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A-Alikes – All In Together Now
Interview by: Kenny Rodriguez
 With a shaky economy, privatization of prisons, and an ever-growing gap between the have-nots and the have-gots – poor people in America are facing tough times. The thing is, one wouldn’t know it from listening to contemporary hip-hop. The A-Alikes are here to change that.
As affiliates of rap comrades Dead Prez, group members Ness and K lace their rhymes with calls for Black pride and revolutionary ideology in hopes of liberating the ‘hood.
Read on as the Tallahassee, Florida duo speak on ‘hood solidarity, race relations, and their debut album “I Eat You Eat” – set for release on May 23rd, Malcolm X’s birthday weekend.
NobodySmiling.com : What’s the history behind the name, A-Alikes? It sounds like it has roots in Five Percenter lessons.
 Ness : Yeah, it does. “A-Alikes” is a term that we say means “people of like minds.” But yeah, it comes from the lessons. My name is Illuminessence, K’s name is Karaam. A-Black and P. Red, that’s also our AKA’s. So definitely it’s rooted in Five-Percent.
K : It means: A-Alike, be-Alike, see-Alike – meaning, we’re all on the same page. It’s got a socialism overtone to it. We ain’t better than anybody, we ain’t trying to floss on nobody to get some props. Basically, we’re on some real shit. We’re all dealing with the same shit. A-Alike, be-Alike, see-Alike. So it’s not really a name only, it’s more like a goal. And it’s not just me and Ness, man. If everything pops off right, everybody’s that’s Black and Brown is gonna be throwing up their A’s with their pinkie and ring fingers. And that don’t mean “A-Alikes,” because we ain’t trying to blow up as rappers, that means “Army Up.” We’re trying to be leaders of the revolution, and martyrs if it go down like that. We’re ready to go, ready to go. We might as well put ourselves on the line because we’re going through it everyday anyway.
NobodySmiling.com : Your musical style is sort of based on revolutionary teachings, at the same time it’s geared toward the streets. How did you get those two aspects and combine them into one?
Ness : Black and Brown people go through shit all-day in oppression. They go through a bunch of shit, and we’re going through it too. Me and K, we ain’t immune to it; we’re dealing with the same shit everybody else is dealing with. So we put that out there in the music. We’ve been through mad different ‘hoods, it’s nothing new. We’ve been to Tallahassee, Philadelphia, New York. And in New York: Brooklyn, Long Island City, The Bronx. We’ve been going through it, struggling in this system. So we talk about that in our music, but the difference between us and what people typically call “street music” – we bring into the fold what’s really going down, like, why this is going down. The reason why you go through this is because that’s the way the system is set up. It’s here to basically attack and try to wipe out Black and Brown people. It’s been going on. So we bring a level of – I don’t want to say consciousness – but what’s popping. At the same time, we’re in the streets. We ain’t separated from that shit; we are the people basically. Cats who know us, know what we’re dealing with. They recognize that it’s not like we’re balancing nothing; this is us. Niggas ain’t dumb, we ain’t dumbies. We know who the enemy is.
K : Basically, when you see people like A-Alikes, M-1, Stic.man – where we all spit nice and we’re saying some real shit? – that’s a show of love for their people. We’re sacrificing our so-called skills. If we could be rhyming about diamonds and cars before we even get it – rap about it now, get it later shit – then let’s rhyme about freedom. So it’s just sacrifice. If niggas think we’re nice and they’re wondering why we’re rhyming about freedom? It’s that Jesus Christ shit, man: sacrifice. That’s a gift from us to you because we love y’all niggas.
Ness : Real rap, real rap. Quote that, real rap.
NobodySmiling.com : Let’s talk about your first single, “What’s Your Politic.” I read you were trying to bridge gaps with that song…
K : Our goal is to bridge gaps, period. Everything we do, we’re trying to bridge gaps. We’re trying to get the Bloods and Crips together to ride on the system. Don’t take the red off, don’t take the blue off – that’s uniform shit. All we gotta do is, we’re one step away from replacing that with red, black, and green. So don’t take it off because you’ll just be going back to it in uniform. Let’s get together and get it popping.
 Ness : For real, for real. Rep your ‘hood. We ain’t hating on our people, we’re hating on the enemy. And that’s something that we gotta put out there so that people know. There’s hating going on in the ‘hood, and that’s the foundation to a lot of things that is the end-all, be-all. Things like snitching, Black-on-Black crime – all of that starts from cats not having love for each other. Let’s army up, man, we ain’t nothing without each other. A “rich nigga” ain’t nothing but a “nigga,” man. Together the ants will kill the elephant, alone you’re gonna get smashed.
K : On “What’s Your Politic,” the song means, what side are you on? What’s your worldview, how do you see shit? We’re out here living in this world, what’s your take on it? Point-blank, what’s your politic? When people hear the word “politic,” they think it’s politicians and some funny shit. Definitely, politicians use politics to get over on us, and the-powers-that-be run the politic game. But politics is everything we’re living in: how we make our money, why is this man getting arrested as opposed to that man, our occupations. All of that shit is controlled and dictated by politics. So that’s why we say, “What’s your politic?” Basically, what the fuck is up?
