‘We Live In A World Where Might Is Right'

British MC Akala discusses politics, profiling and the role that artists need to play in the world today.

- Uday Kapur

In an article titled “Notes on the Hip-Hop Messiah” which featured in The New York Times in 2015, renowned American journalist and writer Jay Caspian King discusses the legacy of hip-hop’s biggest redeemers—artists that helped push hiphop into the mainstream and changed its landscape every time the genre found itself in a rut.

Hip-hop has always been, and will always be, a voice for the voiceless. As we saw in the mid-Nineties, it can act as a force of nature in breaking down racial, cultural and political barriers. According to King, the hip-hop messiah, be it Rakim, Tupac, Eminem or Kendrick Lamar, has significantly shaped and in turn been shaped by the expectations that the title places on him.

For the past 10 years, Akala, whether he admits or not, has been establishing his claim on the very same title. The London-born MC’s work with The Hip-Hop Shakespeare Company—a project that he launched in 2009—has expanded on the ethos laid down by the gatekeepers of hip-hop culture such as KRS-One. Hailed by many as one of the most important British artists of his generation, Akala has been at the forefront of putting UK hip-hop on the map.

We caught up with the British MC before his second tour of India—where he’ll perform alongside DJ Cheeba and Selectah Si Chai— to chat about his politics, the similarities between UK’s grime movement and the Indian hip-hop scene and the role that artists have to play in the world today.