Editorial Not often do we see a Hip-Hop artist come through with such a buzz as the one that ARkadia

is harnessing right now. Undoubtedly his buzz is well deserved and hasnt come about with ease. He describes the rise to fame as the perfect grining which AR tells us is a word he made up and is the amalgamation of the words grinding and timing. Born in New Orleans but raised in London, the 22 year old, 64 rapper had a difficult upbringing. My early life was difficult, my mother died when I was ten and with my father gone, I lived with my Aunt in some countryside place, I cant even remember what it was called, literally in the middle of nowhere it was. I never used to leave my aunts house, partly because there was nothing to do if I left, but the house was the place I discovered my love for music. ARkadias aunt was a big music fan, she had thousands of records, and it was like every room was specific to a genre. She listened to Jazz and Country predominantly but this is where it all began for me. AR wasnt always in the presence of music though; he was first courted as a court star with Basketball his first love. I used to love Basketball with a passion, with my height the advantage over most other players. Through high school I thought I was the best, but as school work got more important, I had to focus more on that side and I inevitably lost interest in Basketball; to be honest I miss it now, it was a part of my life. At the age of 14 he moved to England with his Aunt leaving behind all the records and countryside life for the hustle of North London. London was and is a completely different lifestyle to the previous one in the US but I still found music a major interest; here in London was where I first found my interest in Rap. The first rap record I listened to was Word of Mouf by Ludacris. I remember hearing it at a local record shop and thinking what I have been doing listening to all this soppy stuff, but nah I enjoyed listening to all different types of music and still do. ARkadia is producing a sound that is incomparable to anyone weve heard at Cypher so we wondered where he got his musical style from. Influences in my music, errrr, I know it sounds clich but I dont have any, I feel Im musically different to all these other guys, Im fresh, and my sound is revolutionary. People in music I see as influences are people like Diddy, not because of his musical style, not to diss his music, hes a good rapper, but more for his entrepreneurial ability, the ability to turn nothing to something, hes turned his music into a branding, something Id love to be able to do. ARkadian describes his fans as ARkadiators, much like how Tech N9ne has his Technicians and XV his Squarians; they are fans who have been with him since day dot. The ARkadiators inspire me every day to keep doing music, they havent just been with me since the rise, theyre not just supporters, I see them as family, and theyve shown love to every piece of work Ive put out so nothing but appreciation goes out them. Fashion in Rap music has come a long way since the baggy fad was in; nowadays it has gone full circle with rappers like Lil Wayne wearing skinny jeans and on the odd day leggings. Im not really down with this swag thing, I keep it a hundred with myself and wear what I feel comfortable something I would suggest everyone else does. Guys can wear what they want though, I dont care, I saw Lil Wayne wearing some lime green moon boots and when asked about them he said he was being based, wearing it because he wanted to and nobody else had which is cool an all but I get the feeling guys are just wearing anything to be different. Im not with all that; Im concentrating on the music. The next drop from ARkadia is the follow up from Capital, titled Viral. Its a fast, aggressive,

genre free track with drum and bass beats, harmonising hooks and hard hitting verses which together create a masterpiece that is sure to create hysteria in the clubs and on the streets. I hope the track just stands out, people may be wondering how a Drum and Bass beat, a harmonising hook and rap verses can be conjoined into one track with any type of structure but I think this track has done it. I hate hearing rap records with these so called artists talking about guns, drugs and girls, I never have and never will do track like that, I like substance, something like you guys at Cypher. So yeah, go and get the single, iTunes, HMV, Tesco, Amazon, everywhere, you wont be able to miss it, wherever you go. Also look out for the album entitled Breaching the Gap which will be landing early October time. ARkadias new single Viral is in stores and online on the 16th of June it will also be on his Album with an early October release date.