Sensational poet and spoken word artist, Lams Ahmed, drops a mixtape of the spoken word this January. This will be the fourth release of his annual poetry series starting from 2017 on Audiomack. Through the series and by the use of skillful wordplay, he has addressed burning societal issues and also discussed casual matters such as love and campus crush. In all the episodes, he has managed to blend varying matters of interest.
Responding to a question of what motivated him to start the mixtape series, Lams Ahmed said it is a way of him giving back to all those who inspired and enjoined him to start poetry in the form of family, friends, and acquaintances. And the society at large. According to Lams, the name Ak-Bars came about when he slammed with another poet. The poet threw a line like, ‘before I muscle my Ak-Bars (pronounced Ak Baas).’
Since then ‘Ak-Bars’ came to stay as a poetry series.
Bites on the third edition of Ak-Bars (III)
On Ak-Bars III mixtape, Lams Ahmad had four spoken words. Namely; Reality of Hypocrisy, Sumi’s Voicenote, My Thoughts (Podcast), and These streets.
Reality of Hypocrisy
In this spoken word, Lams talks about how people lead a double life. Both as godly and as evil. Good on the outside, bad on the inside. Using the first-person pronoun, how people actually know the right and wrong things, but it’s owing to our lust and heart desires that we succumb to bad deeds. He admitted we all try, but sometimes we all fail. He however closed the poem by invoking Allah to show us mercy as He is the most merciful.
“How I wish I could say no to profanity, but the liquor of fantasy, keeps me succumbing to nudity.”
My highlight of Reality of Hypocrisy.
Sumi’s Voice-note
This poem breathes love and fantasy. It opened with a voice note of a lady asking for her voice-notes to be replied with a voice-note and not a text. And that segued into Lams passionate confession of love as it is inferred that it is his voice-note reply to the lady. Lams went ahead to extoll the beauty of the lady and followed it with comments on his fondness for her. And why he wants to be with her at all cost.
“You populate my heart with your grace, Love is hard and confusing but I’m willing to be lost in your maze. Perhaps this maze will grant me solace.”
My highlight of Sumi’s Voice-note.
My Thoughts (Podcast)
The poem My thoughts is a Podcast-like spoken word. In English mixed with Pidgin, Lams Ahmed was out motivating everyone. He iterated how God’s creation of human-kind is a call to duty. And to accomplish one’s individual duty, one needs to struggle. Lams also entreated people to depend on God’s timing not allow themselves to be pressured by anyone. He underscored the importance of being patient. And that God asked us to be patient because He knows the tasks He gave us are not any easy. He encouraged folks to be prayerful and connected to God. And also to know themselves: their abilities and competencies by soul-searching.
“Be patient with the hustle. Anything you add patience to creates a masterpiece.”
My highlight of My Thoughts.
The Streets
In this poem, Lams Ahmed was shedding the misconceptions about the streets. That it is a no home only for hoodlums and thugs. Lams clearly believes it is even for the good people and those hustling. He mentioned how folks were motivated to reach for more in the streets. He iterated that, parents have brought food to the table from the streets. People have been challenged to get better in the streets. And the street is home. Though belongs to the street, he is not a thug nor a gangster.
“These streets set paths for Pathfinders even before Toyota was born so they could drive their imaginations into reality.”
My highlight in The Streets
You can check out last year’s mixtape via link below:
https://audiomack.com/lams-ahmed/album/allahu-ak-bars-iii
The fourth edition shall be out in January. There are four poems on the mixtape: Tale of Abena, God Flows Ft. Sadat Imoro, Namiji, and Lessons II.
