Last week, for the span of about two hours, TikTok went down for what seemed like it might be the last time in this country. A lot of digital ink was spilled on what this would mean for the recording industry. TikTok was where new stars were discovered, where new hits were minted, where old hits were resurfaced and repurposed and revitalized by the app’s cadre of teen dancers and meme-makers.
And it was where I discovered SaxKixAve, a two-man duo hailing from New Orleans consisting of two guys named “Al.” Albert Allenback — the white Al — is an accomplished musician turned producer, who had played with bands like Tank And The Bangas. Alfred Banks, the rapper, is a mainstay of the city’s indie-rap scene. The pair had been making music together since early 2020, but I came across them on TikTok as a result of their wickedly ingenious promotion strategy on the app.
Aside from sharing a monosyllabic diminutive first name, the thing that really bonded these two was their sharp, dry sense of humor, which translated into shorts featuring the duo standing side-by-side deadpanning their way through live performances of both their own songs and covers of rap classics with freestyles from the deceptively polished Alfred. His witty raps might reference their matching ensembles (very high cut shorts, mile-high man-buns), the cartoons and TV shows playing on the TV behind them, or Albert’s purposefully off-beat bopping.
Rather than doing a broad overview of “what TikTok means,” wouldn’t it be interesting to find out how it affects the artists who most directly benefit from the opportunities and tools it provides? With that question in mind, I reached out to SaxKixAve for an interview. There was just one problem; as it happens, they weren’t sweating the then-impending (since postponed) loss of a potential promotion platform/revenue stream.
“We had a cross-platform approach from the jump,” Albert said. “So, when we first started making videos and tried and when we actually had the social media strategy. Because the way the platforms work, we’re like an Uber driver with a decentralized form of authority changing the rules constantly, formats change, algorithms change. And so we made sure that we were posting on both platforms, but we also got lucky that we broke through on Instagram around the same time that we did on TikTok. So we are not feeling super pressed about it, because we have such a large Instagram presence.”
Alfred echoed his ambivalence, saying, “I’m in the middle. I’m not really scared, but I am like, “Aw man,” because we did a mass nice little following there, but at the same time, again, out the gate, I remember when we first kind of broke through on TikTok, I was like, “Yo Al, if we breaking on the Gram, that’s how we…” And then, we broke through. We’ve always posted on four to five different accounts every time. So when you see a video on TikTok, that video is on the ‘Gram, it’s on YouTube, it’s on Facebook, it’s on X, and it’s on Threads now. So, that’s what we’ve always done. And so, I think we’ll be okay.”
However, with that out of the way, there was still plenty to talk about: The group’s newly released album, Terrell Charbonneau (so titled from the duo’s middle names), their upcoming collaboration with New Orleans icon Big Freedia, their Abbott and Costello-inspired double act, and what happens when you play Paul Simon at a Juvenile concert in Baton Rouge — all of which discussed through a nonstop barrage of jokes and the requisite laughs they evoked.
Okay, so you guys basically wrecked my entire plan for this. You posted the Big Freedia video, literally like 90 minutes before we were supposed to do this interview. So now I have to ask about Big Freedia, which I wasn’t planning on doing. What’s the plan with Big Freedia guys?
Albert: It’s on our song “Tryna Get Down,” and we’ve got a remix with Freedia on our song Tryna Get Down, because the song itself, while it’s not a bounce beat, it comes from the energy of the bounce rhythm from down here. So, it just fit Freedia. Like I can’t listen to the original now because Freedia completed the song.
Alfred: Being from New Orleans and also being formally of the management company that we all were a part of, we encountered Freedia a lot in passing and doing shows and stuff. So it was just, I think, inevitable that at some point we were going to do a record — and shouts to Freedia for being so gracious. Pulled up, did the work, was out of there. It’s a beautiful thing.
I think it’s fascinating how tight-knit the New Orleans musical community really is. It doesn’t matter if you’re the biggest star there, or just up and coming, so many of the New Orleans artists are just plugged in. Can you talk about that? Where do you think that comes from?
Alfred: Well, I guess at the base of it, all we have is us, right? And all we have is us, all we have is the community here. That’s what our foundation is based off of collaborating with each other frequently and in so many different ways. So we have to collaborate, even if you are this big act, because nine times out of 10 we’re probably related, right? Somebody’s auntie is somebody’s cousin. My father told me before he passed away, that I was third cousins with Fats Domino.
Albert: Hard stop. Hard stop. You’re a nepo baby? I can’t even do this with you anymore. We can’t have a privileged, beautiful white man and a f*cking nepo baby.
