5 Classic AKA Quotes from SAE Student Session
We’ve put together 5 classic AKA quotes after attending a Q&A session hosted by SAE and the SA rapper.
This took place on Thursday, 14 April when AKA visited the SAE Institute in Cape Town for a campus walkthrough and to sit it on a Q&A session with audio engineering students from the international creative media school.
Press/media were also invited so we of course grabbed the opportunity to cover events.
The reason for his visit is that AKA has just become a patron to a scholarship at SAE Institute. Aptly titled the #AKAScholarship this was launched in partnership with Bridges for Music, an NPO that SAE has had a longstanding relationship with.
You may be thinking what’s so interesting about a bunch of AKA quotes?
The man is pretty vocal online on Twitter and the tabloids love to cover the stuff he says and what’s going on in his private life etc. So grabbing a few AKA quotes can’t be hard right?
Well the thing is this, these AKA quotes come directly from the SAE Student Q&A session and what we thought may be a random exercise in clever PR by the rapper and the college, was actually an immensely informative and insightful session that reminded us that to be at the top of your game you need to be pretty smart.
AKA is definitely smart but also remarkably down-to-earth.
These 5 AKA quotes hopefully illustrate this…
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Take yourself seriously and teach others how to treat you.”
With this AKA reminds us that if you want to get ahead in this industry you have to be serious about it. This means being on time, committing to your goals and making sure others stick to their commitments too. He took pains to emphasise that people need to be taught to take you seriously and the best way to do this is to be professional and serious about your own endeavours.
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The reason I went to study sound engineering is because I needed a qualification.”
You see kids AKA is smart.
All he wanted to do was make music and rap. But as often happens, one’s parents have other ideas for you when you leave school. AKA managed to convince them that sound engineering was a good career path moving forward and in his case he certainly wasn’t wrong. The bottom line is that if you want something badly enough, educate yourself or get educated – as the saying goes – Knowledge Is Power!
It was really refreshing for AKA to offer such an honest and frank piece of logic as to why he chose to study sound.
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The best written music is pop music… or country music right?”
Thank you AKA.
This is probably the smartest bit of advice he could give all the young hip hop producers, rappers and musicians in the room that day. How many times have you heard a producer friend say “yeah one day I’ll cash in and write a pop song and make some money. But for now I’m into more underground stuff.”
Writing a successful song for radio and commercial success is hard… very hard so whilst you may not like half the crap on the radio these days (or maybe you do) the reality is that there is an art to writing a very good song (even in dance music) and AKA reminds us of that. Pop and country music writers have got the artform down to a tee and AKA knows that.
If you want to broaden your skills as a music producer listen to a lot of other music and most importantly don’t ever think that writing pop music is easy!
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Use the tools we have as South Africans to create music”
“Every artist has their own vibe,” AKA reminds us. “Not everybody can be Kendrick Lamar, not everybody can be J. Cole. You as an artist need to find your comfortable space and what allows you to articulate your message.”
More wise words from the rapper but perhaps the most incisive observation made was this reminder…
“It’s impossible for us to make hip hop music without listening or enjoying or to some degree being influenced by music from overseas.”
He makes a very valid point though…
“The only thing that can take us abroad and out of our own country is if we use the tools we have as South Africans.”
AKA reminds us that we should be using our own music legacy – South African music to create our own sound, and with this create a new genre and not try and sound like American rappers.
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The world is ready for a new story”
This says it all. Create your own story, find your own voice, make your own beats, write your own lyrics. Take all the influences you’ve had, throw those into the melting pot and be original.
These AKA quotes were all taken from the SAE Studio Sessions.
For more information on the AKA Scholarship and in fact all the scholarships SAE offer follow this link .
Here is the full video of the SAE Q&A Session from which these AKA quotes were taken. It’s worth watching. The man knows his stuff and has some good advice to offer.
[youtube_sc url=”A6ce5MSOPoQ”]
