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The Making of Backyard Boogie: A Chat with Fly Anakin

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Last time we checked in with Richmond hip hop artist Fly Anakin it was around spring of last year and he had just dropped Chapel Drive, a collaborative album with Koncept Jack$on. And since then, the Southside native has yet to sit back and relax, in fact, he’s been steadily toiling away in the studio to deliver Backyard Boogie, his new album, which he quietly dropped last month. 

Produced by Ohbliv, the 16-track album features many Mutant Academy members including Big Kahuna OG, Henny L.O., and Koncept Jack$on.

Fly describes Backyard Boogie as magical. The rapper said at first, had a difficult time getting back in his zone and focusing on his music while working hours on end at an unsatisfying job. Once he quit, the album started to come together and Anakin said the process was more like therapy for him to help de-stress from several personal issues he was struggling with at the time. But that struggle fueled his creativity, and he was able to put all of that into his music. 

“I knew it was going to be tough, I just knew I had to like put it together so it would be better than my other shit. The whole plan was to blow my old shit out of the water,” he said.

And he did just that. Anakin stepped out of his element with Backyard Boogie’s “Faceplant in San Bernadino!” and made it his own. With this project, he purposely experimented with different beats and sounds that he normally wouldn’t go for, and it really showcases his range.  “It definitely turned out way different than what I thought it was gonna sound like, but it turned out better,” he said.

That experimentation really comes through on “Thug Bachata,” a catchy song that he premiered when he dropped the album back on April 20. Anakin smoothly, but passionately raps over a background of horns and bongos. Besides Koncept Jack$on, who’s featured on “Several Blunts Later”, and Henry L.O., who lays down some verses on “Gangsta Party”,  Anakin also teamed up with fellow RVA hip hop heavyweight, Nickelus F for the first recorded track,  “Worldwide2x”.

“At the time, I was going through so much shit and had so much stuff to say, I just did the shit…this is one of my favorite projects definitely, like this is a milestone for me,” he said on his Instagram of the project. “Sonically and lyrically, I feel like this is my best shit…as far as how it came together, I’m just very proud of this piece of work…”

Beyond lyrics and beats, Backyard Boogie offers a little something fun visually for music fans. The eye-catching album cover, created by Satellite Syndicate’s BSTFRND, perfectly embodies the party you go through as you listen to the album. After sitting with the project for awhile, BSTFRND started creating the sketches and inspiration for it, which stemmed not from hip hop, but reggae.

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“Obliv suggested that we should make it look like or reminiscent of these 1980s dancehall covers,” he said. The vivid color, comic-like word bubbles and cartoonish characters featured on the cover are a nod to Wilfred Limonious, a late illustrator known for his depictions of Jamaican history and dancehall culture on album covers.

Anakin has a few upcoming projects with Big Kahuna O.G., BSTFRND, Awkward John, Graymatter and more so be on the lookout for those. In the meantime, make sure you Backyard Boogie is on rotation at all your cookouts and house parties this summer. Purchase a physical copy here. 

 

Music Sponsored By Graduate Richmond

 

RVA #31: Record Reviews

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Originally printed in RVA #31 WINTER 2017, you can check out the issue HERE or pick it up around Richmond now. 

Tim Barry
High On 95
(Chunksaah)

Punk rock is the kind of scene that wears a person out. This might sound ridiculous to the kids singing along to “Young Til I Die” covers at the all-ages show, but by the time you’re 29 with two full sleeves of tattoos, sitting at the end of the bar because you don’t have the energy for the pit anymore, you learn the truth. Perhaps it’s not too surprising that Tim Barry, who once led 90s punk heroes Avail, is a decade deep into a solo career as a folk-country artist and shows no signs of looking back. High On 95 is his sixth solo album, and it shows him settling ever more comfortably into the acoustic troubadour role. He only sang in Avail, but his proficiency on acoustic guitar here sees him creating some excellent melodies on songs like “Gumshoe Andy” and “O & DP.” The minimal instrumental backing (slide guitar, violin, the occasional percussion) gives these tunes a rootsy feel and allows you to crank up the volume without bugging the neighbors. The DIY veterans will see the appeal immediately. The kids might not get it yet, but rest assured, their time will come soon enough. (MN)

