Image via Jack McKain
Olivier Lafontant recently added 5 years of his life by eating a bowl of Frosted Flakes.
Mutant Academy is the last of a dying breed. The 10-man Richmond, Virginia-based group arrived in 2015 during a renewed mainstream interest in hard-hitting jazzy production. Today, MA is one of the few large rap collectives still kicking it. Between the group’s three emcees (Fly Anakin, Big Kahuna OG, and Henny L.O.), seven producers (Ohbliv, Ewonee, Graymatter, Sycho Sid, Unlucky Bastards, Tuomie, and Foisey), and its comic book-inspired name, the Wu-Tung comparisons feel like an obvious callout. Of course, Ghostface and company were a formative influence for founding members Fly Anakin and Henny L.O..
Buffalo native Big Kahuna OG matched this energy after joining in the mid-2010s; Mutant Academy has put on for Richmond on an if-you-know-you-know basis, garnering respect from their peers in the underground. Across dozens of collab tapes (Kahuna & Anakin’s Big Fly series) and rapper/producer joints (Henny and Ohbliv’s 2020 tape Sages), methodical wisecracks and earnest images get caked into smoky boom-bap vignettes. In his distinctly shrill cadence, Anakin says it best on the 2020 track “Cartoons” with Kahuna: “We do the most to get the scraps that they throw.”
The group’s path has been anything but linear: Henny has previously shed light on their collective roadblocks, citing MA’s break-up in the past and his personal travails with corporate America as catalysts to where they are now. For each member, it’s only ever been natural to fall back on their crewmates. Even as Fly Anakin’s prolific output has seen him embark on projects with underground nomad Pink Siifu, you’ll still find MA members like Foisey, Ohbliv, Kahuna, and Graymatter front and center in the credits.
This past week they released Talk Soon, an impressive four-track appetizer marked by slick bravado. The years-long chemistry between the mutants is palpable on first listen. On lead single, “SODA,” Kahuna, Anakin, and Henny surface as seasoned veterans over pristine keys from Ewonee, ushering in the summer with raps you could wake-and-bake to.
More importantly, Mutant Academy is finally ready to drop their definitive debut LP. Over Zoom, Henny L.O. spoke with me from his home in Richmond as Anakin and Kahuna joined in while driving to Chattanooga, TN for a show. There’s no shortage of quips and callbacks to past memories among the trio, especially when Anakin and Henny get to reminiscing on childhood escapades. We discussed their new music, the tight-knit nature of MA, and the shortcomings of being rap purists.