HIP-HOP WILL BE 50 YEARS OLD ON August 11, 2023…50 YEARS OLD!!!
This shit is CRAZY!!!! I remember growing up in the Empire State NYC..being in the school parks when the DJs will bring out their mixing equipment and crates of records, then find a way to hook it up to the electricity on the streets…set up the BIG WOOFER SPEAKERS and let the music play…PARK JAMS
I’m talking about the mid-1970s….before Hip-Hop was on wax (vinyl) or even had radio play.
It wasn’t until 1979 when the world was introduced to Rap music through the Sugarhill Gang’s “Rapper’s Delight”; by then, Hip-Hop was 7 years old.
Since then, it took over from its birthplace in the Bronx to every borough of New York to its connecting states to every state to WORLDWIDE.
I watched Hip-Hop grow from its infancy to its birthing children to having Grandchildren….. now it made it to 50 years..still growing & going strong.
Being an emcee, as well as a fan of the art of spitting…I’m a cat that really pays attention. I’m about style, delivery, beats,…the way words are put together.. metaphors, hyperboles, the flow,….if the stories were vivid that I can see the vision…if you really are a “wordsmith”…there’s different things I look for in an emcee… you can be original or just crafty.
I was the ultimate street cat, who hustled in numerous states on several levels during the crack cocaine era, and I was the prison general that been in federal and state facilities and still standing tall..so I can truly recognize the REAL from the FAKE…If spitting was your art and you had a way of expressing that art poetically, I’m all ears.
I have been EVERYWHERE…East…West…South…MidWest…
ShaKim Bio was there, so in 2015, when I left the fed system after being in close to ten United States penitentiaries in 22 years, I came to start my Ohio state sentence in Mansfield Correctional, which is a max pen.
Mansfield Corr, aka ‘The Field’ was a different kind of prison to what I was accustomed to….it was open and somewhat Gully…but I got used to the movements and was able to move around to do my thing.
In every unit (16 units with 128 convicts), there is a pull-up/dip bar with a stomach bench in the middle of the unit….that’s my 1st spot every morning… there is where you will also find those who work out faithfully as well…you see those doing their sets going around the pull-up to dip to push up to stomach, wearing their music tablets with headphones jamming to their favorite tunes…sometimes singing along.
One cat, in particular, was vibing in his workout..spitting some vicious shit…even the crowd of workout participants was bopping their heads to his flow.
“Yo, Money!!” I said getting his attention
“What’s up, bruh?” was his response
“Who song is that?”…. meaning who was the artist
He looked at me, and the whole crowd stopped working out.
“That’s my shit!!”
“Word?”
That’s how I met the one known as ‘Ski Mask Malley’
“That’s your shit?”
“You ain’t hip to him New York?” was what another cat asked me.
One thing about ‘The Field’…It’s easy to find out if you really want to know… that spot was OFF THE HOOK with the touchscreen cellphones flooding the prison compound..so I did what any REAL cat will do….I GOOGLED “Ski Mask Malley” and Son was exactly who he said he was with music and videos dating back to 2008…He was about that shit for REAL.
Not only did he spit that heat…You overstood the struggle.. felt the joys & pains as he verbally painted it out…and he still stood there in the trenches.
I was there……
Malley was still at war in the Courts for his ultimate freedom and was SUCCESSFUL…he went home and did his thing…he BLEW..not only locally, but REGIONALLY, from music, mixtapes, albums, to videos and living that Life…I saw the videos, pictures and video grams and saw the money he put on his comrades’ prison accounts. His ill jewelry spoke BIG volumes…he opened up businesses.. he was doing his thing…but the state of Ohio did some real live BULLSHIT..they appealed his release and the state of Ohio won.
So Ski Mask Malley had to return to prison after being out for almost 3 years.
I had the chance to reach out to interview him for Gorilla Convict, where we SALUTE the REAL and let them do what they do best…SHINE.
So Let’s hear it from a REAL one …..Welcome to Gorilla Convict… Ski Mask Malley…
Gorilla Convict: What’s Good Fam?