Here is a very, very short answer from someone who’s not from the town. And I think that people from New Orleans are so good at music that people from New Orleans can barely enjoy music, so that when they find ultra talented amongst themselves, they gravitate towards those people.
Terrell Charbonneau is you guys’ longest project to date. I went back noticed, “Oh, they’re slowly getting longer and longer as they go along.” Was that something that was intentional or has that just been a natural outcropping of you guys’ chemistry growing over the years?
Albert: I don’t appreciate having my soul read that accurately. There’s things we have consciously tried to carry forward. I think it was during Nectarine Peels, we looked at each other and we were like, I as a producer, I was like, “I can make full songs now, dude.”
Alfred: Yeah, the projects getting longer… The first project I Don’t Wear Suits was really me and Albert feeling each other out. It was kind like, okay, I want to get weird lyrically I want to do some weird stuff. You’re capable of making this weird stuff and you want to start collaborating in a more hip hop space, so let’s get together and see what happens.
Nectarine Peels is like, okay, we’ve kind of created a synergy here to where we both enjoy creating with each other. That was first. We enjoy creating with each other, so let’s really get in and make a project. Let’s make an album. That’s what that is. Terrell Charbonneau, it actually started off as a song a month in 2024, pretty much up until October. We dropped one song a month and at the end we proverbially ran out of juice, and we was like, “Man, you know what? Let’s do an album. Let’s put this together.”
Albert: We actually made enough juice too fast because we made two songs in one month. So, we ended up with 12 songs and we got to pinch it off.
Alfred: True, true. “Pinch it off” is crazy. Nah, but the album came out the way it came out because of the songs we released every month, and then we added a few extra joints. We needed a full body to let people know what we can bring to the table. I’m saying the lyrics, the musicality, the comedic kind of aspect. I feel like it’s great.
Albert: We had to use 2024 to show, we had to make some music, because we made all these awesome videos in the second half of 2023 and people were like, “This is really cool,” but it was predominantly covers. So we had to show that we have the actual chops. I have the actual production chops. Alfred is one of the best rappers in the world. So we had to prove on our own terms, with an actual recording, that somebody presses play on. We wanted to try to get some of ourselves in there.
Just go with me here. I feel like you guys can handle this. I want to hear you guys’ one sentence, tagline, elevator pitch for specific songs from the project. Let’s start with “Love Muffin.”
Albert: Have you ever wondered why songs from the 1960s gave such direct and terrible metaphors for love? Like “Your love is like a plunger” or “Your love is like a hubcap?” Did you ever think that advice was wrong? Check out Love Muffin.
“Done With” featuring Kr3wcial. You are done with the bullshit, but what is the bullshit that you are done with?
Albert: If you’ve been such a nice person that people think you actually don’t have problems, but really you’re just keeping your problems simmering under the surface and you might snap, “Done With” is for you.
“Whatyougotwhatigotwhatyougottosay?”
Albert: Are you sick of falling in love with AI chatbot waifus and then the company changes the terms of service, and it falls out of love with you? Then “Whatyougotwhatigotwhatyougottosay” is for you.
Alfred: Are you afraid of meeting people in real life? “Whatyougotwhatigotwhatyougottosay” is for you.
Albert: Are you scared to go to a Kroger because of incel bullets? “Whatyougotwhatigotwhatyougottosay” may be for you.
I think my readers would find it instructive to hear the story about, you guys opening for Juvenile.
Albert: So we’re opening for Juvenile in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and we’re playing our songs. We have a very eclectic set, right? We have originals, we have hip hop classics, we have American classics. And we decided to play one of those American classics without proper consideration of the demographics of a Juvenile show in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Alfred: Yeah, for your people. You can “Call Me Al” by Paul Simon and great classic song, great song. It’s cool because both our names are Al, but oh, did we not think about the audience in which we would be. It didn’t go over well. So we did the song, and as I’m singing it, I went to a young lady in the crowd. I was like, “Come on, baby. Sing along. You know you know it.” And she was like, “No baby, I don’t know this damn song.” Which is amazing.
Albert: Can you be more specific about the demographics of the crowd than I was able to be? Numbers-wise.
Alfred: It was about 500 people. There was about 425 Black people in there, and when we played, “You Can Call Me Al,” the 75 White people lost their mind. I mean they went… Yeah, it was like we played Metallica.
Albert: They held their Stanley cups up, dude.
Alfred: Oh, it was great.
Albert: They were going for it. They were in it.
SaxKixAve’s album, Terrell Charbonneau, is out now. You can find it here.
