Ak'Sent
With her beautiful complexion and bootylicious bod, Ak'Sent looks like the second coming of Beyonce. But don't be fooled! This fierce chica is more in tune with B's boy, Jay-Z. "I'm strictly hip-hop," she says. "I've tried to do the R&B thing, and [it] didn't work. When people see me, they say, 'What? You're a rapper? I thought you were an R&B singer! It's because I'm not masculine -- I love to dress in heels [and] I love to be a girl. But when I get on a mic, I rip it up!" Right now, Ak'Sent, whose real name is Krystle Johnson, is tearing up the airwaves with her tongue-twisting dancehall joint, "Zingy." It's especially ironic that this 19-year-old South Central L.A. native is a rising rap star, as her grandparents raised her on gospel music and wouldn't let her listen to rap or watch videos on TV. (Ak'Sent moved in with her grandparents after her father, also an aspiring MC, was shot and killed.) But although Ak'Sent convinced her grandparents to let her start rapping, they still have some influence on her musical style. "I [recorded] the album with no heavy cursing," Ak'Sent says. "There are a lot of ways to come across in a song, and there's lots of ways if you want to get a point across. [I make] fun, feel-good music, [so] I didn't need cursing in it." (Finally -- a hip-hop CD you can listen to with your parents!) Check her out!
What bothers you most about being a girl?
Having to deal with the negativity of other girls. It doesn't bother me, but it's just something I wish wouldn't happen between ladies. That's why I've made the album that I have -- towards the ladies -- so we can unite. It's a unity album for girls.
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