⬐ Amplify ⬎

MALCI

The first thing that strikes one when speaking with Malci Atkinson, the towering elder of the Why? Records family, is his easy going quick smile and positive perspective. A realist who is always siding on the vein of optimism, he makes it easy to imagine the lanky kid freestyling into a cheap mic over Neptunes beats in Indianapolis. Merely a jumping off point for a career that is producing some of the most engrossing hip-hop coming out of Chicago. Armed with a sampler and mic, Malci can take over a stage with ease, producing a beat cacophony to weave with his staccato rhymes. 

A consummate nomad, he settled in Chicago after stints in California, Indianapolis, Ireland, and out in Roselle. Before finding a home in Why? Records, he was considering a move to L.A. or New York. “And then this explosion hit.” Malci said, “I’m in love with it, man. There’s so much talent. It’s insane. There are people that have already been solidified, but I feel like they are re-energized. Like Rahim (Salaam) or Rich Jones, those cats have been around. They have their dues, but it’s like we’re all pushing each other right now.” 

Fortunately for Chicago fate intervened when he met Alex Singleton (aka:Joshua Virtue) and Davis Blackwell , who had fledgling ideas of starting a label. Malci’s fifth full length Papaya! was already complete and he was shopping it around. As he got to know the two younger artists, “I thought, man they’re onto something. At first I was really hesitant, but after reviewing all their work I thought, and I didn't even know them like that, we were on the same wavelength.” Soon after, Sam Keefe (aka:Ruby Watson) entered the scenario and the foursome was complete. The Why? Footclan was born. Now a year and a half in, and nine records later, they are one of Chicago’s most promising and prolific upstarts. “We want to elevate others.” he said, “We want to continue to push creativity. In the future we want to try and keep it rolling and be on some Griselda shit, where we drop album after album and they’re all quality.” 

In mid May the label dropped their first compilation, Art Is Love Vol 1, bringing together an impressive collection of local artists to raise money for the Chicago Community Bond Fund. Twenty tracks of protest music from every genre in the city. Hopefully the record won’t be their last compilation, “Why? isn’t insular or isolated. We are extending our hands to the entire scene. We want to help everyone. We just happen to work good as a unit.”   

A collective that helps each other grow as artists and humans, Why? has had a lasting impact on his work, introducing a level of intentionality that was always underneath but hadn’t found it’s place yet, “You learn how to say more without saying a lot. Being around the Why? guys, they make one minute songs and it’s like a book, you be like ‘what the fuck, it’s a minute long.’” Admittedly he claims “I used to do too much with beats, too many samples, too much chaos. Now I’m learning that less is more.”  

Born in 1990 after his veteran basketball playing Father met his Irish Mother working as a bartender in Greece, the two moved back to the States. Their experiences shaped his perspective from a young age. “They both inspired me to challenge what American culture is, because they both have lived outside of it.” he said, “I love ‘em both to death, They gave me a lot of weird experiences, that made me a very peculiar Black person.” 

After attending college he held down several jobs including an isolated warehouse position that led to a self discovery of his hermit like nature, but brought out a new found anxiety, a moment of duality: “That’s a double edged sword, because when I did want to go hang with people I had this new anxiety from not seeing people all the time. Forgot how to act, how to kick it. I feel like I have control of it. The isolation did cause some anxiety but I’m learning how to handle that vice too. I think isolation is really good for you. It’ll make you mature, and really do some deep reflection. As an artist I think that every artist should go through some form of isolation. Just to see what you’re about, and not be influenced by others.” A way of life that he has since embraced, “The older I get, the more I realize that moving so much made me very hermit like” Macli expressed, “I like my time to myself. I like to sit inside and drink a beer and make beats for five hours. I like to go hoop by myself, or read a book. I want to be an old ass hermit on an island one day.” But most of the time he couldn’t live without his NBA. 

An avid basketball fan he started quarantine playing a wicked amount of NBA 2K but finds himself not missing it at the moment, “Normally I would be going crazy. I would need my NBA fix but I think it’s important that it’s not happening right now. Because we need our attention on Black Lives Matter right now.” When speaking about the movement and its mainstream transformation he lit up, “It’s really inspiring to see. I’m speechless to be honest with you, seeing it play out in real time. My Dad is from Wilmington, North Carolina. Which has a long history of awful racial tensions. He called me and said ