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Lyrical PMS

Malik 16 Says to Sign Him ASAP!

Harlem’s former biggest representatives have been Big L on the underground tip and Ma$e back in the murda days. But these days, you mention Harlem and Hip-Hop in the same sentence and images of the Chicken Noodle Soup dance and Dipset come to mind. But what happens to everyone in between? What about those who don’t fit what has become the Harlem stereotype?

They’re around and they’re doing their thing. Enter Malik 16. The Harlem native is on a mission to get signed point blank. He doesn’t pussyfoot about it and while he is from Harlem, he reps himself. A well-traveled New Yorker to the heart, and the first unsigned artist to spit in the booth on Rap City, Malik discussed his plans to get in the game hard. Check out our interesting conversation about Hip-Hop and politics all up in the mix.

Starr: Let’s start with your name. Is it Malik 16 as in you spit a hot 16 bars?

Malik 16: Yep. It got more meanings. When I first started, my name was M 16 like the gun, but I changed because I didn’t want to represent that. Plus, I added Malik because I wanted to use my real name.

Starr: You were the first unsigned artist to get on Rap City so how did that work out?

Malik 16: They had a little contest and it wasn’t highly publicized. I hadn’t watched Rap City in a long time and I decided to catch up on what’s what and they had that commercial in between. It was a Dorito’s and BET sponsored event and they were like, send in a tape and whoever has the illest freestyle gets to be in the booth and I had never heard of anything like that. I usually don’t like TV stuff that has to do with rap because there’s a stigma with it and cats who do TV rap and all that stuff don’t get the same respect, so I never usually wanted to do no contest or no rapper shows like Making the Band; not even Freestyle Friday because it would do more damage, but I thought that [the contest] was so ill because it just came on out of nowhere and still, to this day, people are like how did that happen? That’s why I didn’t. I didn’t even think much of it. I don’t even know who walks around with video cameras anymore, so I didn’t really think that many people were going to apply, but when I got there, they were like “Yo, you were the best out of 100.”

Starr: Who are some of your influences? I know Big L is one.

Malik 16: Is he? How did you get that idea?

Starr: I noticed on your myspace page that you cared enough to take a picture next to his mural, but when I listen to some of your stuff it sounds like…I could be wrong but…

Malik 16: No, that’s good. I had a Big L phase. I had a phase with everybody so I say I’m influenced by everybody because I used to think of rap a whole different way before, but as I met people from other regions…it’s to the point where anybody is an influence because I would get a D4L ad see what they did right to get them success or see what they did wrong to get them so much backlash  — everybody is an influence.

S:  You’re an 80s baby right?

M: 80s all the way. You know it [laughs]!

S: How has growing up in Harlem influenced your style?

M: When I was younger, I used to wonder why we didn’t get no recognition. This is when I was like 12/13 —

S: Is that when you started rhyming?

M: Nah, I started rhyming when I was 6. But my whole thing was to be the one to put Harlem on the map if nobody could do it. And that was before Ma$e had popped off. I think most of the pioneers of rap come from Harlem but it wasn’t in style back then to rep your hood so Rakim and them came and shouted out Long Island and then Wu-Tang and them came from Staten Island, well… everybody was repping their hood now that I think of it; KRS-One, MC Shan — but they just wasn’t doing that for Harlem. So that was my thing because everybody would get shouted out. When Wu-Tang was big, Staten Island would get a shout out before Harlem. They’d say Queensbridge, Boogie Down Bronx, but if they wanted to mix The Bronx and Harlem, they’d just say Uptown and I was like, “What is that?” But after it blew up the way it did when Diplomats — because they were really responsible for taking us to where we at — we had Big L, we had Ma$e, but nobody really took us there, and I don’t know if Diddy is from Harlem because I heard he’s from Mt. Vernon. He might have breezed through here but since it blew up, it’s hard to go against all of the stereotypes that all of the people expect because I’ve never really fit in here. In my childhood I moved everywhere. I was born and raised here, but because I’ve been so many places, I’m not the typical artist. My whole angle is just to show a different side.

S: When they think of Harlem, it’s not even about Ma$e anymore, it’s Dipset and Chicken Noodle Soup so how do you plan to break that perception?