Ann Beretta
Old Scars, New Blood
(Say-10)

Collections of old songs re-recorded can be a risky move–it may do little more than spotlight the fact that the now-middle-aged members have lost a step. That said, Ann Beretta is lucky enough to retain a vitality that makes the past 20 years seem like the blink of an eye. This one’s worth it even if you have the old records. (MN)

Antiphons
Fine
(Citrus City)


Fine zooms in and out in an incredible way. The EP’s lyrics focus on super-specific circumstances — burning your tongue, going into anaphylactic shock because of a nut allergy — yet the music gradually opens up via savvy guitar work and countermelody, resulting in big, inviting moments. In that way, Fine manages to be personal and universal at the same time. (DJ)

Ashanti Bragg
Journey of a Young Woman Vol. 1
(Datpiff)

With seven tracks giving us a good sample of what’s to come, Virginia Beach native Ashanti Bragg makes her debut almost two years after dropping the video for opener “My Love.” Featuring a variety of songs showing her musical versatility, the confidence that oozes through her music makes for a fun and energetic experience that leaves the listener wanting more. (KMP)

Big No
Get Over Yourself
(bignobigno.bandcamp.com)


Presenting itself as an ambitious and experimental project, Get Over Yourself is vast. One second, the structured sound is airy and poppy, and then the next, it begins to wax into blues. Big No has made it obvious that their strongest musical asset is their instrumentation; Heather Jerabeck owns that piano. (CM)

Black Liquid
ANTi
(self-released)

Two words: Unfiltered. Observation. Black Liquid’s obstinate attitude and sharp public commentary on ANTi challenge local perception and opinion through a conversational approach. His poignant flow found on the title track “ANTi” is relentless, barraging the listener with anecdotes that highlight the MC’s natural inclination for hip-hop as an art form. (CM)

Butcher Brown
Live at Vagabond
(Gearbox Records)

Make room, Donny Hathaway–this is one for the ages. Live at Vagabond captures the energy of the crowd and the virtuosity of individual instrumentalists with remarkable clarity, giving listeners a taste of Devonne Harris’ compositional gifts, adventurous approach to keys, and the ensemble’s knack for seizing the moment. This is the Butcher Brown sound at its most cohesive and dominant. (DJ)

Buzzard Dust
Buzzard Dust
(Forcefield)

What happens when a ragtag group of metal veterans wants to rock? They form a thrash band. Buzzard Dust’s eponymous debut is a 24-minute adrenaline burst of wicked dive bombs, breakneck blast beats, and guttural profanities that recalls the feeling of a dark, sweaty mosh pit. I dare you to not headbang during “Have You Seen Me.” (CM)

Doll Baby
Hell Block EP

Doll Baby blesses listeners with yet another phenomenal demonstration of their artistic prowess. Hell Block is a mere five songs, but holds the sustainability of a traditional full-length album. The four-piece’s jam tracks scratch a deeper itch, bringing everyone to their feet. Singer Julie Storey has the most pleasingly unique punk vocals you’ll ever hear. (CM)

Fly Anakin, Koncept Jack$on & Tuamie
Panama Plus
(Mutant Academy/Smallz World Management & Consulting)

More hardcore, boom-bap hip hop from the Southside’s own Fly Anakin & Koncept Jack$on, this time with fellow Mutant Academy brethren Tuamie handling the production. Hearing the duo spitting over one producer’s sound gives this project a different, more cohesive feel from their last full length, but if you’re expecting a drop off in quality, you won’t find that here. (EH)

God Goldin & Duce
Universal Benefits
(Control Ent)

