News

Akala Releases Yours and My Children

• 22nd Sep 2010

Akala – an artist transcending the confines of British urban music, a one-man industry, musical polymath and one of the most exciting artistic talents in the UK – is set to release the second cut from his third album ‘DoubleThink’. The single, ‘Yours and My Children’, will be released by Illastate Records on October 11th 2010.

Produced by long-time collaborator Reza Safinia, ‘Yours and My Children’ is a darker contender than previous single XXL, juxtaposing moody electric guitar riffs with powerful synth lines and euphoric string harmonies, all underpinned by a sturdy hip-hop driven drum groove.

Inspired by global atrocities and injustices against children worldwide – from victims in the war-torn Middle East through to those threatened daily by heavily armed police contingents in South American favelas – ‘Yours and My Children’ is Akala’s most visceral single to date. Calling on us to imagine a reality where those children living in any of these seemingly far off places are in fact our own children, the track chants: ‘Kids in Iraq, yours and my children/ Kids in Iran, yours and my children/ Kids in Brazil, yours and my children Police drive by the Favela and just kill them.’

The video for ‘Yours and My Children’, directed by Bruno Matiazzo, was filmed in Rocinha, Rio’s largest favela, and touches on the controversial and much publicised ‘Death Squads’ currently terrorizing favela residents under the unlikely justification that their violence is a necessary evil to their ongoing ‘War Against Drugs’.

‘Yours and My Children’ is the second single to be released from Akala’s Orwellian inspired album ‘DoubleThink’ and features a heavy hitting remix from UK Hip-Hop’s stalwart Sway, the hotly tipped Lowkey and newcomer Black The Ripper. The track has already received critical acclaim on Radio 1 by scoring a whopping 82% on Nihal’s “Review Show”, with the remix gaining extensive support from Radio 1Xtra and Radio 1 specialist shows, including Mista Jam’s, Jam’s Jury (where ‘Yours and My Children’ became the first record to receive 100 percent positive audience feedback) and Tim Westwood’s Hot 6@6 on his 1Xtra show.

Akala’s ‘Yours and My Children’ will be released by Illa State Records on October 11th 2010. Following on from his hugely successful support slot on the recent Nas and Damien Marley UK tour, Akala will headline a 17 city set of dates nationwide (please see overleaf/below for dates).