AKASH is an 18-year-old Indian Hip-Hop/Pop artist from New Jersey who a couple of months back rolled out his 10 track album “Rooftop Vibes”. AKASH penned all the tracks and called in a crew of talented producers including Davincii, DopeBoyzMuzic, and ANS who also contributed his vocals on several of the songs. The entire album was mixed, mastered and engineered by ANS of ANSstudios in New Jersey. “I’m excited for this album because it’s a reflection of not just my life now, but the life I’m striving for,” explained AKASH. “It’s a diary of the various aspects of life that I want to share with the world.” Just how important is substance to music? How important is originality and performing skill? Listening to a lot of music, one develops a set of criteria by which they judge it, like looking for depth of emotion, or creative soundscapes. There exists music which combines the effectiveness of this criteria, managing to be strong and entertaining, fulfilling all of it. AKASH is an artist that makes that type of music.
The album mixes luxurious, futuristic beats with a blend of auto-tuned rapping and singing to surprisingly entertaining effect. The beats are enjoyable and distinctive, generally very innovative, and AKASH’s lyricism and rapping abilities are top notch. Furthermore, he dedicates enough to his sound, and has a strong melodicism that makes sure there are no issues.
One of AKASH’s main strengths here, apart from his own technical and creative skill is his ability to wrangle numerous different producers into one coherent sound. His style is essentially a raided-up version of thumping pop menace, filtered through hip-hop and trap maximalism.
The beats take what should be a refined, subtle sound and turns it up to 11, through a decent pair of headphones, “Rooftop Vibes” world envelops you, and creates a truly immersive sensation. The production conjures up an imposing sonic architecture for AKASH to hang his stories on.
Those stories are where the album into its second layer. It really has to be said that AKASH is as good a rapper as he is a singer. His words rhyme appropriately, and there are some hooky pronunciations hidden in there, while the lines always have something say. Furthermore, AKASH’s vocal delivery is so on point that it’s near-impossible to not find any humanity in it.
Over and above the beats, melodies and vocal performances, there’s an intangible something about “Rooftop Vibes” that makes it extremely engaging. AKASH has embraced his style, and his go-for-broke energy and catchiness actually makes this a pretty damn great rap and pop album.
It’s the kind of music that is all about mood, and atmosphere, and once you get hooked onto the feeling it evokes, “Rooftop Vibes” is well worth the time. Essential tracks include: “Do The Time”, “Sacrifice”, “Text Me”, “Ride My Wave”, “Distance”, “Visions” and “Chance”.
The structure of “Rooftop Vibes” is proof that AKASH is fully aware of how to play to his strengths. Fueled by his consistently infectious delivery, hypnotizing production and show-stopping verses, AKASH is able to entice the senses on just about any level by delivering an immediately gratifying project.
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