Episode 549 | Akeem Ali

New Rory & MAL

In this episode, artist Akeem Ali joins the hosts to discuss his rise to prominence and the creation of his viral persona, Keemy Casanova. H

Key takeaways

• The 'Keemy Casanova' persona was an accidental branding success that began as a song title rather than a planned alter ego.
• Akeem utilizes 'attention-seeking' tactics on Instagram, such as pinning negative comments, to trigger the algorithm and increase visibility.

Main topics

• Keemy Casanova persona
• Social media algorithm hacking

Notable quotes

It's not about whether it's right or wrong. It's about whether it gets attention.

Conclusion

The episode serves as a masterclass in modern digital branding, highli

Transcript preview

Speaker 6 (0:00) This is an iHeart Podcast. Speaker 3 (0:02) Guaranteed human. Speaker 2 (0:39) Good old Saratoga. I know y'all just put it in this bottle. That's 100 % what we did. Speaker 3 (0:45) I'm on my Icelandic now though. That Speaker 2 (0:48) shit is good. Saratoga and Icelandic actually got two of the best sparkling waters too. Saratoga sparkling water is crazy. Speaker 7 (0:53) The Icelandic now in the glass bottle. That's a water game changer. They sparkling Speaker 2 (0:58) water in the glass bottle. Speaker 3 (1:00) So no, we can record this. It's not an ad. We just believe in this water. I Speaker 5 (1:05) order Speaker 3 (1:05) in glass bottles. I ordered on Amazon glass bottles of this water. Game changer. They sent me the plastic. Speaker 5 (1:13) So Speaker 3 (1:14) it happened before. And I was like, you're furious. I said, yo, I ordered glass because it's more for the glass bottle. Yeah, of course. So I hit Amazon back. I said, hey, I ordered glass. They sent me plastic. They refunded me the last time I bought like three cases of it. So this time they sent plastic in and I went to go do the same thing. That option no longer exists. Because they never had it. So even if you order the glass bottles and they send plastic, you can't even be like, yo, but I ordered glass. I want a refund. They will not refund you anymore. I only see them at my deli. I Speaker 7 (1:44) don't see them at every other deli. Speaker 3 (1:45) Yeah, so now that's Speaker 2 (1:46) what Speaker 3 (1:46) I got to find, like a grocery store to actually go in and buy the glass bottle. Speaker 2 (1:50) Go to Whole Foods and get that glass sparkling. Icelandic? Yeah, yeah, yeah. And it's not like, you know, some of them be like super carbonate. It's like a crisp, clean bubble. Right, yeah. And it's like, not like super bubbly to where it's like. coming to your nose and Speaker 7 (2:03) shit. Strong as Speaker 2 (2:03) a coke or a Sprite. Yeah. It's like soft bubbles that's just like really soft. You're Speaker 7 (2:08) a soft Speaker 2 (2:08) water guy. Yeah, I'm Speaker 3 (2:09) a Speaker 2 (2:09) fancy nigga now. I just. Speaker 7 (2:11) I can tell by the top. Speaker 3 (2:12) You know what I'm saying? Speaker 2 (2:13) If y'all haven't noticed Speaker 3 (2:15) yet, we are joined by the very talented, the very charismatic. Speaker 3 (2:21) The most viral nigga probably on Instagram when it comes to any rapper, any artist. You can't open Instagram without seeing this gentleman. We are joined by Akeem Ali. It's in the building today. I appreciate it. Appreciate it. We've been trying to connect with Akeem for a while. Yeah. Roy, you remember years ago I played Kimi Casanova on the old show. And a lot of people hit me after I played the record like, yo, is he joking? Is he for real? Yeah. I'm like, no, he's rapping for real. This is the character that he created. But the bars was always there. But talk to us about the character Kimi Casanova, obviously what most people probably know you from. Speaker 2 (3:02) Yeah. Speaker 3 (3:02) Like how did that whole idea come about? Was that something you was like, I need to create kind of like an alter ego? Was it intentional? Like this is going to just grab people's attention because the aesthetic of it all is so different. Speaker 2 (3:15) I just kind of didn't know. It was more so of an act of desperation. Speaker 7 (3:20) Okay. And Speaker 2 (3:21) so it was supposed to be the name of a song. I named the song Kimi Casanova. Right. And people liked it so much that they thought that's his name. But it was like, no, this is not who I am. It's just like, you know, I'm naming that song that. Yeah. And it just stuck, man. And so I just had to be the character and like do that. And it was like, let me just create