Nicheing in the pop rap and hip hop genres, Long Island, NY-based urban artist aku recently came out with “rose gold in paris town” which was an immediate success. An incredibly unique sound, “rose gold in paris town” was playlisted by many curators and quickly gained tens of thousands of views and streams across all platforms.
True to his positive nature, aku finds inspiration in supporting his audience and helping others conquer sorrow and pain through his art. The way he formulates a rhyme scheme expresses more than just the minimal amount of words said at the same time diversifying between multiple genres and melodic flows through either rapping or singing.
Hi aku! We enjoyed your song and music video “rose gold in paris town” and we’d love to hear more about it.
What is the personal significance of this song?
The song alludes to being a dynamic duo within a relationship. You know what it’s like being in the honeymoon phase. You feel like this person is your perfect duo partner even if their imperfections are present.
“We villains tonight; Dior Dior, we drillin’ tonight.”
We’re a team of villains tonight. We’ll kill tonight if we need to. This is significant when thinking of going to the extreme over someone you love while in the honeymoon phase. From a rational standpoint, that sounds extreme. But when you’re in love, you’re not thinking straight.
Then I proceed to reference stars aligning because that’s what is commonly used as a reference to someone you feel like is “the one”. This theme repeats as the song continues.
“rose gold in paris town” is simply a representation of being a duo in the honeymoon phase.
“rose gold in paris town” has an incredibly unique music video. How did you come up with the idea for it?
During the honeymoon phase, you get caught up with the illusion before seeing what’s under the veil. That’s why the video contains a bunch of “Hey look! I’m pretty” videos whilst the content is distorted. Because that’s what it really is at the end of the day. Not everything is what it seems.
Why “rose gold in paris town”? What’s the message behind the title?
In my personal opinion, gold is very beautiful and copper isn’t really eye-candy. But when you blend them together, you get rose gold. This goes back to the duo concept and what we look like together. Though not seeing what we’re really made out of. Rose gold is very beautiful. No pain no gain right?
If you check my Instagram, I’m also a part-time model. The Paris reference falls under the same concept of prettiness and what you see on the outside. People don’t get to see the work that was put in. It’s not just being “pretty”. There’s so much more to it.
Most of these models look like copper until we hit the stage or it’s “shoot/work day”. It’s like Instagram to be honest. Everyone looks pretty but I can assure you 95% of these people don’t look like 10,000 likes in 2 minutes in person.
Name some musicians/singers that have influenced your style.
For this specific song: This was done out of nowhere. I wasn’t thinking about anything I’ve heard or listened to recently. I used to release 1 song a week for my audience and I was running late. So I was more or less in a panicking state to get this song done. I just turned on my microphone and said whatever was going through my mind at the time.
I tend to model my lyrics in a dark subliminal message. I like how Nirvana and Kurt Cobain would do this on a mainstream level. The songs had great energy, but the lyrics also had a message that made you feel like you’re not the only person going through something depressing. I like keeping everything mysterious. It makes people curious about you.
Do you believe music can be an effective tool in challenging the status quo and educating people?
Hmm… I don’t have a short answer for this and if I said the short version of what I’m about to say, I would sound dishonest.
I always looked at music as frequency programming. Okay, I sound crazy. But really think about it. There’s a reason why whenever you enter a spa, or a massage parlor or any place that is meant to be “relaxing”, the music that is played tends to invoke relaxing vibes in your subconscious. It’s one of the reasons at least. I’m not mentioning the smell and the word “spa” having an association with calming vibes. Different sounds, instruments or simply “frequencies” can conjure specific emotions. You can also throw in sound association. That’s why certain sounds may make you feel a certain way.
Now mix this with linguistics. Excuse my language, but if I said “fuck you”. That just invoked negative emotions. If I said, “I’m sorry. I apologize. I love you”, that will invoke comforting emotions. Words are extremely powerful. Not only for your own consciousness but for manifesting purposes. You can’t expect to be happy, if you keep saying negative stuff in your consciousness. Listening to words that are associated with emotions can change your whole mood around.
So if an artist uses these tools correctly, it can completely make a difference to the listener. You know? Music that uplifts your mood. Music that motivates you to be better. Music that teaches you that you’re not alone. Music that teaches you that you can also make a change because somebody else was able to break from certain chains. Having hope per say. Whatever the case may be, music is extremely effective. It’s the closest thing you can find to a higher source that can influence your consciousness.
Any upcoming releases planned already?
I have a few songs in the stash that I’ve been trying to coordinate. The roll out of a song is very important to me. There’s always a little hint here and there on my social media pages; more specifically on YouTube and Instagram. Check them out! YouTube is simply “aku” and my Instagram handle is “akuwus”.
