Ak Skills, We Hardly Knew Ya

Nov 23, 2007

Ak Skills, We Hardly Knew Ya · by R.H.S.

You see them for a sec and then they’re gone

Download Tracks:
Ak Skills – Check The Flava
Ak Skills – Nights Of Fear
from Check The Flavor b/w Nights of Fear VLS (Tru Criminal, 1996)

Ak Skills – One Life Ta Live
Ak Skills – East Ta West
from One Life Ta Live b/w East Ta West VLS (Tru Criminal, 1996)

Ak Skills – One Thing Or Another
from Tru Criminal Records EP (Tru Criminal, 1997)

Ak Skills is a gifted rapper from Far Rockaway, Queens, who managed to make noise in the mid-90s with a tragically small but mega-dope discography that remains imprinted in our collective memory mostly thanks to that culture of hiphop nostalgia and obscuratanism made possible by mixtape swapping, filesharing and blogging.

In his short career, Ak showed great taste in beats, enlisting the likes of Lord Finesse (“Check The Flava”), Buckwild (‘Nights OF Fear”) and Eddie James (“East To West”) to craft rugged beats that contained traces of melody just vibrant enough to enhance his hardcore rhymes and decidedly Queens cadence. Dan Love’s insightful interview of Eddie James sheds more light on Ak Skills the man than anything else on the ‘net; unfortunately it appears that Ak’s rapping career was cut short by a prison sentence.

Whether or not Ak will ever take to the mic again remains to be seen, but in the meantime, we have five nearly perfect cuts to blast in the JVC or Ipod, and now you can grab them all in one place. Check the flavor while you digest your leftover stuffing and cranberry sauce and stay tuned – OhWord ain’t going nowhere except the stars…

Comments for "Ak Skills, We Hardly Knew Ya"

Another mediocre undergroundicon of the 90’s. Not even Rob O and Grap Luva worthy. I’d rather a post of songs Lord Finesse produced – that’s the dope shit in this thread.

— DJ Flash Nov 24, 08:46 AM
I don’t see how he’s so mediocre compared to other of his era. His flow, voice, and cadence are impeccable. Any one of these songs here shows more skills than the entire Dilated Peoples discography, for example. But I guess it’s just subjective at the end of the day.

— R.H.S. Nov 24, 01:28 PM
RHS,

You know I love this shit: great little discography of exceptional quality.

Thanks for the kind words on the interview, it’s much appreciated.

Laters.

— Dan Love Nov 24, 01:53 PM
“Any one of these songs here shows more skills than the entire Dilated Peoples discography”

^ My thoughts exactly.

— Robbie Nov 25, 01:44 AM
Good music.Good post.

— Chorizo Nov 25, 01:46 AM
R,

Just wanted to commend you on the series of excellent posts.

— eauhellzgnaw Nov 25, 06:08 AM
Thanks, you have no idea how pissed I was when I finally found One Life to Live and East to West and found out they were snippets.

— dragondude_r Nov 25, 10:00 AM
I’m not a Dilated fan, but I think that their “Confidence/Third Degree” 12-inch is better than anything Ak Skills ever did. Ak was a much better rapper than either of Dilated’s two mushmouths, but his hooks and beats were always pretty forgettable. Dilated is good for a dope beat every now and then.

— Apex Nov 26, 12:26 PM
Can I get a re-up on East Ta West? I’ve been trying it since November, but I just keep getting “NOTICE: No servers are currently available with the requested data on them. Please retry your request in a moment.”

— dragondude_r Dec 5, 05:42 PM
Been looking for these for a while, thanks a lot.

— night_shade Aug 11, 02:12 AM
Maan I’ve remembered this guy for 10 years, first heard him on an Earmadder mix tape in 97, does anyone know what happened to Ak Skills and/or Earmadder/ www.quality-hiphop.com?

— kumagoro Dec 11, 12:00 AM
This is the welcome page for the dentaldoctor.us Association web site.

— Doctorset Nov 20, 11:37 AM