Ski Mask Malley: It’s all LOVE. Thank you for letting me do this.
G.C: No Doubt…I see you about your shit!!
S.M.M: Like you about yours, too.
G.C: The Hip-Hop culture turns 50 years old on August 11, 2023.
S.M.M: WORD!!! 50 years?
G.C: WHAT DOES HIP-HOP MEAN TO YOU?
S.M.M: Growing up, Hip-Hop has always been like a Big brother to me. I was born in the 80s and was raised in an era when Hip-Hop music told stories and gave you game. Niggas like Slick Rick, 2Pac, Jay-Z, Nas, Scarface, Master P, UGK, just to name a few. So growing up in a household with no Pops and all my older brothers being deceased or locked up…Hip Hop played a major role in my upbringing as a Young Black Man growing up in the ghetto with no real male Role Models. As I got older and started to experience life for myself, I knew I wanted to be a part of the Hip Hop culture, Hip Hop was my diary. It was my outlet. Now that I progressed in this industry and went through my ups & downs, I look at Hip Hop as my little brother watching all these new kids come into the game. I look at them and be like, “Damn. I remember when I was a student of this Game.” Hip Hop has ALWAYS been more than music to me. It’s like it’s a part of my DNA, I AM HIP-HOP!!
G.C: BEING LOCKED UP AND DEALING WITH THE REALITY OF PRISON POLITICS/POLITRICKS, THEN MAKING IT HOME TO REVAMP YOUR RAP CAREER… HOW WAS THAT PROCESS? DID IT COME EASY?
S.M.M: I don’t wanna disrespect the grind or the process it takes to make it in this game, but I been doin’ this rap shit since grade school, so I look at myself as a veteran. Some things you just master with time, like ridin’ a bike or Trap Boyz cookin’ dope, it’s second nature. That’s how it was for me reestablishing myself. I wrote music the whole seven years I was locked up. I came home, stepped into the booth, dropped my first single, “WHOA,” and it was like I never left!! My team at Elevator Mag did a great job with the video promo and placement, me and my videographer’s neighborhood did a great job bringing the song to life with the visual, the streets and strip clubs ate it up and just like that, IT WAS BACK ON!
But I still wouldn’t say it was easy cuz it’s all part of a 10-plus year process. I’ve been signed to two major labels, but lost those contracts due to being incarcerated. The ups and downs of this process, which was never easy. I just stayed consistent and up to date with today’s culture. I apply that same energy to being locked back up, I know my way around, I’m a REAL BIG DOG, I mastered these trenches like I mastered the microphone, 2nd nature….its all 2nd nature.
G.C: WHEN YOU FOUND OUT THAT THE PROSECUTOR APPEALED AND YOU HAD TO COME BACK AFTER YOU WERE HOME BLOWING UP…WHAT KIND OF STATE OF MIND WERE YOU IN?… I THINK I WOULD HAVE JOINED THE TRACK TEAM (RAN)…LOL
S.M.M: Honestly, finding out the State appealed my release…I was SICK, bruh, I just fought like Hell to get out of them trenches. I also was in Lebanon, the worst prison in the state of Ohio. I paid lawyer fees and legal fees all by myself from inside them walls….around this time, COVID was at its peak, so to fight a lose-lose battle with the corrupt judicial system of Ohio and somehow come out with the win, just to have it taken away with some legal one-sided technicality… Dog, I WAS SICK!!! My friends and family was sick. I thought of running …I thought about all the momentum I built around my music career, but the thing that made the most sense was to get that lil time I had left on my sentence out the way. I can’t be a boss on the run..I can’t run a clothing store, studio or car wash on the run. All my businesses would have been under radar. I would have to put my cars and property in other people’s names…I would’ve been locked up, just on the streets. So I decided to hit the studio and stack enough music to hold my fans up for the next 2 1/2 years. Before I turned myself in I recorded 21 albums, six EPs and nine music videos. Since I been gone, my team has strategically released videos and music to keep the momentum going. I feel like I made a Boss decision by turning myself in, and so far, it has been working in my favor. Under any other situation, I probably would’ve ran..but this one?! I had to sit this race out.