content. type of situation. And so like, even now where you see me doing like different freestyles for the CDs that I'm Speaker 1 (3:47) going Speaker 2 (3:47) to be going on tour to, it's like, I had to turn into Sir Mix-a-Lot. I had to turn into like Bone Thugs. I had to turn into like, you know what I'm saying? And take that character on. And it was like that type of thing. But it's like, it's stuck. And it's like most people's introduction. And it's like, nah, you hear it now. Like, and we don't want shit but that. And so yeah, I just stuck it, man. And had to wiggle myself out of that. Because I had like pigeonholed myself into it. How did Speaker 7 (4:12) you get out of that? Because that's tough. Speaker 2 (4:14) That's Speaker 7 (4:14) a Speaker 2 (4:14) gift and a curse. Yeah. A lot of fucking work. I had to kind of like ooze or ease who I really was back into it. You know what I'm saying? Because for a long time, when people would see me out and I didn't have a fro. man why you ain't got on the front why you don't have on Speaker 1 (4:30) the Speaker 2 (4:30) ass guy where your bitches at and I was just like where your bitches at yeah Speaker 1 (4:34) it Speaker 2 (4:34) was just like all type of shit and I'm like I would have led with that question yeah yeah where your bitches at nigga I'm Speaker 4 (4:40) in Speaker 2 (4:40) here grabbing milk I can't wear no joggers like what the fuck like sparkling water yeah I'm just grabbing some sparkling water brother yeah yeah but yeah man it was that shit was a lot of work but I'm maneuvering my way back into like regular content. And even now it'd be people like, he need to go back to Kimi Casanova. And when I'm doing too much Kimi Casanova, he need to go back to Akeem Ali or he needs to. And so it's good because it sets the tone for me being able to give everything. And so it's nothing that's too far left or too far right. And it's like, if he puts out Akeem Ali music, well, he kind of came out like this first for y'all who didn't know. Then he do Kimi Casanova. It's like, well, he kind of been doing that for months. We didn't know. And so it's like, boom, perfect. You, you go through the storm and it's like, like hectic at first and then when you get out of it it's like now i can do what the fuck i want to do right yeah you know what i'm saying drake makes a caribbean album it's like nobody or international albums like well right he kind of been doing this you know so he gave us moments of this yeah so we can't say we didn't know what he's experimenting or losing it well we've had this you're a kendrick fan you Speaker 3 (5:39) can huh Speaker 2 (5:40) man Speaker 3 (5:42) but um i want to talk about just that the whole moment because this was what 2020 yeah right um Now, when I had first sort of video, like a lot of people, that was the first time I heard the record. Yeah. Sort of video. And immediately I was like, I understood. I said, OK, I see what he's doing. Yeah. But I'm listening to the lyrics, though, because that's where I come from. I'm listening to what you were saying. So immediately I knew like I'm like, no, he can really rap, though. This is obviously a character that he's created. I like it. Yeah. But I was like, I wanted to see if. It was just for the moment. That's who you were going to be or you want to transition out of that and really show people who your true self was. Then seeing what you were doing as far as just rapping in the car. Yeah. Seeing all those videos, I'm like, OK, no, like he can really, really rap. Yeah. Was that something you feel like took people a while to catch on to? Like, yo, but I'm really because I even hear it in your bars. You say it a lot like none of these dudes can rap better than me. Like, I don't know if y'all have. Speaker 2 (6:45) caught that yet. Yeah, they can't. What I will say is like, now the Kimi Casanova character did help elevate the branding for me. On a branding level, that shit did numbers once I, I mean wonders once I learned that like, nobody gives a fuck about how good you rap. It's about how it's packaged or what it looks like. Because there's people who've come before me who rap really good or people who you've heard rap really well and it's just like nothing attached to it that people can like um attach themselves to or like associate themselves with and so like it also helped me like rap different subject matter. So it's like when you hear Kimi Casanova, you expect fly shit from like a player, like pimp type, boom, boom, boom. So I can just