WHO ARE YOU?

My name is Arjun, also known as Akida. I'm 24 years old. I'm a musician, singer, songwriter, and producer.

E: Based out of where?

Based out of London. Sometimes in New York.

E: First London boy. First London boy of all time. Would you say you're the first brown boy to get it poppin?

Um... That's pretty blasphemous. I would say I'm like second. Second. Or third. Third, It depends on who you're counting.

E: Blasphemous is a fire.

C: But, who's the top three in the rankings of brown boys to do it? Top three brown boys to do it.

Yeah. Gotta go, Jai Paul, number one.

E: Yep. I can get behind that.

Gotta go Navraj Singh, for putting us on the map. And then I've gotta give it to Drake, like an honorary brown boy.

E and C: Wow.

E: Even after what he did recently.

I mean, he did a lot. I mean, it's just under the scope of music. I just feel like he did so much for the community.

E: I feel like The Weeknd is a browner boy.

You think The Weeknd's a browner boy? Than Drake?

C: I think we have to ask the people, you know? We'll drop a poll in this interview.

Yeah. Anyway, you gotta give it to Jai Paull, number one. Jai Paul l, for sure.

He's the OG soundscape creator, you know?

E: I saw him live. Yeah, I saw him at his second New York show. And nobody knew why I was freaking out so much. I said, "Guys, you don’t understand that he disappeared for years." But yeah, I took my roommate with me, and he became a huge fan after.

I used to not understand that. I used to think, "Just stop being a pussy." But I think the more I've just made music, the more I'm like, "Holy shit, if someone did that to me if someone took my 10 best songs and just put it out there without my consent, I think I would be heartbroken, to be honest."

C: Let's reel it back in. Back to the interview



WHAT GOT YOU INTO MAKING MUSIC?

C: We've talked to many musicians over the years; some of them say their parents were heavy on music and that passed that passion down. What was it for you?

I think it always came from a place of rhythm and movement. I think everything that I make currently is very rhythmically driven. As a kid I grew up playing the dhol, which is a Punjabi side-to-side drum. Then, piano and guitar were also forced upon me, and I resented it. Then I ended up quitting both of them and just doing shit myself. And then that's when I really started to like it. I think the real driving point of making music, I guess, is using it as an alternative communication form. I feel like a lot of creatives would probably... I feel like I'm not the first person to say that if you are creative in some sense of the word, you're somewhat sensitive to reality. You almost have no choice but to find a way to communicate with the things around you. I think rhythm was the driving point of that, to begin with.

Once I got more of a sense of melody, I was lucky enough to have a group of friends who were also into music. I think the people you're around, these arbitrary factors, are pivotal in shaping what you become, just the people with whom you spend time. On top of that, my mom and dad. My dad was a massive R&B fan. He loved Ne-Yo. My mom was a heavy metal fan, she liked Queen and The Rolling Stones and shit like that. So we met somewhere in the middle. It just became what I felt I had to do all the time. It's like a practice. I don't see it as something outside of that at the end of the day.



C: You mentioned that your parents were both huge fans of music. We also know that you're a data consultant. How did they feel about you also pursuing music on the side? What is their reaction to this?

I think also because they're brown. Do you know what? Part of it is my expectation of what they will think of me. So I thought for a long time, "I'm not going to tell you that I make music until I get to a place where I'm established in some sense of the word." I think I was a bit too harsh on that expectation of them. They would have been fine with it because they've been fine with many things. But I think as a brown kid growing up, there's always such a strong sense of projection on what your parents might think of you. I'm sure it's the case elsewhere as well. But I think their reaction to it was slightly confused initially because they didn't understand it. It's not a real means of making money unless you're signed to a big company and touring. So, I think they were a bit confused when I started taking it more seriously and committing much of my time to it. But I think at this point, I've released a couple albums. I've been reposted by Pigeons and Planes, gaining some traction. It's still just a start, but I'm being more conscientious regarding including them on the journey now that it's moving. I think there's a mutual appreciation there. It's like I feel like I need to do the work. It's my responsibility to do the work with them because I have been essentially given the opportunity to even consider a creative path because of them. So, even if they don't understand it, I still feel like it's my responsibility to help them.

