Creative Q&A with AK Rhymefest founder discussing Alaska State Fair integration

WASILLA — AK Rhymefest will be incorporated into the Alaska State Fair for the first time this season.

The homegrown music festival has continued to evolve beyond a music festival to a multi-faceted enterprise with ongoing projects like the AK Rhymefest Podcast which features Alaskan artists throughout the year.

Local hip-hop artist and Rhymefest founder Devon Shaw recently participated in a question and answer interview to discuss his excitement over the landmark occasion, his plans for the platform, and his biggest takeaways from years of working to build up Alaska’s hip-hop and R&B artists and overall music scene.

Q: How excited are you to bring Rhymefest to the Fair this year?“Extremely, I think it’s due time. I’m very happy to be able to bring the platform to the State Fair and happy just to have a platform at the State Fair for local artists… Alaska has a very rich history in music, in hip-hop specifically… The Fair is a big event. The Fair is our biggest statewide yearly event. It’s kind of been my goal for the past couple of years so it’s cool to finally see it happening… Next year I want to put a whole different lineup of artists up there and coincide it with the podcast.”

Q: How are things going with the Rhymefest podcast?“We’re actually teaming up with Klondike Mike’s and we’re gonna be bringing the podcast there to expand… We’re kind of gonna turn it into a multimedia variety show. So, there’s gonna be a lot of experiences in the near future for the podcast.”

Q: What are your long-term goals for Rhymefest in general?“I want to see it be the biggest platform that pushes Alaskan music, not just hip-hop but Alaskan music in general. I want the platform to just keep growing. I want AK Rhymefest to be the go-place when you want to look up something to do with Alaskan music… We’re gonna do a lot of different things and over the next few years, I just want to see it come together.”

Q: How would you describe Alaska’s current hip-hop scene?“Young, I think now it’s better than it’s ever been. We live in the era of independent artists now. Back in the day, when people were more dependent on the industry to release records, Alaska wasn’t getting highlights… We’re notoriously 10 years behind everyone else. Now with platforms like Youtube and TuneCore and things of that nature, we don’t need the industry’s approval to create music anymore. You could run your own label out of your cell phone now. We’re in a very different era now. Artists can manage and produce themselves. Alaskans, we were already entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurship and pioneerism kinda just runs in our veins… Pretty much all of the record labels that produce up here are independent record labels. It was kind of the perfect opportunity for us when the Digital Age came up. That considered, right now I think the scene is in one of the best possible positions it’s been in for a long time. It still has some growing to do, but it’s getting there because we have a lot more artists that are active… The pandemic turned a lot of artists into content creators. You’re seeing a lot more creativity come from Alaskan artists as a whole.”

Q: What’s it been like being a part of Alaska’s music scene over the years?“It’s been rough but I love it. I love the Alaska music scene. I think there’s an originality here. I tell people all the time that we’re different and we have to embrace that… You don’t understand it until you get here… I would like to see a lot of these young artists that are moving in the scene now get the recognition they deserve because they are talented, they are unbelievably talented. As Alaskans, we shouldn’t sleep on it… but eventually, we’re gonna make a big enough noise to where everybody can hear. It’s only a matter of time... I take pride in being an Alaskan artist, period. I very much celebrate what makes us different. Coming from the Valley specifically, it’s home. I speak my life. My life is Alaskan and Alaska is my backyard. That’s what I speak about.”

For more information about AK Rhymefest, visit facebook.com/akrhymefest.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com