rap about that shit all day fucking long. And I don't have to say shit about nothing else, but that's Speaker 1 (7:33) what Speaker 2 (7:33) you expect from that character. So when I'm doing my car freestyles, it's like battle rap based or like, you know what I'm saying? Like one minute. And it's just like me just, wham, wham, wham, bar, bar, bar, bar, bar. And then over here in my personal, I can rap about something. So it just opens the gate to just prove like, Whatever lane is there or wherever I'm at, you do not win against me. You know what I'm saying? And so it just helped me learn how to elevate my pen for real, for real. And that's what I'll... I don't give enough credit to that character for that. Because I was forced to talk about different shit and still make it sound good. It still has to be like earbud. Yeah. Speaker 7 (8:11) Ludacris, I think, was similar in that way, too. He was packaged so well and his videos were so amazing. Sometimes I think people forget. how good of a rapper Ludacris is. Speaker 2 (8:20) Yeah. And people forget, like, people just want to hear bars or they either want to hear, like, relatability. Technique is a thing that is, like, lost, like, certain times. Like, technique is so fucking important. And, like, I tell people from a technique standpoint, there's, like, three or four people who are, like, gods or, like, dogs when it comes to that shit. Like, Eminem, a technique god. For sure. Yeah, technique. Like, you know what I'm saying? And I can't say that Eminem or Gia were like out bar Wayne or a side high to Prince, but it like, you know what I'm saying? When it comes to technique, you got these people who are like, or like a fucking Lupe. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? And so it's like students of the real art of rock. Speaker 3 (9:00) Um, Speaker 2 (9:01) now Speaker 3 (9:03) you've, you've mastered this thing of, like I said, anytime I open Instagram, I'm seeing Akeem Ali, whether it's, you know, you promoting the tour. Yeah. Was that something that you came up with on your own or do you have like a team of people where y'all just sit down and throw ideas and like, how do we attack the algorithm? How do we, you know, get more visibility? How do we let people know that this tour is coming, this tour is happening, but in a unique Akeem Ali way? Speaker 2 (9:30) So my book agent called me one day and he was like, man, you know, the ticket sales ain't doing so good in this market or none of the markets. You know what I'm saying? And I was like, he was like, well, do you think you could get online and do like a freestyle? for just New Orleans and see how that works. If it goes good, you can think about doing more. And I'm like, yeah. So I sit down one day, um, I do shit. Like I treat this like a job, like don't know about how to tell me to clock in. So I get up some mornings at like three 34 in the morning and we'll sit at the table and just write all fucking day, literally for like eight, nine, 10, 11 hours and got up, wrote the New Orleans freestyle. And I was like, you know what? while I'm writing New Orleans, I'm going to do the Carolinas. I'm going to do Memphis. I'm going to do X, Y, Z. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going. I'm going to keep going. You know what I'm saying? And so doing that, I did it, dropped it. And people was like, we like this. And I was like, hold my beer. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to be right back. And he gave me that idea. And he was like, just do one of them. And I was like, you know what? i'm just gonna do all the you know what i'm saying and i had seen uh one of my partners dear silas he had done it um a couple of times for cities he was going to but i was like you know and i always want to give him credit you know what i'm saying we're seeing it there first because he'd be like going to dallas and he like turning to whoever he needs to be for that or going to houston and he like takes on that you know what i'm saying and so i was like i'm gonna do this for every city though and every time you open your instagram twitter whatever whatever you gonna see me right like once a week i need to have a video boom boom boom boom boom boom boom content in between that boom boom boom yeah and that shit takes a lot i'm going to 40 cities and so it had to be like we we did it just for detroit you remember Speaker 7 (11:12) detroit wasn't clicking so i had to rap like eminem for a promo yeah i got my Speaker 2 (11:16) detroit promo sitting