Lansing rapper brings new sound, passion to music

Josh Radtke | The State News

Local underground rap artist and human biology junior Amir Pakray throws up an “L” for Lansing as he poses under the Farm Lane Bridge on Tuesday afternoon. Pakray will be performing at 9 p.m. Feb. 12 at Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing.

Struggling with a difficult speech impediment, Amir Pakray learned to use poetry as a way to express himself smoothly.

During high school, he and a group of friends put this poetry to music, freestyling together in their spare time.

“After a while, I noticed I had a pretty good pickup on it,” the human biology junior said. “And I’ve always liked poetry as well.”

What developed was “artsy, dark, abstract rap,” and with a blend of hip-hop and rap with strong lyrics and a strong beat, Pakray developed his own genre.

“The ideas for my music usually spur out of anger or curiosity,” Pakray said. “It usually all depends on the beat — if I hear a beat that’s calm and chilling, it’s about that. If I hear a beat that’s angry and frantic, it’s about that.”

Daniel Adams, a microbiology senior, taught Pakray as an undergraduate learning assistant in a biology lab in the fall semester 2008.

Adams frequently would play rap before class began, and one day Pakray told Adams to search for his music on YouTube. After hearing Pakray’s song “Joker,” Adams became an advocate for Pakray’s music.

“It was unlike anything I had ever heard before,” Adams said. “There’s so many artists that sound the same, and Amir’s music definitely sounds different from anything I’d heard. There’s a lot of passion in it.”

Adams said Pakray’s music is like a mix between the hip-hop group Atmosphere and Eminem — two influences Pakray said he admires.

“(Eminem is) basically a lyrical mastermind,” Pakray said. “He’s not too deep, and he’s not too easy.”

Like Eminem, Pakray’s lyrics are an important aspect of his music, Adams said.

“He emphasizes certain words and makes it passionate,” Adams said. “The lyrics are really good. You can tell that when he’s rapping, he’s completely immersed in his music and really passionate about it. He’s not rapping about rims and having a bunch of hoes around him. It’s real hip-hop — it’s not garbage rap.”

Pakray recently connected with a University of Michigan student, Chris Bowerbank, who goes by the stage name of London Homicide, to produce some music.

“He has a unique sound,” Bowerbank said. “When he raps, you can really feel his personality come through the music. I don’t know if you can describe a rapper as being personable, but he is personable.”

To promote his music, Pakray posts many of his tracks online through sites such as YouTube, MySpace and Facebook.

Pakray also has performed at a few local venues and will perform at 9 p.m. Feb. 12 at Mac’s Bar, 2700 E. Michigan Ave., in Lansing. Adams uses his blog, The DKA Life, to help spread Pakray’s music, and Bowerbank recently has released a CD featuring music by Pakray and other Michigan artists.

“I keep telling him, ‘Just keep putting out more and more music and experimenting with different things, and eventually, you’ll find your niche,’” Adams said.

Although he puts most of his time into his education and hopes to get into medical school, Pakray said, given a choice, he would prefer to make a career out of his music.

“That’s been my passion always,” he said.