Fly Anakin

Frank L. Walton, Jr (born July 9, 1994), better known by his stage name Fly Anakin is an American rapper and record producer from Richmond, Virginia. He is the co-founder of Richmond hip hop crew Mutant Academy.

Fly Anakin was raised in Richmond, Virginia. As a child he was a regular church goer. His older brother introduced him to rap albums including Ghostface Killah's Ironman, Jay Z's Reasonable Doubt and Hot Boys' Guerrilla Warfare. His later influences included Jeezy, Kendrick Lamar and Curren$y.

Fly Anakin released his first mixtape in 2014, Mirrors_episode1, with future Mutant Academy member Ewonee. This was the first of over a dozen self-released mixtapes and EPs. Fly Anakin played in shows and in homes in Richmond.

He signed to Lex Records in 2019, releasing a collaborative album with Pink Siifu, FlySiifu's in November 2020, followed by an EP, $mokebreak in April 2021. In 2022, Fly Anakin released his debut solo studio LP Frank which included production from Madlib, Evidence and Mutant Academy members. According to Metacritic, the album received "universal acclaim" from critics, with a score of 84. Following its release, Frank also featured in several lists of the best albums of "2022 (so far)" including Complex, HipHopDX, Paste, The Quietus and Uproxx.

In March 2022, Fly Anakin performed several shows at SXSW Festival in Austin, Texas, including sets at the Lex showcase and the Song Exploder showcase. The following month he supported Armand Hammer on a short run of European shows at venues including XOYO, London and Le Botanique, Brussels and Le Bellevilloise, Paris.

A concert scheduled on the 5 May 2022 in Lyon, France was cancelled by the local concert promoter when Fly Anakin vetoed an opening act following an argument between the promoter and Fly Anakin's booking agent. The booking agent wrote an e-mail to the promoter stating: "All artists choose who they perform with because this is their art form, not yours. Nor is it your culture either, from what I understand. Fly Anakin wants to celebrate his culture, hop-hop, with Black artists..." The incident was reported in French media including the local Lyon newspaper Le Progrès, and national media including Marianne and BFM TV website. Marianne noted that Fly Anakin "...denied any discriminatory will on his part, rather evoking a musical problem: the envisaged artist was not up to the task, he told the Progress on Thursday."

In November 2022 Fly Anakin and Madlib released a reworking of "No Dough" from Frank. At the end of the 2022 Metacritic ranked Frank as the “best reviewed debut” rap album of the year, and the ninth best reviewed debut album across all genres. On 5 April 2023, Skinemaxxx (Side A) EP was released.

Studio albums

• At the End of the Day (2020)
• Frank (2022)

Collaborative albums

• Open House(2014)
• Chapel Drive(2017)
• Panama Plus(2017)
• Backyard Boogie(2018)
• Emergency Raps, Vol. 4(2019)
• Holly Water(2019)
• FlySiifu's(2020)
• Skinemaxxx (Side A)(2023)
• Skinemaxxx (Side B)(2023)

Extended plays

• mirrors_episode.1(2014)
• Elsewhere Ave. (2015)
• The Grand Scheme of Things (2016)
• Velvet Type Joints (2016)
• People Like Us (2017)
• Anakin & Friends: Episode 1 (2021)
• $mokebreak(2021)
• Pixote (2021)
• mirrors_episode.2(2022)
• Stop Tryna Hack My Facebook (2023)