Background
Akimbo4s is a Bay Area artist who has developed a following on TikTok and his own unique sound.
The artist said he got his name from when he used to play baseball back in High School. He played as the number four, hence the number that is in his name. And without music, Akimbo4s believes he would be in the NBA or MLB.
He started making music and toying around with Garage Band in 2019 and dropped his first song in March of 2020.
Akimbo4s’ Sound
Compared to the Bay Area artists around him, Akimbo4s is one of a kind. He used to play the guitar back in high school, and the underground rap scene of the time inspired him to hop on the mic as well.
One of his main inspirations is an NYC artist is Pasto Flacco. He listened to him when he first started making music, and still respects his craft to this day. Because of him, Akimbo4s feels like he has a lot of New York influence.
Nowadays, Akimbo4s prefers to record alone. He punches in on a lot of his songs and delivers a great listening experience. Not only does he make a good song, but he also sneaks in funny bars here and there.
“I feel like I’m a funny guy,” he said. “I just come up with it off the top of my head.”
Akimbo4s explained that he likes to switch up his beat selection a lot. He feels that if he stays on one sound for too long, he won’t be able to progress.
“I wanna do everything,” Akimbo4s said. “Kind of with the ‘Good Guy‘ beat. It had that Spanish guitar in the background; it was;t something that I would usually do. I don’t want to get on the pluggnb beats all the time. I want to prove the point that I can do whatever.”
Akimbo4s and Fashion
Outside of music, Akimbo4s and his brother run a brand called 44Magico. They’ve released clothing in the past and plan to take it all the way to designing runway pieces. If you notice, Akimbo4s has a unique fashion sense that mirrors the style of his music.
“I try to be different [with the way he dresses], but not try to make that the main thing,” he said.
How TikTok Impacted Akimbo4s
If you take a look at his TikTok, you’ll see that Akimbo4s has many videos promoting his music. This is his main way of getting his name out there by using this free tool. He explained that there’s a chance to get a lot of eyes on you through the app, so why not try to use it to get eyes on him?
“I feel like its an added benefit,” he said. “There’s a lot of avenues to TikTok other than music. Now that I have a platform, I can reach out to people. Its definitely s thing that older generations missed out on.”
Nowadays, the new term “TikTok Rapper” has been thrown around with a negative connotation. Akimbo4s said he doesn’t receive that term very often, and can easily be compared to the “SoundCloud Rapper,” term of 2016-17. He believes both sets of people are doing what’s trending.
“You’re honestly sleeping if you’re not going on TikTok and promoting your music,” he said. “It’s the only way to promote your music without paying.”
When he first started seeing that his songs were trending as sounds, Akimbo4s felt that the best part about it was gaining a fan base.
“I was picking out people that I saw that was coming back each time,” he said.
These sounds gave him recognition from Babysantana, Slump6s, and the infamous TwistyP.
Akimbo4s’s Future
His next song, “Symphony,” has a beat that Akimo4s hasn’t yet got on. This song is to display that he is perfecting his versatility and capability to hop on whatever kind of beat there is.
He wants to drop weekly songs on his archive page. He wants to have fun with music and wants to spread that fun with his fans.