BALANCING WORK AND MUSIC

E: To touch on that, you're very multifaceted in that sense, where you said that you're a data consultant. So, my question is, how do you find the time between your professional life? At one point, you were a student doing this as well. Is it like a Hannah Montana situation where you got your office job during the day and after you go home to make music? What's the balance for you?

It really is. I think I was a bit more freed up last year because I was doing an internship and out of school. Then I wasn't doing an internship, so I was just kind of making music for a few months. That was a formative time in my music journey because I feel like I learned that I need something else going on in my life to make art. Credit to people who can be full-time musicians or full-time this and that. But I have genuinely concluded that my art is the most life-like when I have something else going on. Like, I don't feel like I can. I don't know how people could theoretically sit in a room and say, OK, I'm going to make a banger right now, and just keep cranking it out because I feel like you need to live experiences to make art. So, I think that was my sort of misconception of what it means to be a musician or what it means to be an artist. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be this thing full-time. You can also like it; it doesn't have to be like your personality, whether you make music or art. It's just something that I do.


 

But at the same time, I've also worked on introducing myself as a musician rather than just saying what I do to make money. Like because it's just the practice of the things that you like doing that you are like, that's it. But, you know, just going back to the point, like I think the best way to find time is just, I mean, my job is nine to six. I kind of take it. I used to be a bit harsher on myself if I got home and didn't make music in a day; I would just like to think this is just a complete hell of a day. Like it's a write-off because I didn't make music. It's even worse, honestly, when I go home and make music, and it turns out to be something that I don't really like. If I make a song that's kind of mid, I will go to bed like this, the biggest failure of the day. So, I used to really let it let the outcome dictate my experience of reality, basically. But I think now I'm a bit more like I started.

I've started to see life in terms of sprints instead. So, recently, I've been traveling a bit more like I've had my birthday like we had my dad's 60th birthday. So we had a lot of family shit. I've become a little bit more accepting that art is somewhat seasonal in a way like that. You can't really control when it comes. You're just there, like a vessel for it to come. Then when it does, you have to just go for it. Having said that, I've still made a bit of a plan. I have a plan for when I get back to London next week; I'm pretty much at home for the next two months until December. So my plan is just to continue refining the shit that I've been making on the daily and come up with like four or five tracks that I want to put out into the world like by the end of the year. So it's less like it's less like a daily torturous activity that I do to myself. It's more like just letting it ebb and flow along with the rest of my life. When I let that happen, I find myself super productive. I'll just start to get obsessive. Like, I'd rather fall into an obsession rather than force obsession because I don't think that's actually possible. You're getting some bangers off right now. Like, I think like I'm very big on just keeping journals close to me whenever, like, just being able to like put shit down when it comes. Because, you know, you wake up from a dream, and you take five minutes, and it's gone. You know, it's super important to just get that shit down as soon as possible.



E: To touch upon what you mentioned earlier about, I guess, introducing yourself as an artist. Was there ever a time in your life when you had reservations about that? Like, you know, starting out as an artist, obviously, it's kind of hard to get people to care about your shit.  So, like, how was that as, like, the journey of, like, introducing yourself, getting people comfortable?

No, I still have reservations, to be honest, because it depends on who I'm around. I feel like I sometimes read into the situation too much. For example, if I meet a new person, I'll assume what kind of person they are based on their appearance and how they sound. Based on that, I'll decide what to say to them and how I want to introduce myself. So, I'll subconsciously overthink it a little bit. But I think there was a like I had like I only started putting music out there when I was like, Jesus Christ when I was like 20, which I think as far as musicians go, as far as musicians go, I feel like that's pretty late. You know, like I feel like everyone starts releasing shit on Soundcloud or Bandcamp when they're like 13 or 14. Well, everyone is successful.

