Top Qs
Timeline
Chat
Perspective

Fly Anakin

American rapper From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Fly Anakin
Remove ads

Frank L. Walton, Jr[5] (born July 9, 1994), better known by his stage name Fly Anakin is an American rapper and record producer. He is the co-founder of Richmond hip hop crew Mutant Academy.

Quick Facts Background information, Birth name ...
Remove ads

Early life

Fly Anakin was raised in Richmond, Virginia. As a child he was a regular church goer.[6] His older brother introduced him to rap albums including Ghostface Killah's Ironman, Jay Z's Reasonable Doubt and Hot Boys' Guerrilla Warfare. His later influences included Jeezy, Kendrick Lamar and Curren$y.[2][7][3]

Career

Summarize
Perspective

Fly Anakin released his first mixtape in 2014, Mirrors_episode1, with future Mutant Academy member Ewonee.[3] This was the first of over a dozen self-released mixtapes and EPs. Fly Anakin played in shows and in homes in Richmond.[4]

In 2022, Fly Anakin released his debut solo studio LP Frank which included production from Madlib, Evidence and Mutant Academy members.[8][9] According to Metacritic, the album received "universal acclaim" from critics, with a score of 84.[10] Following its release, Frank also featured in several lists of the best albums of "2022 (so far)" including Complex, HipHopDX, Paste, The Quietus and Uproxx.[11][12][13][14][15]

In March 2022, Fly Anakin performed several shows at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, including sets at the Lex showcase and the Song Exploder showcase.[16][17] The following month he supported Armand Hammer on a short run of European shows at venues including XOYO, London and Le Botanique, Brussels and Le Bellevilloise, Paris.[18][19]

A concert scheduled on the 5 May 2022 in Lyon, France was cancelled by the local concert promoter[20] when Fly Anakin vetoed an opening act following an argument between the promoter and Fly Anakin's booking agent. The booking agent wrote an e-mail to the promoter stating: "All artists choose who they perform with because this is their art form, not yours. Nor is it your culture either, from what I understand. Fly Anakin wants to celebrate his culture, hop-hop, with Black artists..." The incident was reported in French media including the local Lyon newspaper Le Progrès, and national media including Marianne and BFM TV website.[21][20][22] Marianne noted that Fly Anakin "...denied any discriminatory will on his part, rather evoking a musical problem: the envisaged artist was not up to the task, he told the Progress on Thursday."[21]

In November 2022 Fly Anakin and Madlib released a reworking of "No Dough" from Frank.[23] At the end of the 2022 Metacritic ranked Frank as the “best reviewed debut” rap album of the year, and the ninth best reviewed debut album across all genres.[24] On 5 April 2023, Skinemaxxx (Side A) EP was released.[25]

Remove ads

Discography

Studio albums

  • At the End of the Day (2020)
  • Frank (2022)[1]
  • (The) Forever Dream (2025)

Collaborative albums

  • Open House (with Henny L.O) (2014)
  • Chapel Drive (with Koncept Jack$on) (2017)
  • Panama Plus (with Koncept Jack$on & TUAMIE) (2017)
  • Backyard Boogie (with Ohbliv) (2018)
  • Emergency Raps, Vol. 4 (with TUAMIE) (2019)
  • Holly Water (with Big Kahuna OG) (2019)
  • FlySiifu's (with Pink Siifu) (2020)[26]
  • Skinemaxxx (Side A) (with Foisey) (2023)
  • Skinemaxxx (Side B) (with Foisey) (2023)

Extended plays

  • mirrors_episode.1 (with Ewonee) (2014)
  • Elsewhere Ave. (2015)
  • The Grand Scheme of Things (2016)
  • Velvet Type Joints (2016)
  • People Like Us (2017)
  • Anakin & Friends: Episode 1 (2021)
  • $mokebreak (with Pink Siifu) (2021)[27]
  • Pixote (2021)
  • mirrors_episode.2 (with Ewonee) (2022)
  • Stop Tryna Hack My Facebook (2023)
  • Anakin & Friends 2 (2024)

References

Loading related searches...

Wikiwand - on

Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.

Remove ads