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The Gonz Show: Akrobatik
Forget Morning Edition—Dorchester’s best-loved rapper is reinventing the way we get news. He gives John Gonzalez a taste of his skills.
By John Gonzalez
- Photo courtesy of Fat Beat Records.
More Gonz Show: Read more of our conversation with Akrobatik.
So your new gig with 94.5—“The Sports Rap-up.” You rap the sports news on the morning show. It’s genius. Have you contacted ESPN? ’Cause Dan Patrick is getting tired.
Radio’s a really cool medium to talk about what’s going on in the world in real time. You make an album, by the time it comes out, it’s old news. Whereas if Kobe scores 60, people hear about it and they’re talking about it, and then I can rap about it the next day.
Did you ever get tired of doing Celtics news this season? Like: “The C’s lost last night... ah, screw it, I don’t even have a rhyme.”
You get those two or three days a week where something lends itself to a killer punch line. Like when I heard that Tom Brady got Bridget pregnant—that’s like an underhand pitch to Barry Bonds. I see it coming and I’m salivating—just ready to kill it.
Hey, why do so many hip-hop stations say they’re “blazin’ hip-hop”? Philly—blazin’ hip-hop station. Dallas—blazin’ hip-hop station. You gotta get 94.5 to come up with something original.
Radio stations are petrified of doing something different. When I’m at the station, I hear the same six songs all day and it kills me.
Why is it that Boston gets such a bad—I don’t want to say “rap”—but nationally, why doesn’t Boston get more hip-hop love?
We’re so close to New York, and New York guards its title of hip-hop mecca. To a lot of people in New York, Boston is a corny little town. It’s seen as an East Coast runt. There aren’t a lot of black media outlets here, either. It’s seen as a white town. The social scene always impacts the hip-hop scene.
All right, before I let you go: You’ve got freestyle skills—hit me with some quick Gonz Show fare.
I got you…I got you…you ready?…okay.
Twenty questions with Ak/it’s about time/to hit Gonz with some lines/this is Boston magazine/so I gotta keep it clean/listen, this is Ak, coming live/people know me from 94.5/talking with my man Gonzalez/and you know how hot my rhyme is.
Radio’s a really cool medium to talk about what’s going on in the world in real time. You make an album, by the time it comes out, it’s old news. Whereas if Kobe scores 60, people hear about it and they’re talking about it, and then I can rap about it the next day.
Did you ever get tired of doing Celtics news this season? Like: “The C’s lost last night... ah, screw it, I don’t even have a rhyme.”
You get those two or three days a week where something lends itself to a killer punch line. Like when I heard that Tom Brady got Bridget pregnant—that’s like an underhand pitch to Barry Bonds. I see it coming and I’m salivating—just ready to kill it.
Hey, why do so many hip-hop stations say they’re “blazin’ hip-hop”? Philly—blazin’ hip-hop station. Dallas—blazin’ hip-hop station. You gotta get 94.5 to come up with something original.
Radio stations are petrified of doing something different. When I’m at the station, I hear the same six songs all day and it kills me.
Why is it that Boston gets such a bad—I don’t want to say “rap”—but nationally, why doesn’t Boston get more hip-hop love?
We’re so close to New York, and New York guards its title of hip-hop mecca. To a lot of people in New York, Boston is a corny little town. It’s seen as an East Coast runt. There aren’t a lot of black media outlets here, either. It’s seen as a white town. The social scene always impacts the hip-hop scene.
All right, before I let you go: You’ve got freestyle skills—hit me with some quick Gonz Show fare.
I got you…I got you…you ready?…okay.
Twenty questions with Ak/it’s about time/to hit Gonz with some lines/this is Boston magazine/so I gotta keep it clean/listen, this is Ak, coming live/people know me from 94.5/talking with my man Gonzalez/and you know how hot my rhyme is.
Originally published in Boston magazine, May 2007
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