Akeda Housten - PMRG Room 10/25/14
From: Silver Spring, Maryland
Age: 20
Contact: akedahosten@gmail.com
Website: soundcloud.com/akedakeyz

Q+A with the Artist--

--How would you describe your sound?
A little reggae, kinda laid back, and a little sad sometimes.

--Which artists have influenced your sound the most and why?
Bob Marley was definitely a big influence. His music did an interesting thing where he put tough-sounding lyrics in a real kind of soft/smooth-sounding way so you don't actually peep it at first. Another artist who really influenced me was Citizen Cope. He really influenced me acoustically because he does a lot with just an acoustic guitar and makes some really good sounding music.

--When and how did you first begin to write music?
I started writing rap lyrics when I was 8. When I first started writing, there used to be a show on BET called "Freestyle Fridays," and my older cousins used to come over and on the weekends and everyone would joke rap and stuff. So that's kind of how I started rapping. I was still 8 but I had a little notebook and I just started writing little rhymes and stuff down, and then as I got older those little rhymes turned into full songs.

--What inspires you to write music?
So most of my rap stuff, I'd say that comes from like a brighter side of me. It's more energetic and kind of turned up and happier, a little out there, and most of my acoustic stuff is a little darker and that usually comes from my personal life and whatever stress or sadness I might be going through during a time might manifest itself in a song.

--Do you write them simultaneously or do you go through rap periods and acoustic periods?
It just kind of depends. It jumps back and forth where I've been rapping more in the last couple of months just because I've been hearing a lot of good beats, but at times where I'm not hearing as much hip-hop stuff I might lean more towards the guitar.

--Are you willing to reveal the backstory behind "Triggerman?"
Yeah, so I actually borrowed the hook from the Fugees version of "No Woman, No Cry," and in the part where the lyrics are usually "Everything's gonna be alright," he instead says, "The gun man's in the house tonight, but everything's gonna be alright," and I liked the way that sounded. Then Trayvon Martin happened, a few others happened, and I've just started thinking about the way that line in the song sounded. So there's was always that chorus, and I never really found a verse for it until last year, and then Ferguson happened, and the rap part came, and then the rest of the song came three weeks ago.