The web series Donuts N’ Akahol — which spotlights a variety of Cincinnati musical acts — recently returned for its sixth season. And alongside their usual insightful interview features, hosts Graval Baehr and Tatum have introduced an expanded format with a few new elements, including a regular live performance segment.
Tatum and Graval met in 2017 at a Hip Hop show Graval had organized. The pair quickly bonded over “our love for music, media and Kanye West,” Graval says, and it wasn’t long after that they came up with the concept for Donuts N’ Akahol. A Chicago native, Tatum is also an on-air personality on 101.1 FM The Wiz (where he also regularly interviews artists), while Cincinnatian Graval — a Hocking College grad with a degree in Music Management — does music booking and promotions.
The new friends soon got to talking about starting a project that would shine a spotlight on the Cincinnati music scene. They wanted to do an interview series and at first thought an audio podcast would be the best route. But when friend and videographer Jake Witte got involved, the concept evolved into a YouTube series.
After filming a few episodes, the pair became desperate for a name for the series. Graval says they were getting ready to interview local MC D-Eight and they began looking around the room, Keyser Söze-style, and naming things they saw, including items in the food spread they had laid out.
“Tatum starts rattling off names and finally gets to ‘donuts n akahol’ and I'm like, ‘That's it!’,” Graval says of the title, which also became the on-set snacks provided in episodes going forward. “With Tatum's accent, alcohol sounded like ‘akahol’ and I was like, we got to keep it that way.”
Since their first episode posted in December 2017, there have been more than 60 shows, which features interviews with numerous Cincinnati Hip Hop artists (including Lantana, Wayne Fowler, Monty C. Benjamin, DJ J. Dough, Triiibe, Patterns of Chaos, Khari and Suicide Rascal), as well as R&B performers (like Jazmyn Alexis, Leo Pastel and Bla'szé) and AltPop/AltRock bands (such as Multimagic, Misnomer and Moonbeau). Among other special episodes and features, they’ve also hosted live sessions, rap cyphers and thoughtful discussions with others involved in different facets of local arts and culture — from fashion to media.
Graval says his passion for local music developed when he returned to Cincinnati after college and started recognizing the wealth of talent and how it wasn’t getting the attention he felt it merited.
“I think our scene can stand up to any other city and hold its own weight,” he says. “I feel like the only issue in Cincinnati is that people don't really get behind their own like, for example, Chicago, New York or Atlanta. So that's why we wanted to be a central place where people could learn about the talent we have here and encourage people to rally around the talent we have here.”
But just because you offer a unique, creative and accessible platform doesn’t mean there will immediately be an audience, of course. Part of the struggle to attract viewers is the stigma that’s attached to homegrown music, with some music fans simply dismissing an artist because it’s “just local” — as if just because someone is from the same town in which you live, they can’t be any good
“We see it all the time,” Graval says of the resistance to local music. “I find it so hard to get my friends outside of the music scene to take a ‘local’ artist serious. I feel like we put these national known artists on such a high pedestal and idolize them so when we see someone from our own city, we don't view them in the same light. It's almost like people think, ‘Well if they are so good, then why aren't they famous yet?’
“I don't know, it seems pretty backwards to me. I think the best time to follow artists is early on, so you can experience their come-up along with them.”
The show has built up a following thanks to the quality production values and the hosts’ deft interviewing skills. They’re both knowledgeable and relatable, seeming to put their guests at ease with their charm and humor while also amping up the engagement with the obvious planning and research they put into each interview. They also have a knack for booking Cincinnati-affiliated artists right before they break bigger.
“I think the best interviews are when we talk to an artist right before they are doing something monumental,” Graval says. “For example, we caught up with Cal Scruby right before he released his last album, Unsigned, and it was cool to watch that album be received so well on a national level. It felt like we were along for the ride.
“Same with our interview with Seezyn — we interviewed him right before he got signed and started working with Juice WRLD and started performing at big festivals like Rolling Loud and A Day in Vegas. It's so satisfying to watch these artists grow and get the shine they deserve.”
Seezyn recently returned for the sixth season premiere (watch below). The MC talked about the hard work he’s been putting in to capitalize on the buzz created by “Hide,” his collaboration with the late Juice WRLD that was featured in the hit movie Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse, as well as his great new album, Tis.
The Season 6 premiere also introduced a few new segments.
“The new season is so exciting,” Graval says. “We weren't too happy with the amount of views we were getting, so instead of complaining or blaming people, we wanted to change it up. Adding the segments makes it more fun to watch. It gives us an extra layer to show off, not only ours, but also the artists' personalities in a way you wouldn't be able to by just listening to their music.”
One of the new segments is the hilarious “Respect The Drip” spot, in which the hosts are joined by local artists Oski Isaiah and Dayo Gold to taste-test an array of hot sauces. The show has also added a regular live music segment. Filmed at The Lodge in Northern Kentucky, the Season 6 premiere has rapper Papa Gora performing his song “Ringing” with the live band Sound the Alarm.
This Saturday (Feb. 8), the Donuts N’ Akahol crew is teaming up with Triiibe for a special event at MOTR Pub that will also feature Sound the Alarm and Papa Gora, plus special guests like Dayo Gold, Oski Isaiah, pERez and more. The show is free and begins at 9 p.m.
Graval says one of the ways he thinks the Cincinnati music community can be lifted up and perhaps one day approach the elite "music city" status of select other scenes around the country is by rallying support behind those artists who are ready for the national stage. He says he'd also like to see more mutual support among artists.
“We need to get behind a select few artists and really push them to the next level,” he says. “After watching cities like Chicago that got behind a few artists, their whole scene was amplified to a national level and that trickled down to everyone else. If we can all put our egos and pride aside to work together and work towards a common goal, anything is possible. For artists, don't be afraid to support other artists."
"For the community, he adds, "please get behind the talent we have here. We always hear complaints about certain venues or bars that only play ‘Top 40’ hits and lame music when there are extremely talented musicians playing original music almost every night.”
As for Donuts N’ Akahol’s future, Graval says they’d love to expand their coverage beyond just local acts, in part to draw more attention to the Cincinnati artists at the heart of the show.
“We would love to be recognized on a national level and interviewing national acts when they come to town,” he says. “We want to be the platform that artists have to have an interview with when they stop by. So when we do interview or shed a light on homegrown talent, they will be displayed to a wider audience. The goal has always been to provide artists with a platform to be themselves and find new fans. We love creating and want to keep adding to the beautiful music/art scene.”
For more on Donuts N’ Akahol, visit them on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and, most importantly, at youtube.com/donutsnakahol, where you can watch eps from all six seasons. The latest episode dropped today and features a chat with Santino Corleon, a live performance by Dayo Gold and "Truth or Drink," in which the hosts have some fun with tequila shots.
Check out the Season 6 premiere below.
