2024.
  30. ↑ "The Meditations of Marcus Aurelius". The Bristol Herald Courier.
  31. ↑ Waterfield, Robin (6 April 2021). Meditations: The Annotated Edition. Basic Books. ISBN   978-1541673854.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  32. ↑ "Akira the Don". BBC Wales. Retrieved 23 February 2019.
  33. ↑ "TEXODUS". Meaningwave. Retrieved 13 July 2020.
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