aka suga

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AKA  SUGA cut her teeth as the resident DJ for the legendary GK Thursday  night jam session The Lesson at Arlene's grocery. She gained a loyal  following as a DJ but continued to sharpen her skills as a producer. Her  quirky beats and distinctive style made her stand out amongst her peers  and eventually led to her first full length album No Label to be  released later this year.

"I was always trying to get mc's to rap  over my beats but it became a long waiting game and I wasn't getting  anywhere so i decided to go for it on my own. I was already creating  beats i just had to get the confidence to write my own material"
she'd  been experimenting with hip hop driven rnb when she made her first E.P  Suga Suite but it was on the Suga Rush E.P that she formed her distinct  style. "The Hardest was the track that showed me how I wanted to present  myself moving forward. My knowledge of beats. My confidence as a  producer and the fun I had from rapping on the mic, I knew there was no  turning back. 
My perspective as a vinyl collector, DJ, beat maker,  singer and MC is different to a lot of females in the game, throw in the  fact that I'm Japanese and you have something that's totally against  the grain."

Since the release of her Suga Rush E.P her music has been licensed by NBC , Fila (for their Joyrich campaign) and Converse. 

AKA  SUGA continues to DJ in and around NY as well as doing multiple dates  around the world in cities as diverse as London, Tokyo, Barcelona and  Rio De Janeiro. She made her mark at The Lesson spinning hip hop and  breakbeats but moving on from that residency has allowed her to indulge  in all the genres of music that inspire her, from Latin to Reggae to  Dance, you might even find the odd Bollywood or Iranian psychedelic  track thrown in for good measure. You just never know.

C.Live and Aka Suga reinterpreted  Aka Suga’s 2016 debut album No Label by chopping up samples from vintage Asian recordings and in some cases utilizing dialogue from old  Asian Cinema. They made a conscious decision to only sample music from  their personal collection of records which made the project all the  intimate as they had a deep familiarity with the source material.  The raw D.I.Y feel breathed a renewed sense of emergency into the songs and this limited run cassette release pays homage to the D.I.Y punk rock  aesthetic of this remix project.   

Aka Suga and C.Live have since formed a production duo named Canda and have 2 more projects set for release by the years end.