Akira the Don


Akira the Don is a British musician, DJ, and producer.
His music and production traverses the boundaries between pop, hip-hop, indie and dance. He lists influences including Ice Cube, Adam Ant, Morrissey, Big Bang, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie and the Wu-Tang Clan. His debut album When We Were Young was produced in collaboration with Danny Saber, James Brown and Emile. In 2017, Akira the Don released mixtapes in the form of a new genre he created, referred to as "Meaningwave" – a fusion of wave music with meaningful lyrical content and lofi hip-hop.

Life and career

Born in West Bromwich and raised in North Wales, for most of his career he lived in London. In 2014, he moved to Los Angeles. In 2020, he moved to Texas in order "to secure the future of Meaningwave, his son's childhood, and the very Don Dynasty itself."

Rapper

In 2006, Akira rapped on Brave Captain's album Distractions. He released is first album When We Were Young the same year.
In May 2011, he released his second LP, The Life Equation. The album is co-produced with Stephen Hague and features collaborations with Gruff Rhys and Envy. Akira often produced his own videos. In 2013, Akira performed at Grant Morrison's MorrisonCon.
In March 2014, Akira released A.T.D.R.I.P.. He played his final gig in London on 19 May,.

Producer

Akira has produced songs for a number of artists including two top forty hits for Lethal Bizzle along with songs for Newham Generals' Footsie, Big Narstie, Envy, G-Mane, Littles, Marvin The Martian, Issue, and Time.
In 2011, Akira collaborated with Chilly Gonzales on mixtape.
In 2015, Akira produced a cover of Adamski's "Killer" featuring Grant Morrison.
Since 2017, Akira the Don has been integrating philosophically inspired lyrical content into his music. He created and developed the Meaningwave Universe which is aimed at inspiring people to find wholesomeness in their lives, and promotes the ideas of peak performance or flow consciousness. He's sampled soundbites from Jordan Peterson, Alan Watts, Elon Musk, Fred Rogers, Anthony Bourdain, and others. In 2019, he released dozens of albums during a period of "hyper productivity"

DJ

In October 2014 Akira relocated to Los Angeles, where he formed the party rap duo MIDNITEMEN with long time collaborator and nightclub organiser Wade Crescent, and began DJing every week in Hollywood nightspots like The Roosevelt Hotel, Blind Dragon, Hooray Henrys and Bootsy Bellows. The latter is co-owned by David Arquette, for whom Akira provided accent coaching for the actor's role in a stage production of Sherlock Holmes.
As resident DJ at Blind Dragon, he DJed parties for the likes of The Weeknd, Nylon Magazine and Harry Styles. He DJed for Justin Bieber at Hooray Henrys following his VMA's performance.