G.C: HOW MANY ALBUMS YOU GOT OUT? WHO ARE YOU SIGNED TO? DISTRIBUTION? WHAT VIDEOS YOU GOT OUT? MY PEOPLES SEEN A VIDEO YOU DID 8 YEARS AGO. HE SAID IT WAS HOT.
S.M.M: I currently have five albums released under the Ski Mask Malley handle. This first being “Ski Mask Malley Vol. 1,” available on Livemixtapes.com, “Savage Soul Vol. 1,” “Savage Soul Vol.2,” “1200 Timeline” and “Greedy,” which is a collaboration album I did with my homie/artist Ski Mask Swagg. All these albums can be streamed on major platforms. I have countless singles, mixtapes and EPs that can also be streamed, the most recent being “Free Ski Vol.1, 2 and 3.” I have new videos dropping every 90 days on YouTube, so subscribe to the page to keep up with the videos. I just dropped a video to “Still Pt. 2” on Thanksgiving Day!! I have over 15 music videos and over 2 million views on YouTube. Like I mentioned earlier, I work closely with a team at Elevator Mag, and several of my videos has been released exclusively through Elevator. I’m very grateful to have them on my team, Elevator Mag is the future of Hip-Hop!! They actually helped me land a feature on ROC Nation recording artist Maxo Kream’s song “Clientele”.. we shot the video and as of today, it has over 1.7 million views on YouTube. So Big Ups to my nigga Maxo Kream and Elevator Mag. We WORKIN’!! Currently, I’m signed to myself at LiccSquad Ent, which is obviously my own label I launched back in 2010. I still own the full rights and copyrights to Gwop Gang Ent and all music created by artists while signed to Gwop Gang. I have over 100 unreleased Doe Boy songs; who was originally signed with Gwop Gang Ent before he landed a deal with Future’s FreeBandz label. We plan on dropping a “Gwop Gang Lost Tapes” album in 2024. That’s going to be CRAZY. I’m just grindin’ and focusing on the music.
G.C: DO YOU HAVE ANY BOOKS OR MOVIES IN THE WORKS?
S.M.M: No books in the works to come out yet. I wrote 2 of them, but I’m still having problems landing solid publishing.
We are now starting on filming a movie, “Double Cross” directed by myself and my Homeboy J-Ed. That movie going to be CRAZY!! My single, “Whoa,” is featured in the movie
“Scam Likely,” which can be streamed on Tubi, Hulu and YouTube TV. Like I said, bruh, I’m just grinding. These walls don’t stop NOTHING!!
G.C: WHAT’S IN THE FUTURE FOR SKI MASK MALLEY?
S.M.M: Lotta more videos, music movies. Tryna get into some TV. Thinking “Love & Hip Hop” or “Love After Lockup.” You know us thugs need love, too, bruh. LOL
G.C: HOW CAN PEOPLE FOLLOW YOU AND GET YOUR MUSIC?
S.M.M: Follow me on IG @_BiggSki1200_. Stream my music on ALL major streaming platforms.
G.C: ANY LAST WORDS AND SHOUTOUTS?
S.M.M: NO DOUBT!!! Shoutouts to the MOBB, 1200, LiccSquad, Ski Mask Swagg, RonjSkii, Gorilla Convict, PrisonRiotRadio, Dior the Chocolate Doll, J-Ed, my Homie E.C. Weeze, Gwop Gang, Rico Myers, Free ALL DA GUYZ THATS LOCKED UP FIGHTING FOR THEY FREEDOM. STAY FIGHTING!! For every door that’s closed in your face, there is a key to open another one. Stay in dat LAW LIBRARY!!! R.I.P. BIG BABY. R.I.P. G BOY LICCSQUAAD!
I can’t forget you ShaKim Bio. Bruh, good looking on everything!!!! And HAPPY 50th BIRTHDAY HIP-HOP!!! 1 Love ……LICCSQUAAD!!!!!!