Bouncing back and forth over each track, Goldin & Duce have a great chemistry, with Duce’s laid-back flow paired on “Lolo” along with Gold’s more hype flow. The songs feel like these two have been a working partnership for years already. If you need a quick musical boost in your workday, give this a spin. (EH)

Gritter
Nobody Cares

Gritter isn’t necessarily reinventing the (steel) wheel on their fourth album, but then again, if it ain’t broke, why fix it? Their brand of harsh, caustic metal has some clear NOLA influences but gives it their own muddy James River flavor. This music will give you strength to face life’s frustrations. Don’t leave home without it. (MN)

Thorp Jenson
Odessa
(South Boulevard)

Fully-formed narrative writing, steady-handed production, and killer performances from top-notch players provide many reasons to disbelieve that Odessa is a debut release. It plays like an expertly crafted survey of styles from the last 60 years, from Stones riffs and heartland rock to country waltzing and soul not unlike Matthew E. White’s. Well-worn and world-class, right out of the gate. (DJ)

Keep
For Your Joy
(Citrus City)

With this monster of a debut full-length, the duo Keep has etched its name among the city’s growing list of musicians on the rise. The group’s sound is diverse and evocative, being deeply rooted in their appreciation of grunge and industrial predecessors. For Your Joy embellishes an introspective atmosphere that lets one track roll right into the next. (CM)

Long Arms
Young Life
(Dead Serious)

Long Arms began as James Menefee’s alt-country project, but with their latest album, they’ve left those touches behind in favor of the punk-influenced heartland rock that feels like Menefee’s natural mode. It suits him; skipping genre tropes in favor of excellent heartfelt tunes with a heavy Replacements influence makes Young Life is a career highlight. (MN)

Mistaker
Goodbye And Other Lies
(Self-released)

An intense, heartfelt slab of pure emotion delivered with power and melody, Goodbye And Other Lies is a worthy contribution to the field of melodic punk rock from a group of veterans who’ve paid plenty of dues. This is music for remembering past struggles and appreciating where you are. With this EP, Mistaker carves out a distinctive niche for themselves. (MN)

My Enemies & I
The Beast Inside
(Fearless)

This VA-based metalcore crew draws a lot of influence from angst-ridden early 00’s nu-metallers like Slipknot and Mudvayne, interjecting melodic choruses and moody breaks into a stew of pounding downtuned riffage and brutal breakdowns. The result is an invigorating, gleefully profane blast that brings me back to my youth. If this is what today’s kids are into, sign me up. (MN)

Positive No
Partners In The Wild
(Trrrash/Little Black Cloud)

This RVA quartet definitely brought the fire this time, cranking up the energy to deliver a louder, more distorted follow-up to debut LP Glossa. The 90s alternative and indie-rock influences that fundamentally inform Positive No’s sound are still dominant, but their punk past is much closer to the surface here–and that’s definitely a good thing. (MN)

River Black
River Black
(Season Of Mist)

This combo sees Municipal Waste drum-pounder Dave Witte reuniting with his Burnt By The Sun bandmates, John Adubato (guitar) and Mike Olender (vocals), to carry on that band’s brutal, politically-driven metal rampage. Doom-infused metallic hardcore riffs meet grinding blast beats and double-bass mayhem to create an unstoppable steamroller of a record. (MN)

Talk Me Off
Talk Me Off

Some fun, speedy punk with a tendency toward retro stylings. The first song has a borderline-hardcore intensity, but the others get more melodic in a manner reminiscent of early 80s SoCal punk–Agent Orange, first-LP Bad Religion, that kind of thing. The furious anti-white-nationalism lyrics on “Inglorious Bastards” are a particularly nice touch. (MN)

Vivian Fantasy
Deep. Honey.
(Hush Hush)