M: We’re there, we’re covering it now but it’s still new. It’s like Nelly when he did the Midwest thing, it’s sill new and fresh. There’s still room for somebody to show you, “Oh snap, it would be dope for somebody to show you something new. You can have this side to it." The only thing I can’t change about Harlem is being fly. It’s in all of us. I’m ballin’ on a budget but I’m fly like I can afford to be. Once I’m there, I’m going to look the same [as I always have] but I’m gonna give you a different mental projection, a different personality thing when it comes to Harlem.

S: You don’t even beat around the bush, your goal is to get signed.

M: Yeah. Nobody says that but I’m like yo…flat out…sign me!

S: Does it matter whether you get signed to a major or an indie label?

M: It matters a lot that I get signed to a major because I’m not really feeling the independent route. I can do independent myself. Independents get work, but not to the extent…it has a ceiling when you do independent first. I think it’s better if you come in the game like you see Ice Cube, he’s 100% independent but he built up his career to the point where he can do that. I think everybody should do that because to come out, you want that national exposure, you want to make sure that your video gets played on BET, you want to make sure that you have that machine behind you to push that. I’m an artist. I never understood how people except a limited audience. Isn’t your whole point of making music to be heard by as many people as possible?

S: What label do you see yourself with?

M: I don’t have a preference. As long as it can do for me what I need done, then I’ll do the rest.

S: How would you describe your music? Let’s face it, someone is going to try to put you in a box.

M: Mmm hmm…I’m glad you know that but I don’t know. I mean, you heard me do my little singing [laughs] but put that on the record: I am not a singer, I am not trying to be a singer, I just think it’s quite entertaining. It’s gotta come out some way so I do it how it fits.

S: That was “Lap Dance” right?

M: Mmm hmm but you like that…

S: I do like that song.

M: It’s weird, a lot of girls like that song and I thought it sounded like poop on a stick so can you tolerate “Lap Dance” more than you can tolerate “One Wish” by Ray J?

S: Yeah [laughs].

M: Wow [laughs]. See, I got a little something. I can carry a tune but I think that…I don’t know, I’d just have to get people’s response. I put out the little tape that I did, it’s on my website because I thought it was a good representation of what my style is and I’d rather other people define it because I don’t know, it’s not conscious and it’s not gangsta obviously, It’s somewhere in the middle and I like it that way. I call it a happy medium between commercialism, lyricism, gangsta and consciousness.

S: I noticed in “Daddy’s Caddy,” you’re talking about how you had your father growing up, so how much of an impact has your father had on you compared to your peers who didn’t have their father.

M: It’s a big difference. It was one of the most noticeable differences because that’s something a kid picks up on early because you’re just such a minority when you come up like that. Where I grew up, I was one out of a few. A lot of the people I came up with; either their father was dead or it was the usual story — they had an off and on relationship with him so I thought it was something good to touch on. It’s been touched on but I think there should always be more songs. Every year there should be a daddy song; a mommy song. People always say, "Hasn’t that been done?" — the "Dear Mama" songs. How can you ever get tired of hearing a rap appreciating who gave you birth? No idea is original. All you can do is put your spin on it and make sure you make that shit your own.

S: What was your inspiration to start rhyming?

M: It was 1989. I was around so much Hip-Hop. It was so fresh but what I would do is freestyle with my cousins. They would be in the park, they’d hang out, they’d be drinking they beers...you know, doing whatever, and everywhere that shit was blasting. It was so fresh. It was Rob Base, “It Takes Two,” “The Bridge is Over,” and I remember not liking KRS One because I was like, “What’s that? Reggae” but my uncle used to DJ in the projects when we was Brooklyn and he would have that shit blasting. You couldn't speak, that’s how loud it was, he used to play the Jungle Brothers...everything; and they made my first rhyme for me. They banged it on the table, I memorized it and to this day I know it. Ever since then, for some reason I just got into it. The first rap I made was in the third grade. I was about this girl that nobody in the class liked. You know, kids are mean, and I just did it.

S: Have you toured with anyone or performed with anybody?

