Eastside Promotions INFO

Sona Akale (born December 18, 1987), better known by his stage name Slink Proper, is a Hip Hop / Soul rapper. Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Slink Proper began writing and rapping his own lyrics at a young age of 10. To this date he has been featured in 3 local mixtapes and he has released 3 mixtapes of his own.

In 2007 Slink proper’s single “Holla” was played on-air by B96’s on-air personality Peter Parker. Since then, Slink Proper's fan base has increased. After his song was on B96, Minnesota's prominent Top 40 Hip Hop and Urban Music station, his single “Holla” is requested on the radio by many listeners.

REQUEST "HOLLA" on B96: 651-989-4B96 (4296)

At this time Slink Proper has released a new mixtape called “Free Slink Proper part 2” Slink has performed many times at different venues. He is currently working on new music and seeks out to be noticed.

So far, he has made more than 100 songs and yet he makes new songs everyday. Slink Proper is such a promising artist with a lot of potential. His style is not the commercial hip hop we listen to now, he is true to his unique Hip hop/Soul style. He is more of a Midwest rapper with a soulful touch. His lyrics are about situations that really matter, people can always relate to his music.

"Slink" hopes to rap his way to the top!

Patricia Drey Busse South Washington County Bulletin Published Wednesday, July 23, 2008

Cottage Grove hip hop artist Sona Akale, known as Slink Proper, said much of his music is motivational, encouraging people to go after their dreams. It’s a subject the fledgling artist working hard to make a name for himself knows about firsthand.

“When I was younger I was a little more naive,” he said. “I just thought that somebody will find me and then I’ll be famous.” Cottage Grove artist Slink Proper just released his latest album Free Slink Proper 2. His music is available through iTunes, MySpace and at stores including the Electric Fetus and Fifth Element.

He’s far from complacent now, though. He performs at least once per week around the Twin Cities, and if he’s not making music or practicing, he’s likely working on promoting himself, and his new album through MySpace and other channels. “You have to do all this stuff that has nothing to do with rapping, it just has to do with getting out there,” he said. “You could be the best rapper; you could rap the stars from the sky to fall and touch the ground but if nobody hears you you’re not anybody, it won’t matter.”

Akale got his start when he was 10 years old during weekly freestyle rap “battles” at his Grange Avenue home. Akale’s father is an immigrant from the African country of Cameroon who worked to bring many of his family members to the United States, Akale said. That meant Akale grew up surrounded by cousins and siblings. He credited them with getting him into hip hop.

At 15, Akale began putting out CDs with a friend who had a home studio, he said. Back then he went by the name “Slink.” He went through the dictionary looking for names and was caught by the word which means the offspring of an animal. “I said, I could manipulate that to say I’m the offspring of hip hop — the child of hip hop,” he said. He added the “proper” to the end three years ago to say, “I do what I do well, and I try to give people what they want,” he said.

He said his father was less than pleased that he was getting into the hip hop genre. “He doesn’t mind hip hop, but he doesn’t necessarily like the stereotypes that come along with it,” he said.

In Akale’s opinion, hip hop has unfairly gotten a bad name. With violence pervasive in American media, Akale wonders why hip hop music is singled out as promoting it, he said. “If a person goes out and makes a movie about killing or something, they can be nominated for all these types of awards and hailed as this high person, but if you’re a hip hop artist and you talk about that stuff … you get looked at as a gangster or a criminal,” he said.

That said, Akale does think the record labels seem to be going out of their way to recruit rappers with criminal records and a “bad” image, he said. Although Akale has had brushes with the law in the past, and served jail time, he said he chooses to avoid that part of his background in his music. “I try not to say a lot of that type of stuff in my music, because I don’t want to sound like I’m glorifying it,” he said. “That’s when you get put into categories like gangster rapper or pop rapper. I don’t want to be put in any categories.”

Akale said he thinks the hip hop industry has lost its way, and that many of the songs that get radio play lack creativity, and seem like they were just written to sell. “I feel like it’s just not hip hop anymore,” he said. “There’s only a few artists out there that are still doing music that is hip hop that reflects them.”

He’s hoping to buck the trend, though. He wants to be signed by a major record label and bring the Minnesota hip hop scene national attention, he said. The new people finding his music every day through shows or the Internet, keep Akale going, he said. “When people say they’re interested in what you have to say, you want to say more,” he said. “My love for the hip hop music, and me thinking I can do better than some of the people that are out there, that’s what keeps me going.”