Malcolm Rebel: rapper, trapper, and a man that knows how to make a banger. That’s a fact. You don’t have to trust me on that one but you will trust your ears. I’d never heard of Malcolm Rebel until last night when I first listening to his newest album, Malcolm.
“I don’t want to stop doing anything. I want to grow out of it. I don’t want to be like ‘man, today I need to do it because they say I need to stop doing it’. I’m not going to do it”
I’m going to start by spoiling something for you: this album’s about selling drugs. Straight-up. I know that isn’t exactly untouched territory but something about Malcolm’s intro makes me think that there’s something more to it than just that. “I want to grow out of it,” the intro says. “Give me time and help me through the process.” I can’t speak on his mind exactly but I don’t know if he’s necessarily glorifying the trap in this album. Rather, he’s illustrating his reality, and that’s largely what hip-hop’s always been about. Original topic or not, this album might not be what it seems.
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In a conversation with Malcolm, he more or less confirmed that. “The whole tape is about me switching out of the lifestyle into rap,” he told me, going on to compare himself to Future, another rapper in the trap genre. “Problems is my take on a Future-type track. I said: ‘I made three bands today and I ain’t happy bout it. My BM complainin’ I ain’t mad about it’. Just the shit that goes through my head.”
Malcolm mentioned to me that being a parent has been a big inspiration to him when it comes to how he plans for the future. “I’d like to transition into a full-time artist. I got a daughter so I need to switch my lifestyle for sure. My daughter enjoying my songs inspires me to make more positive stuff but I only know what I know. ” He also mentioned in the conversation that he’s the son of local hip-hop legend, Vitamin D, and that he has two more projects he’s working on with Cliff Comfy and another with Eric G.
The first song on the album, “Way Too,” snagged my attention right off the bat. Malcolm’s got a great rap voice, his flow is on point, and that beat is bangin’. Shout-out to the album’s producer Eric G for that; every beat on Malcolm is hot. The second song on the album, “Still Trappin,” is the one that sold me. This song is straight heat. The beat goes way too hard, his flow is crazy, and it’s honestly just a hit. This track deserves a lot of attention and it’s definitely my favorite one on the tape. After that, I really fucked with “Can’t Stop,” “5 Am,” and “Problems,” though really, every track on this album is solid.