Discography

Release DateTitleRelease TypeAdditional Info-
Sep 2004Akira the Don's First EPEP-
May 2005AAA EPEP-
Oct 2005"Clones" Single Samples Alice Cooper's "Clones"-
Feb 2006Five and a Half Songs About LoveEP-
Sep 2006"Oh! " / "Boom "Double A-side singleFeaturing Why Lout?-
Nov 2006When We Were YoungAlbumDebut LP-
Dec 2006All I Want for Christmas Is You EPEP-
Mar 2007"Hypocrite" Single-
Jun 2007Stunners 130MixtapeFeaturing Wade Crescent-
Feb 2008ThievingMixtape-
May 2009The Omega SanctionMixtapeFeaturing Martin Carr-
Oct 2009I Am Not Dead EPFeaturing Gruff Rhys-
Nov 2010The Kidnapping of Akira the DonAlbumFeaturing Joey2Tits-
April 2011Living in the FutureCompilation AlbumTracks picked by fans.-
16 May 2011The Life EquationAlbumCo-produced and mixed by Stephen Hague.-
11 September 2011"Babydoll"SingleFeaturing Chilly Gonzales on the Remix-
19 December 2011Saturnalia Superman: Akira the Don Salutes the Majesty of ChristmasAlbumRevised edition released 17 December 2012-
18 February 2013"One More Pope to Go"Single--
24 June 2013"Games for the Thrones"SingleFeaturing Newham Generals' Footsie and Big Narstie-
10 July 2013"Ballistic"SingleFeaturing Darick Robertson on guitar. The official theme song for Darick Robertson and Adam Egypt Mortimer's comic Ballistic-
4 March 2014"Rain in England"Single-
11 March 2014A.T.D.R.I.P.Album-
9 September 2017JBPWAVE 1MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
23 October 2017JBPWAVE 2MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
25 October 2017CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM 1MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
27 October 2017CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM 2MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
28 November 2017JBPWAVE 3MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
5 December 2017CLEAN UP YOUR ROOM 3MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
10 December 2017LOFI ChristmasMixtape-
12 January 2018LOFI 2018Mixtape-
30 January 2018LOFI 2018 2Mixtape-
5 February 201812 Rules For Life: The Album AlbumFeaturing Jordan Peterson
13 February 2018TRUE LOFI ROMANCEMixtape-
16 February 2018LUSH LOFI VIBES Vol. 1Mixtape-
23 February 2018JBPWAVE: A GLITCH IN THE MATRIXMixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
3 March 2018"Extreme Ownership"SingleFeaturing Jocko Willink
6 March 2018Harrison Bergeron
MixtapeFeaturing Harrison Bergeron
9 March 2018JBP Wave 4MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
12 March 2018Bukowski: BORNSingleFeaturing Charles Bukowski
15 March 2018Clean Up Your Room 4MixtapeFeaturing Jocko Willink
16 March 2018M O Z W A V E ?SingleFeaturing Morrissey
19 March 2018N E W　G O D SSingleFeaturing Jack Kirby
27 March 2018L O F I　S P R I N G 春 ?Mixtape-
31 March 2018W A T T S W A V E ⚡?MixtapeFeaturing Alan Watts
4 April 2018W A I T S W A V ESingleFeaturing Tom Waits
10 April 2018H S T W A V ESingleFeaturing Hunter S. Thompson
13 April 2018S T O P　T H I N K I N G
Chill LoFi mix to meditate to		Mixtape-
16 April 2018JBP Wave 5MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
5 May 2018N A V A L W A V ESingleFeaturing Naval Ravikant
7 May 2018A Thousand Kisses DeepSingleFeaturing Leonard Cohen
10 May 2018H A P P I N E S S 幸福Mixtape-
11 May 2018Go!singleFeaturing Jocko Willink
15 May 2018J B P W A V E 6
Confront the Dragon, Get the Gold		SingleFeaturing Jordan Peterson
21 May 2018Clean Up Your Room 6MixtapeFeaturing Jordan Peterson
23 April 2018W A T T S W A V E IIIMixtapeFeaturing Alan Watts
24 May 2018S T O P T H I N K I N G III
Chill LoFi mix to meditate to		Mixtape-
30 May 2018L O F I S U M M E R ???Mixtape-
1 June 2018The Bare NecessitiesSingleFeaturing Bill Hicks and
the lyrics by Terry Gilkyson
5 June 2018J R E W A V E
I Don't Want to Hear That		SingleFeaturing Joe Rogan
11 June 2018Be HumbleSingleFeaturing Anthony Bourdain
13 June 2018N E I G H B O R W A V EMixtapeFeaturing Mister Rogers
15 June 2018Wholesome VibesMixtapeFeaturing N E I G H B O R W A V E Instrumentals
27 June 2018"Good vs. Good"SingleFeaturing Scott Adams
2 July 2018TIMEWAVEMixtapeFeaturing Terrence McKenna
9 July 2018GOLDTRON IIIAlbum-
10 July 2018"The Greatest Year"SingleFeaturing Gary Vaynerchuk
20 July 2018"DUNEWAVE - Litany Against Fear"SingleFeaturing Comic Book Girl 19
23 July 2018"DUNEWAVE - One Step Beyond Logic"SingleFeaturing Comic Book Girl 19
8 August 2018"WATTSWAVE - Any Dream You Wanted"SingleFeaturing Alan Watts
10 August 2018WATTSWAVE 4 - DreamsMixtapeFeaturing Alan Watts
15 August 2018WATTSWAVE 2 - How To Be A Better PersonMixtapeFeaturing Alan Watts; Re-released
24 August 2018JBPWAVE: GenesisAlbumFeaturing Jordan Peterson
5 September 2018STOPTHINKING 4 - A Transcendent Vaportrap MixMixtape-
6 September 2018"JPBWAVE - Deadwood"SingleFeaturing Jordan Peterson
7 September 2018"JREWAVE - Do Something!"SingleFeaturing Joe Rogan
14 September 2018"ELONWAVE - Optimistic and Wrong"SingleFeaturing Elon Musk
21 September 2018MUSKWAVE - A Space OdysseyAlbumFeaturing Elon Musk
8 October 2018"WATERWAVE - What The Hell Is Water"SingleFeaturing David Foster Wallace
26 October 2018"Intellectual Dark Wave - Nemesis"SingleFeaturing Eric Weinstein
5 November 2018GOLDTRON IV - An instrumental lofi hip hop vaportrap experienceAlbum-
23 November 2018"The Immortal Stan Lee"SingleFeaturing Stan Lee
28 November 2018LOFI - CHRISTMAS 2 ❄️❄️❄️MixtapeCo-produced by Borrtex-

Guest appearances