Listen to Fly Anakin on the new episode of The FADER Interview

Fly Anakin didn’t take any shortcuts on the road to Frank. The prolific Richmond, Virginia rapper has shared over 25 projects since 2015. It’s a pace that few other rappers could attempt to keep up with. A sizable chunk of those projects were recorded with close friends Big Kahuna OG, Tuamie, Ohbliv, and Henny L.O., who, along with Anakin, make up the Virginia-based collective Mutant Academy. Holly Water, his 2019 mixtape with Big Kahuna OG, was a flashy display of technical rapping with the competitive spark of a sibling rivalry. In 2020, Anakin joined up with Birmingham rap mystic Pink Siifu for FlySiifu’s, a laid-back and free-spirited album about a fictional record shop that combined their shared adoration of community and fellowship.

Frank, his debut studio album for Lex Records, maintains these long-term musical relationships, but brings new names into the fold like the ever-elusive Madlib, who produced “No Dough,” on which Fly Anakin makes his most tongue-twisting verses seem effortless. He knows how good he is — and he refuses to let anyone forget it. Frank is his tightest record to date and is uncompromising in Fly Anakin’s vision of steely, '90s-indebted rap that prioritizes personality and bars over everything else.

A few weeks back, The FADER’s Brandon Callender caught up with Fly to talk about growing up in Richmond, learning from Max B and Ghostface, and the leap forward that he’s taken on Frank.