Akkachar Made Us A Hip-hop Sampling Mixtape

Welcome to Touching Bass, where I'll be delving into the minds of DJs; marauders of the late night rave and soundtrackers for all the night time debauchery that we crave. While scantily clad females, buzzing off a conjoined bundle of oestrogen and overpriced Red Stripe wine their bodies, they work; piecing together low-end heaviness while your abstinence falls to pieces.

This time around myself and Dutch beat merchant, Akka, reminisced about old school hip-hop videos, making music by night and Seth McFarlane’s creative genius.

Noisey: What’s up Akka, how’s it going?! First up, what the hell does Akkachar mean?

Akka: Hey, I’m good. I’m originally from Morocco. Akkachar means ‘the big bald man’ and it was a name given to my grandfather. Back in the day they used that name if they had to do some business but when he moved to the big city, he couldn’t use that name and he changed his last name. I’ve just taken that name and given it a second life. I'm actually bald too.

I'm scared of the day I turn bald. Scotland seems a far stretch from Amsterdam, so how’d you link up with Taz?

When I started Rwina, I was in touch with Taz in the MySpace days and he released a couple of tracks on Rwina. He came over to Holland and started to make beats and I went over there. Over a period of three years, we were making beats together so then we decided to make an EP. It was really natural though; we just chilled out and made the beats.

How long did it take to put together the Synergy EP, and why the title?

A week. We did it in a week because we have this crazy level of energy making two tunes a day. That particular week we made 16 tunes and chose 4. The name came about because when we make tunes it’s weird; we’re just super quiet and just make the tunes without really explaining to each other.

A lot of producers are nocturnal, what is it about making beats at night?

That’s the only time that I have to make music without feeling the pressure. When I'm on the computer and I have my wife in the background, it’s too much. When most people sleep I just keep working. Yesterday, I didn’t sleep until 3am and then woke up at 8:30am, no problem. The day doesn’t have enough hours. During the day, you have the feeling that you have to do stuff but at night you’re totally free and you can focus more.

Agreed. Do you watch a lot of TV when you’re making music?

No, not at all. TV is stupid. It makes people stupid. If I'm done with making beats then I’ll just grab my iPad and watch videos on YouTube or whatever.

What would Noisey find within your YouTube favourites list then?

To be honest with you, recently it’s been a lot of training stuff for gym. It sounds a bit gay. But other than that, I used to collect a lot of hip-hop and back then there was no Internet so you had the tunes but no video. I watch a lot of old school videos.

I always find myself watching the Snoop Dogg video for ‘What’s My Name’ when he turns into a pooch…

That video was sick. It’s funny to watch those videos now though. Snoop Dogg’s tune with Dr. Dre where they diss Eazy E, ‘Nuthin’ But A G Thang’, that’s actually his first video and watching it now is funny because Snoop was so shy in front of the camera.

Fast forward 20 years and he’s evolved into Snoop Lion. How things change. But onto the Synergy EP, "Mobius" sounds like you got stuck in a Sega Megadrive. How did that tune come about?

When me and Taz come together, we usually just start playing games. I have my PS3 and the Sega Megadrive with all the games so we just play Sonic and stuff. We also watch a lot of cartoons and listen to lots of grime so all of those things were inspirations. ‘Mobius’ is the Sonic-type world that we got stuck in.

So it’s basically what Sonic at a grime rave would sound like. Your label, Rwina Records has plenty of grimy influences with past releases from Starkey, Swindle and Terror Danjah. Where does that link come from?

I got sucked into grime. With Terror Danjah and releases from SRC, Rachet and Swindle, they came over to Amsterdam and chilled quite a bit. I just like grime a lot and I have a large collection of tunes so it was just natural to do stuff with those grime producers. I respect Terror a lot because he just makes hood music and I like that approach to the industry. He never jumped on the bandwagon; he’s a real G.

Do you miss Dizzee Rascal pre-Bonkers?

Yeah, not only MC wise but also production wise. Making those beats on Cubase after a school day gives it more flair and charm for me. I also really rate Big H and the Meridian Crew. Also have to mention the Wiley productions, that stuff was influential.

You mentioned cartoons, which ones are your favourites?

I could watch Family Guy and American dad all day. Seth McFarlane is just a genius. I don’t feel Futurama. A lot of people like it, but I can’t get into it. South Park is good too man; Cartman is so evil. I know some people in real life who are just as fat and evil.

And as for "Paul", big up the Beatles. Why did you decide to go for that sample?

To be honest, I like the whole aesthetic of Beatles songs. Then there was the massive impact of the Paul McCartney hoax in the 60s with people thinking he was dead which was interesting. Can you imagine that today with all the social media and the Internet?

I’ll keep disturbing thoughts of a One Direction hoax at bay. What made you want to go for the Southern hip-hop style mix?

When I was about 12/13, I strictly listened to West Coast stuff from people like Dre and Eazy E and all the usual suspects like BG Knocc Outt, Gangsta Dresta, SCC, WC, Above The Law and such. I’m talking about diving really into it, buying tape recorders and ordering CDs from the US. When I became a bit older, I had a feeling that I’d listened to all of it so I expanded to Southside stuff like 3 6 Mafia, the whole Hypnotize Minds era and the Rap-A-Lot label. I built up a collection of all of that, but never had a chance to do a mix with it.

Thanks for putting together something different! But finally, with the EP coming out in April, what’s to follow?

We have one tune coming out on the label from Starkey this year and Taz is probably going to do some more work under his BF Hoodrich alias. We’re talking to some labels about remixes and then me and Taz are working on doing an album.

Taz & Akka release their Synergy EP via Rwina Records on April 1

Previously: The Heatwave Gave Us A Mixtape