by John Bear
Daily Lobo
His name is Jared Bridgeman, but you can call him Akrobatik.
Akrobatik is one-third of the hip-hop trio The Perceptionists. He flows alongside fellow emcee Mr. Lif. DJ Fakts One provides the cuts and produced many of the tracks on their debut album, Black Dialogue. The three have worked together for years contributing to one another's solo efforts, but this is their first release as a group.
Akrobatik said they did the group thing mostly for fun, but they have great chemistry together, so an album seemed like the best way to go.
"It was cool going into a project where we could present two different lyrical viewpoints on 12 different subjects," he said.
Akrobatic said Mr. Lif originally thought of the name The Perceptionists. It means using perceptions of what is around you as defense mechanisms against all the things out there that tear you down, he said.
He said The Perceptionists stand apart from other hip-hop acts because the emcees rap about a wide range of topics, from the war in Iraq to the distorted image of black men in America.
"We just try to talk about things that no one else will talk about, and we try to keep our music diverse," he said.
The track "Memorial Day" contains flows that come from the perspective of soldiers stationed in Iraq. The hook goes "Where are the weapons of mass destruction? / We've been looking for months and we ain't found nothing / Please Mr. President, tell us something / We knew from the beginning that your ass was bluffing."
"I've spoken to a number of cats who are over there or have been there," he said. "They said that what we talk about on the song echoes their sentiments exactly, so that was kind of rewarding."
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He said the title track from the album, "Black Dialogue," has been misconstrued somewhat to mean "the way black people talk."
"That's part of it," he said. "But mostly it's just a dialogue about the black experience in America and trying to get ourselves to take a little bit of accountability for the position that we're in in this country and just kind of calling out some of the cats who are making things better for themselves, seemingly, but kind of doing it at the expense of the rest of the community."
He said the song is also a celebration of African-Americans who have done great things in the past.
"At the end of the day, all I really want is to give people an alternative to what they're so used to seeing," he said. "There are so many stereotypes out there about what a hip-hop artist is and what black men are like."
He said he wants to change how people from other cultures and countries perceive African-American men.
"When you see black people on TV, we're always portrayed as either ultra-violent or oversexed, and we're not all like that," he said. "I think it's important for people in all facets of life to explode myths and break stereotypes."
He said one could characterize The Perceptionists' music as intelligent but still fun to listen to.
"I think that in this day and age, you have an obligation to be intelligent," he said. "If no one is steering you in the right way, toward education, then you have to find it yourself. If you can't afford to go to school, then you need to just go chill in the library."
He said though education is vastly important, a person needs to have a good time as well, and his music reflects those two realities.