in my phone like i gotta do that i gotta do dc still yeah and they sitting in my phone i just gotta like you know yeah record them and shit like do the videos for them like yeah man Speaker 7 (11:27) Is it? I remember, Mo, you said to me after I did that, Eminem said, if this don't sell tickets, we never going back again. Yeah, that's how it be. And I told Speaker 2 (11:35) people, I be telling people that from these cities, y'all be like, come to this city, come to my city, come and see us. Nobody ever comes here. And then I didn't like literally went out like I dropped the EP. and a project this year and had to do 40 more songs these ain't like 30 second freestyles exactly these are full like i'm having to engulf i'm having to like study do work look at what's there figure out the culture call people and be like hey such are still open is that a thing like i'm having to do dead live research right for to be like great yeah we still won't buy a ticket did i just do all of this for like And then motherfuckers is like, they don't pay attention. They like, oh my God, you should come to this city. I'm like, motherfucker, I'm telling you I'm going on tour to this city with this freestyle. Yeah. Like naming shit in your city. And he's like, I could be like doing a Houston freestyle. They'd be like, come to Houston and see us on tour. Yeah. All right. Just listen to the freestyle. Like, did you hear anything I fucking said? And then I like, I'm going on tour. Get your tickets. Then motherfuckers would be like, see all of the tour dates and be like. come to it'll Wamba. I'm like, this ain't enough. Come to Africa. Motherfucker. I'm not selling the tickets where I'm going. First of all, like, give me a, I'm like, fuck with me. Speaker 8 (12:47) I'm like, Speaker 3 (12:48) what the Speaker 8 (12:48) fuck? Speaker 3 (12:48) Come meet me here. Then maybe I can get to that shit. The worst Speaker 7 (12:53) shit is when you do like individual flyers for cities. And then all the comments will be from another city. It's like, yo, we in Chicago tomorrow. And all the comments is like, why are you not in Dallas? And then I go to Dallas and no one from Dallas came. Speaker 2 (13:06) I will tell you the worst. I would tell you the fucking words. Go to Dallas. The show don't sell out or it don't come out how you want it to or it may sell out or a few shorter selling out. Leave. Come to Dallas. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Brother, sister. Or Speaker 3 (13:19) they didn't know you. They like, oh, you was here like I just was here last night. Jesus Speaker 1 (13:23) Christ. Speaker 3 (13:23) But that's, I mean, you know, it's kind of a good and a bad thing because obviously people are engaging. People are saying they want to see you come to my city. But then it is, like you said, I'm sitting here writing all of this, shooting these videos for the promo for the show. And it's still not connecting to certain people. Is that something that you look at like you're doing something wrong, you're not doing enough or some people just ain't going to ever connect to it? Speaker 2 (13:50) All three of them. OK. It's something that I'm not doing to win you over. OK. You know what I'm saying? Because it's like. Speaker 2 (14:01) All right. So like we were just talking about the water that all the waters that are out there, you chose to drink the water you were drinking. But it's like Ozarka is sitting over here or you got like fucking pure life like, hey, I exist. Yeah. And it's something they're not doing. Right. To pull you in like you've drinking it before you subscribe to it. I had a bottle of it. It's like, you know, I just don't want that. Right. So what is it that y'all are not doing? And we can't be mad at you for not drinking our water. Right. It's just like you do what you want to do. But if I'm the water company, I'm like, hey. What do we need to double down on? How do we need to like capitalize on X, Y, Z markets or like target this demographic of people in this area? Like, how do we do the thing to like, you know, scale our business larger? And that's what I'm always thinking about. Like, it's not that they're not buying the tickets. What am I not doing that's making them not want to buy the tickets? Speaker 7 (14:47) Yeah. Speaker 2 (14:47) Okay. I Speaker 7 (14:48) mean, cause even- That's Speaker 2 (14:49) a Speaker 7 (14:49) great way to look at it. Yeah. Like even when we fired our previous booking agent. I was still thinking on the accountability side of