But yeah, no, I started producing on Logic when I was 15. GarageBand moved to Logic when I was about 17, just like I play guitar, loops, and programmed drums. It sounded shit, probably. But I think at that point, I was just going to get to a point where I feel comfortable pushing it out, like when I'm fully confident that this is good. I think I didn't feel that way for a long time. But that was kind of the problem, I expected to feel that feeling. But the reality is, now I was still like, I'll make music, and I still won't be happy with it. But my standards are just higher. Yeah, I, like, I don't want to be too cliche, but like, the gap, that gap between your expectations and what you're making, like it's always going to you're never going to reach the point of, or you shouldn't reach your expectations. Otherwise, you don't have the capacity to get better. But I think there was a long period when I was doing statistics bachelors. I was surrounded by people who weren't particularly creative or outwardly creative or taking it seriously. I wasn't in that environment, but I think once I moved to New York, I just gained that physical and mental space to do whatever the fuck I wanted with zero expectations. That's when I properly started taking shit a bit more seriously. Also, I feel like as you get older, you're just like you just stop giving as much of a fuck about what people think or about expectations because you don't really have time at the end of the day. It's like I'm not going to spend the time worrying whether shit's good or not. I'd rather just put it out and then keep going. Yeah, hopefully, it'll get better.



NEW EP

C: Let's talk about the newest release you have. Your EP.

Did you guys listen?

C: Absolutely.

E: Yo, I would like to say, Arjun, that Brandon told me you make music.

No way.

E: I texted Britney. I said, "Why didn't you tell me about this?" And Britney was like, "I don't know."

Praying for my downfall.


CREATIVE PROCESS

C: Let's talk about the creative process behind that. What was it like making it?

I think, I mean, it feels like such a long time ago that I started doing stuff for it. But I think I took a different approach to making music compared to the last stuff I've been putting out. I think before, it's been a bit more like electronic slash, like UK hip-hop vibes. I just wanted to, like, I really wanted to, like I was tired. I was tired of making trendy shit. I was tired of making garage beats when the garage is popular or, like, I don't know, like UK rap beats when that's popular. Like, I think that was just it started to piss me off. I got to the point where I was like, fuck it. I really need to make music for myself.



Otherwise, it's going to be mid forever. So, around the same time, I recently just got into a new drum kit, and I was programming drums differently from how I was before. I spent three or four months programming drums and not doing anything melodic. Then after that, I was just tinkering around with my guitar, and I fell into that space between, like, I don't, I don't know what I would call it. But it's kind of like an electronic alternative mix, I guess. My cousin recently said that my music sounded like cis-het male Clairo, So I feel like I'll take that, you know. But yeah, the creative process was like bouncing ideas with my friend Jay, whom I also met through NYU.

E: Shout out, Jay.

We were just fucking around on our guitars, singing like writing bass lines and then just sampling. I feel like it was so much fun. It was almost like it was just us hanging out, to be honest. For example, I sometimes get neurotic when making beats and am almost OCD about what I want the soundscape to sound like. I wanted it to sort of trigger a little bit of nostalgia. I wanted it to be almost on the cusp of shoegaze, but it's still a bit like it. At the end of the day, I really like and resonate with music that makes me want to move a certain groove or funk to it. But I also like shit that makes me really sad. So like, I think finding striking that balance between like shit that gets you moving and shit that gets you crying. I feel like that's like the golden zone. Yeah, I was just in a space where many things were changing in my life. There was a lot of uncertainty, but I think the people around me, like my friend Jay and my friend Neil, also helped with the songwriting process. We just did something very pure, which was really easy to make. It didn't take that long to actually come to the conclusion of an album in the end because I feel like we were just making stuff that was exactly true to what we wanted to make. That felt better than the most fun I've ever had making music in my life by such a long way. Now I feel so much more relaxed about the process. I think once you do it in a way that makes you feel like, I don't know, it makes you feel like you're doing it properly. You're doing it very purely. I feel like I just relaxed about the whole thing. Like, I don't think about the hustle and success.  Don't think about what I'm going to do next. I'm just chilling now.



E: What's the story behind the album cover?

We were on the roof in the Lower East Side, and it snowed in January. I think that one day, it snowed. it's literally just a photo.  Think it was taken by my friend Tamara, who's a photographer. She just took a photo of us against the wall, and we were just looking down. There's kind of like two sides to it. The first side is like, I want it. I wanted it to convey obviously what the sound sounds like. Like I wanted it to be like. When I look at it, it reminds me of Beach House in that grainy old-school sense. On the other hand, I really like the fact that my hair is really short. Jay's hair was quite long. I feel like that is just that comparison tied to. I feel like the identity that I have of being Punjabi, I feel like a lot of, like, obviously Sikhism is rooted around like part of it. One of the practices in Sikhism is to keep your hair. I'm Sikh, and I don't. I think the movement is getting kind of crazy. But, like the shift from Sikhism being basically like a school of thought, it's like a philosophy, like meditative practices. That shift of these things becoming more like identity traits just through a religion becoming a culture. I wanted to convince you or convey that sense of attachment and detachment to your culture through the album cover. I feel like that exists in the music as well. So I feel like that's that's honest. Like if I could give you the most like low key bullshit, but not bullshit like the meaning behind the album cover, that would be that. Like that's honestly what it is.



