Artist Profile: Akari Sage

Akari Sage, the artist and producer from Los Angeles, California, has taken years to find the balance between his own expressions and aiding in the creative output of others, and, with the release of WiNGS, Vol. 2, his latest solo project, he has come fully into the limelight, leaning heavily into his striking stream of creative consciousness.

Despite growing up in a largely non-musical family, Sage recalls encountering rap music early on through car rides with his father, who frequently played the clean version of Kanye West’s Late Registration. Being a “nerdy kid that knew [his] way around computers”, and needing instrumentals to rap over, he later ventured into production after becoming inspired by a video of a young Tyler, the Creator making beats and rapping. in middle school. Later, a friend would introduce him to old school hip-hop acts such as N.W.A. and KRS-One, expanding his knowledge of the genre. 

“That broadened my view, because I was listening to Lil Wayne, and I think J. Cole had just popped on the scene, and people like Odd Future had just popped on the scene, so there was a different sound. I started to learn where things were coming from, and when that started, when my perspective of music and hip hop specifically started to open up, I got the bug to insert myself into it.”

Constantly juggling roles as both a rapper and producer, Sage began both writing his rhymes and familiarizing himself with DAW and recording techniques. He joined a rap group in early high school and handled all of the production, engineering, and mixing for the group. He quickly took on the role of being responsible for the finer points of the group’s output, leading to him getting a host of opportunities to produce for and record other artists in his area.

As his artistic connections grew, however, he found his collaborations to be pulling him away from the other half of the passion he had developed: writing and recording his own songs. He had always fully intended to have a strong solo output and kept consistently creating songs and projects through this time, but the combination of his devotion to his collaborations and his difficulties in finding his artistic voice hindered this development.

“I was still in the process of doing both [rapping and producing], but I didn't give my own artistic process as much attention as I would give everybody else's… And I remember that I had a shoebox of raps. I thought it was just so dope; I had loose leaf paper that I would write verses on… Then I remember looking back at it a few years ago, and I was like, ‘Wow, these suck’. But I think it was that I wasn't fully in touch with myself, and I wasn't able to articulate my point of view about the world yet. I was young, and I was so unaware of my own situation.”

Yet, as Sage has matured both artistically and personally, he has been able to actualize his creative voice and vision, and, as he has begun to feel more and more comfortable in his own  creative abilities, his output has borne the fruits. WiNGS, Vol. 2, which is filled to the brim with skillful production and lyrically potent punchlines, represents the confidence that he has developed in this time.

“It's a stream of consciousness; what I felt all came out. In the past I've sat with [my songs], and I've nitpicked at them and tried to get them perfect. But, every time that I did that, that led to the vault continuing to get full and these songs not coming out because I felt like they no longer represented me by the time I was ready to put them out. So this was my time to be like, ‘Let's start to get the rollout process going. Let's get the first single out, and then I'm going to have to put it out now because I have no choice. So yeah, it's a leap of faith, and it's me learning more about being a raw expressive person and also me kind of moving away from some inhibitions that I had put in front of myself about my ability to appeal to a wide audience.”

Now, as he continues to ride this creative momentum into his current phase of life, and cultivates more work with his budding duo, Light Seekers, his years of experience and artistic resume will continue to push his sound onward.