like, we would put our London vlog out and all the comments would be like, damn, they was in London. I'm like, what the fuck are we doing? How the fuck did a person that follows us not know we was in London last week? That's not a booking agent problem though. I know it's not. Oh, okay. So no, we took accountability on that regard. Like even with infrastructure being fucked up, it does fall on us at the end of the day of not reaching our own fans. Part of me thinks that's also an algorithm thing, too, that it's tough to control. Like, how the fuck do you follow us? You pay for our Patreon and you still this still did not get on your phone. That's Speaker 1 (15:29) a Speaker 7 (15:29) battle that I've yet to figure out. I don't understand that algorithm part where I can't even reach the people that follow me anymore. Speaker 2 (15:35) It's an attention game. I learned this. And I think the guy from the who created the Savannah Bananas, the baseball team. And so they was trying to find a mascot and it was like, what do we do? How do we make this a thing? And it was like when he decided that the mascot would be like a banana, people were fucking pissed. And it was like, we don't want to be bananas. Like, oh, whatever. He's going to fucking ruin. And you know what? At the time, it would seem like such a bad thing. You'd be like, oh, no, I'm upsetting the people or somebody is going to say something bad or they're going to send threats. It's not about whether it's right or wrong. It's not about whether people like or dislike it. It's about whether it gets attention. Because if you can't bring attention to it, it gets absolutely nothing. Right. So it's like it's like almost if a tree falls, you know, no one there to have it. Like if it didn't have attention or eyes on it, does it even matter? And so it was so bad that it turned out to be good. Speaker 3 (16:31) Like Speaker 2 (16:31) because the banana idea is fucking ridiculous until we win a game. Speaker 3 (16:34) Right. And Speaker 2 (16:35) we can celebrate or we can have something that's like marketable. Like everybody, we sell bananas at the games or it helps the economy or these are the ways that we can do X, Y, Z. And it's like, oh, okay. I'm a proud banana now. You know what I'm saying? And it's like, no, fuck you. Because at first, like you gave me all type of shit about an idea that you just didn't understand. You don't know what it takes to get here or how to put some of this shit together. You don't understand the shit that y'all thought about me, said about me and like, try to like shut down. You know what I'm saying? And so it's like, get attention. Once you get the attention and for the. Think about, you know, the algorithm. Once it gets attention, if somebody says something negative in my comments, I respond and I pin it to the top. If they say something negative. Yeah. Okay. Yeah, like, this shit is trash. He can't rap as good as he think he does. He's not better than Kendrick. He's not better than this person. Why does it even matter? He's gay. He's this or he's too flamboyant. He's too this. Pin it. I don't care about how you feel about me as long as you feel something. Right? Because guess what happened? You just tricked yourself into telling your algorithm. Well, you just tricked your algorithm into like showing you me again. Don't you know when you comment on something, when you like something enough to comment on it, share it, whatever, whatever the algorithm say, Oh, they must like this. They're subscribing to it. They're commenting on it. Oh. And then what happens is now you got to come to your own defense in my comments and respond to other people. And the algorithm don't know whether it's good or bad. It just keeps saying, Oh, they keep responding. They must like this thing. I don't give a fuck what you say about me. Say something. Right. So I can make you look bad. How are you trying to make me? You know what I'm saying? And now the algorithm is going to say, because these apps are designed to keep you on the app. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? It's not just like with certain keywords or certain shit that you do. You can't say. Click the link or do XYZ because it doesn't want you to go to external sources It wants to keep you in that app and that's how it's designed right? You know say if you know why I want to keep you a while more sharper Why the fuck I got shit going on about target XYZ boom boom boom And so it's like what I got it whatever I got to do keep you here if