“They’re great artists, they’re great kids. They have great parents,” said Terry Jones, co-owner/operator of Philerzy Productions, a Philadelphia musical artist management company that’s negotiating a record label for pop/hip-hop duo AP the Plan.
AP the Plan is Will “Will IV” Hence, a student in the Girard Academic Music Program, and Benji “King Benji” Ahanonu, who goes to Carver High School of Engineering and Science in Philadelphia.
They’ve performed shows around Philly at Voltage Lounge, Painted Bride Art Center, and Coda on Walnut Street, and lately have been collaborating with well-connected music producers. Melvin “Chaos” Lewis, who has worked with The Black Eyed Peas, The Roots and Jaden Smith, cleverly used Mario Brothers-era sound effects to move along the rhythm of the latest AP the Plan single, “Video Games” – a song fusing lyrics about both romantic relationships and video games.
“To be young and in school and working with people that have worked with major artists is mind blowing to me,” said Ahanonu.
“Video Games” is one of three songs you can listen to on their Soundcloud page, https://soundcloud.com/ap-the-plan. Their song “Puzzle Piece,” a collaboration with Po Lambeau, has almost 14,000 plays.
AP the Plan’s name doesn’t stand for advanced placement high school classes, but rather for apocalyptic prophecies the boys found online while researching conspiracy theories. But quickly realizing that calling themselves Apocalyptic Prophecies would get them mistakenly pegged as a death metal band, they shortened it to AP – which can also stand for “all people” or “all peace.” “The Plan” refers to their pact to pursue music. Since coming up with “the plan,” when they were in middle school, the duo has written more than 60 songs.
Hence said that because he was always a fan of rock and indie music, he was initially unsure about delving into rap, even though he listened to The Red Hot Chili Peppers – who regularly incorporate rapped vocals into their songs – and was introduced to the music of Lil’ Wayne and Biggie Smalls by his brother, and to the music of A Tribe Called Quest by his mother. “Everyone knew me as ‘Will the weird singing kid.’ We recorded in (the program) GarageBand on a beat up laptop, with earphone pieces, trying to make music,” he said.
Ahanonu said that it’s their different musical backgrounds that make their creative partnership effective. “I was kinda into rock a little bit, but I wasn’t about to let people know that. When I met Will, he made me feel comfortable being into that,” he said, adding that it was challenging rapping in 6/8 time on “Video Games” because most hip-songs are in a simpler 4/4 time.
“I love Young Thug,” Ahanonu said, mentioning one of his favorite emcees.
Stay tuned for news and future shows at facebook.com/aptheplanmusic, @aptheplanmusic on Instagram and @Benyeji and @WillIVMusic on Twitter.