E: That's what resonated with me. That's why we do this shit, bro. Because I bet you people wouldn't know that. You'd just be like, oh, there's two guys. Yeah, it's just two dudes. They would not know that.


WORKING WITH A TEAM

C: Now we got to talk about that music video. Like, we got to get a video of you hitting that jig one time again.

*Laughing* Yeah.

C: How is it like being a producer or a musician? Also now, since you're in control of your creative direction, how is that like the struggle of having to be a five-man team, but you're only one person?

I'm definitely not just one person. I think that's what it is. Like, I'm not. I don't like when I do that shit like I maybe have like one idea of, like, yo, like let's dance at the end of the video. That's how much I'm involved, like in the music video process. One of my friends, Hudson, is probably one of the most talented videographers I know. He's pretty much at the wheel when it comes to recording that shit and being like a director. Then, along with the other boys I mentioned, that's the team. I really can't take credit for that.

C: Is that Mad Ethnik?

It isn't. So Mad Ethnik is me, Jay, and Neil. But it kind of isn't exclusive; it just extends to whatever we want to do. If I were to describe Mad Ethnik, it would be a production house. But it's probably the most unofficial production house you'll ever see. Like we'll do whatever we want. I think, I mean, the name comes from a sample preset that I found on Arturia. So we were just scrolling through sounds, and there was Mad Ethnik, and we were like, oh, why don't we just name that something? Yeah, it just resembles us and what we make.

But yeah, I'm not going back to the music video. I love to dance. I've always been a dancer. I actually did a national competition while I was in school in the UK. But now we're watching Ex Machina. You know that scene where they dance like they're in the basement, and it's kind of ominous but funny. It really breaks the fourth wall. We were like, fuck it. Let's just do exactly that. Quarantino that shit. So it ended up like the idea just kind of fell together. Like the narrative, I just wanted it to be as psychedelic as possible, straight-up funny, and weird. And yeah, no, we had a lot of fun making it. I love to incorporate dance into videos now. I feel like that's something I will keep doing.



E: Why the name Akida?

Oh, this is actually quite funny. So my favorite album when I was 14 years old and super angsty was Kid A, which is like Kid A, whatever. You're not going to believe this. But like when I was when I wanted to make a Tumblr account, OK, I was like, shit, I want to have Kid A. And, you know, they suggest alternative names. They were like, yo, why not try Akida? And I genuinely became that. And then I. I looked it up because I was like, shit, like, is anyone else Akida right now? And I think there's a similar dog, but like it means, it means creed in Arabic. Which was kind of resonant with my culture. I was like, shit like this is kind of perfect, to be honest. I didn't really think too much beyond that. I just vetted it to make sure it didn't mean something crazy. That was that, like straight Tumblr origin.


MUSIC DEVELOPMENT

C: You talked a bit about it, that you were chasing trendy sounds and all that stuff. Just talk a little bit about your music development throughout the years. I know you started producing about 2018-ish. And, like now, it's 2024. So, like, that's a long journey.

Yeah.

E: Also, touch on your inspirations because we did it initially. But, like, if there's anyone besides the brown boys.

Yeah. Now, honestly, they're not actually that inspiring to me. I mean, Jai Paul is but  NAV is not my biggest inspiration.

C: You didn't like when he dropped the N-word ?

E: Or when he said “Got Rickity Racks Racks Racks, in my Sackity Sack Sack Sack. Ever since Top Top Top, I feel like the Brown Boy back, back, back.”!?!? 

