The Underachievers

Having grown up close by in the same Flatbush area of Brooklyn, AK and Issa gold formed in instant connection when they first met in 2007, through a mutual friend. They quickly bonded over a love of marijuana, psychedelic drugs and rap music, having both been practicing that particular musical form in one way or another throughout their teens. It wasn’t until they came together, though, that things started to take off for them in any meaningful way in terms of a career path. They cheekily chose The Underachievers as their name, as a reference to the general perception of heavy pot smokers, and just a couple of songs down the line managed to secure BBC radio play in 2012.

Soon afterwards, genre titan Flying Lotus signed the duo to his Brainfeeder label, claiming he wanted to do so after hearing just twenty seconds of one of their songs. Since then, the duo have released a couple of mixtapes - ‘Indigoism’ and ‘Lords of Flatbush’ - that showcase their psychedelic rap stylings, and their debut album - ‘Cellar Door: Terminus Ut Exordium’ - met with critical acclaim upon release in August 2014. A quickfire follow up, ‘Allusions’, will be released at some point during 2015.

What were you doing when you were 9 years old? Chances are, it wasn’t what La’Reonte Wright was doing, since by that tender age he was already starting a rap career with his mum as his manager and his lyricist. I suppose it was only a matter of time, considering that most pop stars today are in the late teens and very early twenties at the oldest, if anything it’s a surprise that he didn’t get a number one single before middle school. He probably could have as well if he wanted to but even then, Wright was cut of a different cloth. From the very beginning of his career he made a conscious effort to eschew the machinations of major labels in favour of the creative freedom one gets from independents.

A smart kid, undoubtedly, and it all comes from his upbringing. Wright was born in Michigan but his family upped sticks to Las Vegas, Nevada when he was four. Even at that age he was taken by hip-hop, Bone Thugs-n-Harmony and Nas were his favourites and remain so to this day. Fitting really, since his uncle is Layzie Bone, a member of the former group. By the age of eight he’d formed DaFuture, a group with his brother and his best friend, which his mother was writing the raps for. This is nowhere near as lame as it sounds, since Wright’s mother was a respected concert promoter, and it was her dealing with the inner workings of the music industry that convinced Wright to stay away from major labels and carve out a path of his own.

Not that this meant that life was plain sailing for Wright and his family, for five months they lived in a homeless shelter when Dizzy was in seventh grade and by the time he was 17, he was kicked out of their home. However, Wright had the perfect mix of self-confidence, self-reliance and talent both natural and earned to flourish on his own. In 2010 he won the Sheikh Music Rip The Mic competition and by 2012 he was signed to Funk Volume Records. He had some success with the release of his first album “Smokeout Conversations”, however, it’s on the internet where Wright has really shined.

His first mixtape on Funk Volume, “Free SmokeOut Conversations” was downloaded 170,000 times, and its success led to a huge 30 date tour of his home country, sealing his reputation as one of the most exciting new rappers alive. Since then he’s worked with everyone from Joey Bada$$ to Wyclef Jean to his childhood heroes Bone Thugs-n-Harmony on his follow up work. It looks like this is only the beginning of a legendary career in hip-hop, the kind you can only get with a decade’s worth of preparation behind it. This is the beginning of a major talent, and he comes highly recommended.