The Underachievers

the

Underachievers

PHOTOGRAPHER SAINT LAMONT

STORY BY NIKO

I created the name THE UNDERACHIEVERS in high school with a friend of mine, named Molefi, who use to produce for me around that time. What it represents is a flip on the word “underachiever” which normally has a negative connotation and we wanted to make it positive. People often like to put labels on things in society and think it completely defines such things, so I wanted to use The Underachievers name and prove everyone wrong by actually over achieving and accomplishing all my goals. - AK

2. How did Issa Gold and AK initially meet?

Issa & I are from the same hood in Flatbush, literally a few blocks away from each other. I would always see him every time I walk up to the junction where the train station was until one day a friend of mine that passed, named Jacob, came to my house in the morning for our daily morning smoke sessions before school and brought Issa & Jewice (of Flatbush Zombies) with him. We’ve been friends ever since! - AK

We met in Flatbush around 2008 through our mutual friend Jacob (RIP). We instantly clicked over similar interest and developed a friendship over the past decade that turned into us joining forces to create music for the world. - Issa

3. Whoʼs the groups biggest influence or inspiration?

We both have different influences but collectively our friends are our influences these days. Flatbush Zombies and Joey Badass inspire me to be on my shit because they' re always killing it & it's almost like a friendly competition. Growing up listening to music, I always found inspiration from Michael Jackson, Jay z, Nas, Lil Wayne, Lupe Fiasco, Tupac, Kanye, Bob Marley and many more artist who represented the struggle and over coming oppression which gave me hope that I can over come it as well and have a voice that will help others too. - AK

We have different inspirations for sure. For me Issa Gold, I would say my biggest musical influences change through time. When I first started making music it was Mac Miller, Tyler The Creator, Wiz Khalifa, Asap Rocky, Flatbush Zombies and Joey Badass that influence how we created our movement and now my biggest influence is probably Frank Ocean, Pouya, Suicide Boys, Denzel Curry, Flatbush Zombies, Joey Badass, Tylers The Creator but mostly Frank Ocean. - Issa

1819204. How different is the NY sound from the original sound and how so?

New York sound now is different than the original sound because it's a different generation, different people, different culture in today's world. I think that the roots are still present in everyone's music in New York from ASAP Rocky to Joey Badass to Action Bronson but we all have developed our own style on top of that from the influences in our own lives. - Issa

5. Whatʼs your favorite restaurant back home in NYC? My favorite restaurant when I’m in NYC has to be this Caribbean spot in Queens called Trinicity. I travel a lot so I find myself missing my cultural food. Whenever i'm back in New York & I want that authentic Caribbean flavor, I have to stop by! - AK

6. If you were not doing music, what would you be doing? If I wasn’t doing music I'd probably be into creating anime or fashion but now that I actually am doing music, it opens the doors so I can venture off into those fields when needed. Its Lit! - AK

I would be finishing my PHD in Psychology and writing books. I just recently enrolled back in school to finish

and i've been working on a book for the

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past 4 years so I'll be doing that still. -

Issa

7. How old were you guys when you wrote your first raps?

I was like 11 when I wrote my first raps which were pretty trash but hey look at me now lol. It took a lot of practice for sure. I use to record every day in my basement for years so I guess it payed off. - AK I was 21 when I wrote my first raps - Issa

8. Top 5 producers of AllTime?

Top producers for me are Pharrel, Alchemist, Powers Pleasant, Erick Arc Elliot & Kanye West. The way those guys put sounds together is always amazing and they can do various vibes like soulful and uptempo banger type beats. - AK

My top producers: Alchemist, Daringer, Erick Arc Elliot, Ronny J, Powers Pleasant & Chuck Strangers - Issa

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9. Do you guys remember yourfirst big show?

I remember one of our first shows we had overseas in Paris and being a kid from BK, just starting out in the music game, I didn’t know what to expect traveling over there. It was one of the most "fire" shows ever at the time. It was crazy to see that people & fans who didn’t speak English, knew the words to our songs and it felt surreal as fuck. SHOUT OUTS to Paris! - AK

Unfortunately I don't remembermy first big show lol. They're all ablur at this point. - Issa

23242510. Since being on Tour whatʼs been your favorite city?

If I had to choose one city, it has to be Paris because it was one of my first experience overseas and it

was amazing. - AK There are too many!! Shit there are whole countries that go crazy but shout out to London, Paris, Berlin and anywhere in Germany, Los Angeles, Brisbane/ Perth/ Melbourne - pretty much all of Australia, Boston & New York. - Issa

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11. Do you feel any extrapressure being rappersfrom NY? I don't feel any pressure at all being a NYC rapper. The lyrical shit is in our blood and if you don’t think i'm nice it doesn’t matter to me really. I make music to express myself and spread my experiences to others in hopes to help their lives.- AK

12. Whatʼs one thing you want yourfans to know about TheUnderachievers?

We love them and we couldn't do any of this without them. Thanks for the support and for riding with us

going on 8 years! - Issa We definitely love you and wouldn’t be shit without you guys. We just dropped the beast coast project "Escape From New York" in May & we got LOF3 (Lords of Flatbush 3) coming this month in June! - AK

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