Yes. That was monumental. Revolutionary. Even the squirrel is like coming over to hear some scriptures now. So I think when I started making music, I've always listened to a very wide range of music. But when I started actually making shit and enjoying it, I was making beats like I was making  UK rap beats. Like I feel like it was shit that was very similar to Majid Jordan, for example. It was like R&B, hip hop, OVO, and 40 middle ground. At the same time, I was just like playing guitar, enjoying shit like my biggest is like my favorite artists when I was like 18, 19 were obviously like Frank Ocean, like shit like that. Like R&B Brent Faiyaz, old school Brent Faiyaz, like Sonderson shit. I really just love it. I think that, like, the intersection between, like shit, this beat is fire. And like, again, it's like a fire and a sad combination. I don't think there's a feeling I'd rather feel while listening to music than those two things together. So I was doing that. Then my first release was motioned, which was kind of like a UK jazz rap drill.



When I look back at it, it's really badly mixed. But it sounds kind of cute. Then I just started making other shit, I released Faces after a few years, which was like the EP I didn't really market at all because I think once I released it, I was tired of it. That’s another thing, like I feel like being an artist these days, you have to be your own, like marketing manager, all that shit. If you don't really, really love your music, it's very difficult to listen to a song 10,000 times and then post it on TikTok another 5000 times and genuinely be interested in putting that shit out there, which is not how I felt with the newest album. Yeah, with that EP, it was very much like there was the drill beat. There was a garage beat. It was just a real mix of things that I liked. But it was also a bit everywhere regarding the sounds, which is fine.  Think about it when you're in that discovery phase, but I felt I hadn't. I still felt empty after I released it, not satisfied with what it sounded like. It felt like I was trying to stretch for something else. I think that's what brought me to what I'm making now. Like

INSPO

I think the artists that really resonate with me at this point and have been in the most formative years are the ones that convey the feeling of nostalgia. It makes me feel like I don't want to get all McGee and be like, oh, liminal spaces and blah, blah, blah. But I genuinely like the feeling conveyed when you listen to artists. For example, I will list the artists I resonate with very strongly. The biggest would be Blood Orange, Dev Hynes, who grew up in my hometown. I think he is like the quintessential musician. I think it's awesome when I look at him, his music, and his relationship with music. I think he also sort of breaks the idea that you must blow up when you're like 18 years old. Like he's taken his entire life to develop as a musician. He's like, I don't even know. He's in his 30s or late 30s. And he's been maturing every single year. And that's just really inspiring to me. Also, like Dean Blunt, I have to mention because I've seen a lot of Tik Tok of like, you know, like he just likes samples like a surf rock beat. And then that's that.



But I think it's kind of more than that. It's so simple. But I think you can tell with it, especially with visual art as an example. But you can tell with music, too. But you can tell it is very stripped down when someone makes something. You can tell when they've either done it because they're not that experienced or like they've gone through the entire mountain of music discovery. Then they strip back like I thought that's super important as an artist is just because you want to make minimalist music, like you need to go all the way first and then cut back rather than starting with like with not much idea of how to use the tools. You're seeing that like currently with Mk.gee. I feel like his music is super stripped down. It sounds like there are only a couple of instruments, but he uses so much sampling and likes so many guitar pedals and shit that just reverberates really suddenly and makes you feel like the space is wide open. I think that's kind of the emphasis that I've been trying to put on my music a little bit more. That's what I want going forward: the emphasis on sound design rather than just what it sounds like. Like out of a phone, I think the sound design creates the gap, like where you're hearing things and how you're hearing things. That's like the physics of it all. I feel like that's the final step to becoming a mature artist. And from my perspective, I think we're making pretty good progress from where we're at on time.


NEW YORK VS UK

E: How have these two different spaces influenced you? You mentioned, your beginning music was very much inspired by UK rap. You mentioned Blood Orange and Dean Blunt, which are both  from the UK. But, you know, you also said New York is a huge part of your life. You said there's no city compared to New York. How does your environment affect your creative process?

I mean, I love both in very different ways. London is a very introspective city. Actually, let me start with New York. So, when I moved to New York, it was like I was making music as a hobby. I came here and realized I could be completely and utterly serious about it. New York has the energy and the platform to be entirely collaborative and creative. I think that the energy of New York and the people really brought that out of me. I think I owe myself for making music in New York in some ways. I feel the difference with London is it's much more introspective. I think when I'm making music in London, it's much more like with myself, which is also necessary.



