Loading details…
Artist
Opus Akoben
12+ albums
Jazz Hopfunkygroovyhip hopunderground hip-hop
about
For us all, the hip-hop group Opus Akoben stands up with their weapon — the weapon against clichés which often times are set up by those which are withdrawn from the real world. A weapon forged within a wide musical culture with a strong identity. Washington D.C., the federal capital of the United States, is the place where the band’s three vocalists, Carl Walker (aka Kokayi), Terence Nicholson (aka Sub-Z) and Joshua Culbreath (aka Black Indian) started out. They met through their involvement in the Freestyle Union which was founded in 1994 by Toni Blackman and Monty Taft. This creative arena was designed as an ongoing workshop dedicated to the “elevation of the rhyme” in which any kind of physical or verbal aggression was banned. Besides this precious and inviolable rule, the focus was placed on inventiveness, freedom, efficiency and emulation. Kokayi and Sub-Z thus found themselves within the circle of the initiates (the cipher). The participants gave each other encouragement and a safe haven for creativity, a concept the Union’s founders liked to impose on the daily lives of these budding artists. Each freestyler bounced on his predecessor’s words and the three vocalists of Opus Akoben were among the first to be widely recognized. Their rhymes, speeches and improvisations cracked! And when the saxophonist Steve Coleman looked for rappers for his Metrics project, his attention was drawn to these two phenomena. After a successful European tour in 1994, they continued to ma
you might also explore
▦TV
▣Movies
▤Books
