Akron's Minus the Alien Returns with Highly Personal EP

Minus the Alien. Credit: Courtesy of Minus the Alien

Akron-based rapper Ameer Williamson, who tours and records as Minus the Alien, first gravitated to the music of Michael Jackson.

“Seeing that floor lighting up [in the ‘Billie Jean’ music video] was the first time I knew I wanted to be an entertainer and that it was something I loved and wanted to do,” he says via phone. He’s just released a new EP and will be the special guest performer with Matthew Alec and the Soul Electric when the group appears on Friday on Cleveland Fox 8 in the Morning. He’ll also perform with the group that night at Blu Jazz in Akron, and he’ll deliver a solo performance on Saturday, Aug. 16, at PorchRokr in Akron.

By the time he was a teenager, his musical interests shifted.

“I fell in love with hip-hop when I first heard Run D.M.C. They are the reason I started rocking Adidas,” he says. “Their influence on the culture was undeniable.”

Born in Youngstown and raised in Warren, Williamson moved to Akron to attend Akron University in 1995. He’s called the Rubber City home ever since and regular plays the city’s independent venues.

In addition to releasing music as Minus the Alien, Williamson has displayed a strong passion for mentoring youth and community outreach. A recipient of Akron’s 2018 Men of Champions Award and an alumnus of the Neighborhood Leadership Institute of Summit County, he also developed an in-person/virtual hip-hop boot camp that teaches the history of hip-hop culture and how it can be used a tool for positive change.

“Basically, my whole thing with hip-hop culture is that it’s being misrepresented,” he says. “Everyone thinks it’s this negative culture, but it’s not. It’s the exact opposite, and I am an example of that. I don’t use curse words or glorify violence. I found a way talk about pain but in a therapeutic way. I want to teach this new generation that there’s a culture to hip-hop. There is DJing, breakdancing and graffiti art. You can use hip-hop as a mentoring tool to connect with troubled youth.”

Last year, Williamson started working on the tunes that would become Neon Cactus. The EP kicks off with the woozy title track, a tune that allows Williamson to show off his poetic sensibilities as he croons, “Neon Cactus in the dark light flickers and flashes/fingers get pricked/and earth spins off its axis.”

“I was going through some personal things,” he says when asked about what inspired the songs on the EP. “There was a little bit of heartbreak. The ‘neon cactus’ represents me being in pain emotionally but trying to find a positive light in that. The needles in the cactus represent pain, and the glowing neon is me being a unique artist and trying to find some light in the darkness. The songs are reflective of personal things, but I also write about universal things because I know a lot of us are going through similar situations in life.”

Williamson recorded at Just a Dream studios in Kenmore and at Akron Recording Company.

Songs such as “Impulsive” and the jazzy, DJ Shadow-like “Fifty Fifty” feature layers of vocals and simmering strings and have a lushness to them that distinguishes them from more conventional hip-hop tunes.

“I want my music to have a futuristic feel, and I’m grounded in my nostalgic ’90s hip-hop ways,” says Williamson. “I loved Tribe Called Quest and all those guys. This EP is a reflection of my journey and the diverse influences that shape my music. I wanted to create something that feels both familiar and new, like a vibrant bloom in an unexpected place. Neon Cactus is about standing out, embracing your uniqueness, and finding your own oasis.”