I think when I make music and when I'm making music in New York, it's much more collaborative. It also just moves faster. So I think that's not necessarily a good thing because I think in New York, you know, Jersey Club is like one week. The next thing you're like, you want to listen to guys. It's so fast-moving that refining and finding your niche is hard. I don't think I actually don't think like I don't think it's easy to blow up in New York because everything is happening all at once. I think I really am grateful that I have London as like my like a base and a retreat because I think it gives me the mental space to sort of like just refine on one thing and like be a bit more introspective, focus on what I want to listen to rather than like constantly being influenced by sounds everywhere. Like you can't escape sound in New York, really. I think London is much more private, you can be a recluse, you know. You can just be yourself. I kind of have that search for inner meaning wherever it may be.



REPRESENTING YOUR CULTURE IN YOUR MUSIC

E: As a penultimate question, you talked a lot about your upbringing from your religion and your culture. How much do you think that plays into your music? Like how important is it that you convey that you are a brown boy through your music?

I think it's huge. I think it might be the most important thing, to be honest. I think it's like I want to resonate with people that come from the same place that I come from in a way that's also completely unique. My sense of ties to my culture is such that I come from a musical culture. I come from a religion that completely emphasizes the importance of mantra-based meditation, and I like music to center yourself with the rest of the world. And if I can give that to someone else through the stuff I'm making, that's my goal at the end of the day. That will give me the ultimate fulfillment if someone likes listening to my music and brings them presence and peace in some capacity. I think so. Yeah. So, like me, I feel like my religion and culture entirely dictate the intentions behind my music and why I make it.



WHY DO YOU MAKE MUSIC

C: So why do you make music? This can be as simple as you want, by the way, because you have talked a lot about it already.

Honestly, I just want to be cool. At the end of the day, I thought that genuinely, I've always felt like everyone has some innate desire to be cool. And I think I've always chased that via music. Obviously, there are other intentions behind it. But at the end of the day, that's why we push towards something. And that's that's the reward, you know?


WHAT'S NEXT

E: I mean, what are you excited about? What you got coming up?

I'm excited for the shit I'm currently making. I feel like it's a little bit more mature. It has more depth to it. I feel like it's along the intersection of what I've been making before with a twist of eeriness. Kind of like thriller vibes, a bit more like a bit more funk and a bit more eerie. I'm trying to capture that middle ground, you know. Yeah, no, I'm really excited because it will fall in the wintertime. I feel like that's kind of the season, you know. And yeah, no, I'm just excited to continue the journey and find the niche I feel I'm moving towards.

E: We got any single names? We got an album name?

We got absolutely nothing. That's like the final phase. You know, we are still in phase two or three.



SHOUTS OUT

C: Do you want to do any shoutouts?

Yeah, shout out to Neil and Jay for helping me so much with the music process. Shout out to Hudson for being so good at bringing the sounds to life. Shout out to Rishi and Diego for constantly getting my MP3s and deciding whether I'm good or not. And yeah, no, shout out to my sister for always inspiring me to be creative.

E: We got one more shoutout. You know who we're missing, right?

Shout out to wifey, Britney, for being the best ever. Bringing us together to bridge the gap between the UK and the US. Real, real diplomat.

E: Shout out to Britney for putting us on. I guess it's more Brandon because Brandon is the one who told us about it.

Oh, yeah. No, shout out to Brandy. Honestly, shout out Brandon because he has one of the best ears in the game. And I genuinely would not be listening to and making the shit that I'm making if he hadn't been constantly sending me the most obscure shit possible. So, genuinely shout out to Brandon for that. That's my guy.

E & C: That's a wrap!



ARJUN IS AN INSANELY TALENTED MUSICIAN. GO CHECK OUT HIS TUNES NOW. REAL GROOVY, TRUST US. + BIG THANK YOU TO TAMARA FOR THE SICK PHOTOS. WE DID THIS INTERVIEW SUPER LAST MINUTE ON A BENCH IN TOMPKINS SQUARE PARK.    -e&c*

SUBJECT/BRAND : AKIDA @akida.io

PHOTOGRAPHER :  E&C* @acediastudios / Tamara Tsehai Tesfai @shotbytamara

MODEL : AKIDA @akida.io

EDITOR : E&C* @acediastudios

TEXT : E&C* @acediastudios