Can music be simultaneously comforting and unsettling? Deep. Honey. makes a pretty strong case in the affirmative. Warm synth sounds and layered guitars lay down pillowy sonic padding, yet Danny Bozella’s singing is manipulated throughout, coming across as uncanny. “I put effects around my voice to hide what I write,” he sings on “Charms,” ringing with a beautifully ironic honesty. (DJ)

Reviews by: Marilyn Drew Necci (MN), Eugene Henry (EH), Davy Jones (DJ), Kiara M.P. (KMP), Christopher Alan McDaniel (CM)

Top Photo Credit: Joey Wharton Photography

The RVA Videos You Missed in 2017: HIP HOP/RAP/TRAP

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For over a decade now, Richmond has had a varied hip hop scene supported by a small group of OGs that took it upon themselves to make a scene. Richmatic at the old Twisters (now Strange Matter) comes to mind as a good example of how it worked in the early 00s — the creation and trading of cassette mix tapes, pinned up fliers on telephone poles, and smoked-out house sessions around campus were the only way for people to even know about what was going on. The hip hop scene around VCU took its cues from the thriving nationally-recognized Richmond punk scene to bring things together. However, as members of the scene started breaking out, the supporters started choosing sides instead of supporting the scene as a whole.

Meanwhile, the city government was going out of its way to shut down any places that supported hip hop (and really any culturally relevant movement that wasn’t sanctioned by the corporate class). There was a mass exodus of rappers making their names in other cities and only occasionally coming back to the small underground fanbase here. By the time RVA Magazine started in 2005, the local hip hop scene had lost its momentum.

But since those days, things have come back around. The early supporters became older heads, and started helping the younger generation organize while supporting them with their experience, resources, and attendance. Today, we have seen a hip hop renaissance in the sound of Richmond. The work coming out of this town is our sound made by our people, and it’s reaching across the country.

Do you know Noah-O was on Sway In The Morning this year?
Have you heard the underground classic Trick Dice by Nickelus F & Shawn Kemp?
How about Decemba by Divine Council and Andre 3000 of Outkast last year?
How about Hypebeast shouting out The Mutant Academy?

If you haven’t its ok. You can miss a few things. The point is our town is on the come up and along with music out of the Mid Atlantic region that includes chart toppers DRAM, Goldlink, and N.E.R.D out of Norfolk, it seems like the future is now. So check it.  Some of the following love the city, some of them hate it, but the important thing is that their work is doing Richmond proud.

VER$ACE CHACHI X SPACE GOD, ‘2K1234 HOLOGRAPHIC’
Jan 4, 2017

DIVINE COUNCIL, ‘Dirtbags In Distress’
Feb 2, 2017

NOAH-O + DJ MENTOS, ‘Raindrops’
Mar 26, 2017

JOHNNY CIGGS, ‘White Linen’
Apr 3, 2017

FLY ANAKIN, ‘Brainwash’d / E. Broad St.’
Jul 12, 2017

MCKINLEY DIXON, ‘The Everyday People’
Aug 18, 2017

NOAH-O x FAN RAN, ‘Too Official’
Sep 7, 2017

DF, ‘cantswim’
Oct 27, 2017

FLY ANAKIN, KONCEPT JACK$ON & TUAMIE, ‘Grandma’s Spot’
Nov 13, 2017

MICHAEL MILLIONS, ‘SIRENS’
Nov 28, 2017

YOUNG FLEXICO, ‘Fish Aye Shaw’
Dec 4, 2017

AND THESE RVA HIP HOP CLASSIC ALBUMS

NICKELUS F & SHAWN KEMP, TRICK DICE [FULL ALBUM]

DIVINE COUNCIL, DB$B (Full Mixtape)

 

RVA hip hop artists Fly Anakin & Koncept Jack$on drop first collaborative album, ‘Chapel Drive’

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Last summer RVA Magazine had the chance to sit down and chat in-depth with local hip hop artist Fly Anakin after he just released his album, The Grand Scheme of Things, and the young emcee hasn’t slowed down since. At the top of the new year, Anakin, alongside producer BSTFRND (Satellite Syndicate), dropped collaborative EP Yo Mama Boyfrnd and now he’s on to his next project, Chapel Drive.

