Rhythm of Love: In conversation with Akhrie-Slim

Akhriebou Sachii aka Akhrie-Slim has been rapping since the age of 14 and has since developed his own original style with confidence to boot. He’s now under, ‘Tenacious,’ an independent label and has many exciting projects in the pipeline.

In today’s Rhythm of Love Akhrie-Slim takes us through his phases of growing up and how music has shaped him into a better person.

Eastern Mirror: Tell us about your early years and your involvement with music.

Akhrie-Slim: Okay…Well the first time I rapped was in 8th standard so I was probably around 13 or 14 and it was at a school function I still remember my first rap performance was on the song “I’ll b missing you by Puff Daddy’’. After that I slowly started writing songs of my own, plus some of my friends were also into rap so we started a rap crew known as “Lil Saints” where we would perform in our society and in the year 2012 I was able to drop an album called ‘the mix tape’ which was produced by Kevi Pucho owner of Element Indie Records along with my other talented friends LC Sekhose, Mhaseto Rhakho, Atong and Toto.

But after that my music career was kind of on and off and in 2018 I won the rap battle at the Urban Jam 2.0 which was held in Kohima. I was also a part of the rap crew called “8mics” but due to some certain reasons  we had to part ways and this year I focused on my rap career and now I’m officially a member of an independent record label called “Tenacious”.

Eastern Mirror: What got you into rap music in particular? Who were your early influences?

Before I was into rap I used to be a B. Boy dancer. Hip hop culture is something which I really like and during my childhood days the rap genre was not that common in my society, and I was a kid who always wanted to do something different from others so I started rapping. Although I was not that good, I still remember the first rap song which I learnt, “Without Me” by Eminem then slowly I came to learn more about others rappers such as 2pac, Twista, Bone Thugs, Jon Young,  etc.

The more songs I learnt the more it got interesting  for me until one day I came across a Naga rapper Asalie Peseyie aka The Naga Vibe  after that something came to my mind that if our own local people can rap and create such good music why can’t I and that’s how my focus on rap started.

One thing that caught my attention in this rap culture is that Rap is all about expressing your feelings and emotions  that was one thing that got me more into it…most of my earlier raps were about love songs but slowly I was able to gain more knowledge and what this rap culture is really about, so some of the best rappers that I look up to are Nipsey Hussel, 2pac, Eminem, Joyner Lucas, J. Cole and Kendrick Lamar.

Eastern Mirror: Do you have any story behind your stage name? We would be delighted to hear the story.

Like I said earlier I was a member of the crew “Lil Saint” and all the members of that crew came up with our own names  using the word “Lil” and since I was a big fan of Eminem at that time I used his last name ” Slim” and named myself Lil Slim. But in the year 2012 my producer told me to use my own name so I put my first name Akhrie and the last as Slim and that’s how the name Akhrie-Slim was created.

Eastern Mirror: What is/are the themes that you cover? What is your style of performing?

I don’t have any particular style or topic that I use in my rapping. My rap is all about revealing the truth and also at the same time proving to others that I’m not less than anyone. I usually talk about myself, life or what I have been through in the past, whether it’s about relationship, struggle, friends or whatever it is. I’m that type of rapper who likes to try every style of rapping whether it’s underground rap, trap, motivational, diss, love songs or whatever except commercial rap. I always wanted to put myself in each and every category because for me personally a rapper should be someone who can rap to any beat and any type of music. So I don’t have a particular style.

Eastern Mirror: If you could perform anywhere other than your home state, where would that be and why?

Honestly I don’t have such things in my mind but I’ve always wanted to visit Los Angeles.

Eastern Mirror: How supportive are your family with your music? If it wasn’t for music, what would you be doing?

The reason I’m alive today is all because of my family especially my mom, she supports me in everything that I do, not only music but even in my life. I have done so many things which are unforgivable but she never gave up on me and that’s the reason why I’m still hustling and grinding and my main goal is to make my Mama proud while she is still alive.

Without music I don’t know what kind of a person I would be, I’m still jobless but music is that one thing that keeps me alive and motivates me and I have faith in God and in myself that one or the other day I’ll make it to a position where I can say to myself that yes boy you finally did it.

Eastern Mirror: What do you think is your USP, what sets you apart from other performers?

One thing that makes me different from other artists is that I can rap to any beat or any type of song. I have the ability to catch up to a beat in no time plus I don’t need much time to write a song, most of my songs that I have released are written overnight.

Eastern Mirror: Since you started rapping at the age of 14 were you actively involved in your school activities? If No, can you share with us why?

After I started getting into rap I would say that yes I was not that involved in school activities, most of the time I spent my time listening to music or writing songs even inside the classroom, each and every book of mine has songs written in it I started living the lifestyle of those mainstream rappers you know acting all gangster and tough trying to be that problem child even in the school or even at home but slowly as I grew up I learnt that rap or should I say hip hop culture is not about being Gangster, flexing money, girls, cars or jewellery but it’s about being honest with oneself and always standing for your own rights.

Most people have this misconception of Rap and hip hop, they think that it’s only about getting high, stealing, hanging out with women and all that but no that is not Hip hop. It’s about representing you and staying committed to game… Don’t just do stuff for views but stay true to your art.

Eastern Mirror: Do you have any projects in the pipeline?

Yes I do have some projects on the way. I’m releasing a song with MC Olen soon plus a single track is also on the way.

Eastern Mirror: Some words of encouragement for upcoming artists?

Consistency is the key to success. Believe in yourself and hustle for your dreams, don’t run after money, views, fame and all those things, keep it real and always give your best shot in everything that you do. If they hate you or if they don’t like you just ignore them, you just do what you gotta do because in this world nobody is going to be with you in your hard times not even your best friends. Many will talk about loyalty but when it’s time only few will show up so be careful with whom you are hanging out with and respect others time if you want to be respected.