Ness : With that song, we’re definitely asking niggas: What’s your politic? You’re on the mic, I hear you on the radio, I see your videos, so you’re telling me your bottom-line. Is the gangsta-est nigga you know going to jail all of the time? Selling crack in his own ‘hood? Shooting niggas up? That’s a G to you? And I ain’t knocking nobody. Like I said, keep the red on and keep the blue on. But what’s your politic? Black people, we’re trying to find the bottom-line. Who are the real G’s? Who are the real guerrillas? All this other shit is some cracker shit. What’s really real? Let’s see who’s really saying that real shit. Selling crack, that ain’t the most gangsta shit. A lot of niggas pump crack, that ain’t the most gangsta shit. The most gangsta shit is running up in these banks, man. If niggas want get some bucks, for real man, we could get away with that shit!
K : Not stealing, the people in our movement tell us the proper word is “liberation.” Let’s liberate it…
Ness : We could make money without putting our families on crack, all that bullshit crackers put in the ‘hood in the 1960s to kill us. These cats ain’t gangsta, man. A-Alikes know what’s real and what’s fake.
NobodySmiling.com : I interviewed M-1 of Dead Prez a few weeks ago, and he was saying how when Dpz came out and flipped the term “RBG” (red, black and green), they got all types of labels thrown at them: racist, radical, controversial. Are y’all prepping for that? Do you anticipate people saying, “Oh y’all are wilding out, y’all are racist.”
Ness : The enemy is gonna do anything that they can to try to play us out, and make it seem like we’re the ones at fault here. So we gotta be always ready. When you’re saying some real shit, you gotta recognize that fake element is gonna have a problem with it. Off the top, that whole shit with White people? Dead Prez dealt with it, we saw them go through it, and that shit bothered me. Like, it’s about us, you dig? It ain’t about knocking the White man and all that shit. They run the world, B. Don’t get it twisted, what we’re saying is, it’s about us. We ain’t got shit. We’re caught up under their rule. Whoever got a problem with us saying that, saying we got a problem with that, yo’ for real, I ain’t got no rap for that: they’re the enemy. Point-blank. So when I hear motherfuckers saying: “Y’all racist!” Yo, don’t make me bring up Malcolm X’s 1950s speeches, where he was like: “How the fuck is the rapist gonna ask the raped, why you got a problem with me?” You could be 17 years old talking about, “Well, that was my ancestors, that’s not me.” But B, you dealing with the benefits of being a White man in a White man’s world. Off the top, I hear everything you’re saying, but we’re dealing with this. We’re going through this shit. Bear with me if you got a problem with it.
K : And educate your ‘hood. We need some reparations, man. But we ain’t gonna be walking around begging and shit, for real. And if you’re a White person and you down for the cause, you know what to do. It’s not like you need us to pat you on the back. If you’re doing it for props, earn your stripes somewhere else. White people know what we need, they know what we want, and they know it’s time to get on it, man. We’re counting down to Armageddon, man.
NobodySmiling.com : So what do you feel is your next step? I look at the underground scene in NYC, and your name pops up everywhere I go – whether performing at a venue or dropping a mixtape. Are you hoping to cross-over to mainstream with your message? Not saying getting on MTV, but you know, reaching a broader audience…
K : Our next step is, we’re taking this in our own hands. We have a label called Guerrilla Nation, and a joint venture with Nervous Records. I don’t know if that’s clear; it ain’t that we just signed to Nervous. We’re Guerrilla Nation/Nervous. We got other projects coming up that we’re developing right now. We got artists on deck ready to rock, real G’s that we roll with and we’re gonna bring out. We got DVDs coming up. We got a DVD on the making of “I Eat You Eat.” You’re gonna see what it takes to do this shit how we’ve done it. Mad shit is coming. The thing is, we’re just gonna do the work that we’re doing and putting the music out there. We got the joint venture with Nervous, so it ain’t really a hope thing. We’re trying to see if they come through, if we get what sign the contracts for. The music’s gonna speak for itself, but we gotta a lot more of the music coming. Guerrilla Nation is gonna take the music to where it’s gotta go. Underground, mainstream, whatever.
I don’t know if you heard the album “I Eat You Eat,” but there’s not a lot of blatant singles on there. Basically, me and Ness wanted to introduce ourselves to the world, and try to say some real shit so we could be deemed as worthy to talk to you. That’s some shit I’m on right now – I don’t know if Ness is on it – but rappers gotta be qualified to get on the microphone. To me. You see cats pick up the mic rhyming, it’s like, how the fuck somebody told you that you was qualified to speak to this congregation? From a distance, these cats don’t know if you’re a Farrakhan or a fuckin’ buffoon…
Ness : I agree with that…
K : So for real, we’re trying to keep it official. The album is introducing you to us. But as far as that commercial shit? I don’t know, to me, that word “commercial” means the-powers-that-be are able to plug it into their system and sell their products. That’s just how it looks like to me. Nowadays, they reward the shit outta you the more and more they could plug you into their shit. You keep getting props because you keep getting plugged in, to the point where McDonald’s is giving motherfuckers a grand every time they say “Big Mac” in their songs. So we know the-powers-that-be want rap. Rap is the most powerful Gat on the planet right now. It’s a big toolie. Hip-hop is a weapon – but that’s an understatement – rap is the most powerful shit on the planet. You could get anything you want to with rap right now. So they basically want to control that shit, and reward cats on commercial. But as far as the music aesthetic? There’s not a lot of singles on the album, but we’re crazy talented. We got sisters around us waiting to sing hooks, reggae artists ready to go. People been waiting for cats who rhyme like this. Ready for some grown-up, real Black and Brown shit. They’re waiting, man.
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Big up a alikes. Fellin the interview . And big up eqinox!!