M: I’m tryna get there. That’s my next thing to conquer. First, I gotta put out my product because that free mixtape is just my orientation. I got multiple products coming. I mean, I have opened for artists and I might go on tour — like a short little city-to-city kind of jump off.

S: Who have you opened for?

M: The most notable was Fab (Fabolous). 

S: You have a free mixtape available but you’re going to drop an official album, right?

M: I don’t want to do that until I’m signed. There will be other projects but right now it’s mixtape mode...but I’m not trying to be a mixtape rapper because a lot of cats get stuck there at that level.

S: Where do you think your place is right now in Hip-Hop because it’s changed over the years?

M: Has it?

S: I think so but I’ll say it’s changed in terms of the media to narrow it down.

M: It’s always been youth oriented. It always kills me when ya’ll say media. You know you’re the media right?

S: [laughs] I am but I’m trying to support the underdogs.

M: Speaking of, your boy Fresh is nice.

S: Thanks!

M: Yeah, it [Fresh Daily's music] has a real underground feel to it, which is cool as long as you know your niche. I’m pretty sure Dem Franchize Boyz know their place, I don’t think they’re trying to really go anywhere else.

S: Or they could have had people in the right places with the right amount of money to push them.

M: When you got JD cosigning, that aint going nowhere, but really I think this generation is the most culturally deprived. I see the change now because everybody is talking about ’96 like it’s the old school, and I’m just like, “Wow.”

S: Word. My little cousin who is about 13 was like “Who the hell is Ice Cube?” That’s crazy.

M: I’m all for any outlets that give Old School artists another chance whether it be Flavor of Love or whatever, more power to ‘em because that brother might have been on the corner in a couple more years. That PE money aint that good. I know they tour every year like De La…but I mean Hip-Hop has always been about the youth. It’s just that kids are smarter because there’s more avenues to get to it.

S: Where do you see yourself in the next 5 years?

M: I knew that was coming! That’s the one journalist question [laughs].

S: [Laughs] I couldn’t resist.

M: Signed; a couple notches under my belt; getting the appreciation; and I’m gonna keep on doing this for another 5 years.

S: Why should A & Rs holla at you?

M: Because, with as many A & Rs as I talk to, they don’t do what they say. It’s sort of like when women — no offense  — but when women have that list of all the qualities of  the type of guy they like but then you see them with the opposite, it’s like “What are you doing? I’m everything that you’ve been asking for, you wanted somebody who is nice with lyrics, but also knows how to sell a record.” I’ve studied the market. I think I know what I’m talking about at this point; not to the point where I’m a premadonna but it’s not just, “Yo, I rap.”

S: You know how some rappers are known for different things like with punchlines, word play, etc? Would you say that freestyling is your thing, not saying that you can’t do anything else but basically, is that your signature?

M: In the booth [Rap City], that was not a freestyle. You can even put that down.

S: I was actually going to ask you about that. Do they tell you to write it ahead of time?

M: Nobody freestyles. I would have because I can do it but that was my one and only time on TV. Who knows when I was gonna be on TV again so I wasn’t going to mess that up on son hippity hoop-la. But my thing is tryna do it all. All in one. From my observations, I think most rappers excel in one but can’t do the other. You know who’s really good at that? I like Fab. Fab can do street stuff, girl stuff and never catch flack. Ja-Rule will do street stuff, girl stuff, and it never works out for him. Fab got punchlines, he’s getting better with storytelling. He don’t have enough conscious stuff but picture somebody who does all of that. That’s gonna be the hardest thing in trying to come out because they’re gonna to try to lean you in a direction. It’s very important what first song you come out with because I got a song about being black and if I come out with that first, I’m going to get labeled. I got a song where I’m talking about…I guess it would be called violent. I don’t promote violence but I’m not a chump but if that one came out then it’s like, “Oh, you one of those.” And I got my “I’m a gigolo” kind of song too so it’s very important that I give you all sides of me at once. But wordplay is my favorite. You can be nice in punchlines but punchlines are not as strong without wordplay. The last of the wordplay is like Common and Jay. When you can flip a word backwards, give it a different meaning, say the same word in three different styles with three different meanings, that’s wordplay, and that’s what I’m a fan of  — anything that makes you rewind.

myspace.com/maliksixteen

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