a song about love.
from the album "Next: Baltimore Basquiat and the Future Shock"
available on the "State of the Art" boxset.
available August 17th.
www.ankhba.com

Be Love... from the forthcoming "State of the Art" Boxset available August 17th, 2013

Existentialism. 
from "Population Control: Wrath of the Black Eniggma" 
2006.

vintage wine flows=get better with time.

Existentialism. from "Population Control: Wrath of the Black Eniggma" 2004.

We sat down with Omar Akbar aka Labtekwon for an insightful interview focusing on both his long tenure in Hip Hop.. he's 40 albums deep.. Yes you read that right he's 40 albums deep in the game and has for most part kept in independent..

He's a fixture in City of Baltimore which has long and rich history, much of which he lays out in the first part of our interview.

We talk about Baltimore being one of the first deejay/ club cities in the country, we're talking pre-hip hop. We also compared and contrasted B-More with its neighboring city Washington DC.. Omar gave a serious history lesson on that city.. 

We talked about the recent trilogy of albums Omar released including;  NEXT: Baltimore Basquiat and the Future Shock (State of the Art-Part 1)which pays tribute to the late artist Basquiat. 

 Hardcore: Labtekwon and Evolutionary: The Omar Akbar Album/State of the Art  is the second album and pays tribute and refines what many call 'Knowledge Rap'..Here Omar talks about how he was greatly influenced by KRTS-One and the Last Poets 

His latest album Evolutionary: The Omar Akbar Album/State of the Art takes us in new creative directions for Hip Hop.. 



HKR: An Epic intv w/ Labtekwon-The Swordsman Cometh pt1

Rootzillaz Revenge. 
from "Hardcore: Labtekwon and the Righteous Indignation-Rootzilla vs Masta Akbar" 

www.ankhba.com

Rootzillaz Revenge from "Hardcore: Labtekwon and the Righteous Indignation" 2012

In part 2 of our interview with Baltimore emcee Labtekwon, we cover a lot of ground. We specifically focus on the power of culture and how there are constant attempts to undermine,  co-opt, rename and exploit it.

We speak about the failure of elders to safeguard culture and how that can be corrected. He noted that its extremely important that we invest in our community and uplift our culture. 

Labtekwon spoke at length about Hip Hop in the Academy and how we are seeing the unfolding of the Academic Industrial Complex. He noted that there are specific types of rigorous methodology that are often not applied because many are not willing to do the work. Lab noted that needs to be challenged and he's one to do it.. 

HKR: The Epic Labtekwon Intv Pt2 The Gentrification of Hip Hop

Pre-order the new album 'It Is What It Is', released 3 April on Brainfeeder: https://thundercat.lnk.to/it-is-what-it-isSo

Existentialism. from "Population Control: Wrath of the Black Eniggma" 2004.

labtekwon