Born and raised in Cape Cod, Hunter Brown has received two nominations for this weekend's Grammy Awards. They're both songs he produced on two separate albums, in the "Best Rap Album" category.
"I didn't really know it was possible to be Grammy-nominated from Cape Cod, because I never had an example to look up to," said Brown, whose stage name is Akachi.
The 23-year-old is navigating a career in hip hop from a place not recognized for its talented hip hop musicians.
"Where I come from on Cape Cod, I have no connections," Brown said. "There's no real way into the industry, so another big piece of grinding was meeting people from Atlanta, Chicago, meeting people from LA."
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Brown co-produces beats with local musicians from different backgrounds, like Ben Shields from Norwood.
"Over the pandemic, I spent a lot of time trying to master my craft on the ukulele. That process of incorporating the ukulele into hip hop beats turned into so many other experimental things we ended up doing that turned into our greatest hits," said Shields. "It's really important to create a scene here that people across the country, across the world, can recognize."
Brown says that he has no expectations when the awards take place on Sunday, but that a Grammy win would be a dream come true.
"It's going to make me go harder. I think if I win, I won't really think anything is impossible," said Brown.