The album, which dropped March 13, is a project fellow RVA rapper Koncept Jack$on (Mutant Academy) and been ready to hit the streets for a year now.

“As soon as we started Chapel Drive, I just had finished [ The Grand Scheme of Things],” said Anakin. “We never stopped recording. As soon as he {Jack$on} recorded and put out [Hawaii LP], I recorded the intro to Grand Scheme and after Grand Scheme I recorded lxcvlsxnly 2 and Chapel Drive was built.”

And while its been in the works for over a year, Anakin said the process came together rather effortlessly.

“We never tried to make songs for Chapel Drive. We had a certain foundation of songs for that shit already,” he said. “We didn’t even have the idea to do Chapel Drive until we were like seven songs in.”

Anakin, photo credit: The Cheats Movement

The first track the hip hop duo made off the 16-track record was “lxcvlsxnly 2” [prod. ewonee] in February of last year.

But the prolonged release was a learning experience the two gathered from local RVA producer Ohbliv, according to Jack$on.

“One day he told us that everything he puts out is a year old,” he said.

This isn’t the first time the pair have worked together on a project. The two dropped a video for “You Never Know” last year in March, a track off their collaborative EP, The Mandate: Side A.

Chapel Drive is the first full LP from either artist to feature all of the Mutant Academy team, quite a feat if you think about how size of the local hip hop collective. You have producers, emcees, audio engineers and visual artists alike, ranging from BigKahuna OG, Graymatter, BSTFRND, Foisey, Ewonee, UnluckyBastards, Sycho Sid, Henny L.O., Rey Fernandez and manager Cam.

For our regular readers, you’ll recognize some of these names from our 2016 Best Richmond Hip Hop List.

“None of those people [were in a position] where it was our first time coming to them,” said Koncept Jack$on. “We would get the beats before we knew we were making an album. We wouldn’t say ‘send us beats for the album’. It was pretty easy and quick.”

This mixing pot of talent made for a diverse album that starts on a grittier note with lxcvlsxnly 2 [prod. ewonee] and moves into smoother or more reflective tone on “when thugs cry” [prod.foisey].

“In this case, staying in-house was important. I wanted to make sure that everybody in Mutant Academy shined in some kind of way,” said Anakin. “It’s so many of us, it’s like, I just want people to understand that all these motherfuckers are here for a reason. These motherfuckers is talented and they are not just links on the fucking computer. These people are real and awesome at what they do.”

Major RVA hip hop player Nickelus F also makes an appearance on the track “’03 steve harvey remix” as well as a few other local emcees.

“It’s literally like people that we’re friends with and shit. People that we love, people that we have relationships with. Nobody on that project from mixing to cover art to guest verses- all that shit was all family,” said Anakin of the project.

And while Richmond is bubbling over with diverse hip hop acts, Jack$on points to their creativity that makes them stand out among the rest.

“I think creativity and structure/consistency go hand in hand,” he said. “You have to stay creative to be successful. If you took creativity away, I don’t know how consistent you would be.”

From older projects like Hawaii LP and elsewhere ave. to Chapel Drive now, the creation of universes and full concepts in their music has remained consistent.

The lyricism from Fly Anakin and Koncept Jack$on especially, has made for an even more hostile environment for the faint of heart.

“This is our first album together and this is more of a serious tone,” said Jack$on. “We are here, we’re revamping and ready. “When we started working on that album we thought ‘Okay, it’s time to shake shit up for real’ and not just at the local level. If you stay on that local mind state, you’ll stay local. We’re talking about competing with people we look up to.”

Chapel Drive is up online, but cassettes will soon be available and they are also putting it out on vinyl. You can find the album at Plan 9 and will be shipping them out to those that order.

Words by Tico Noise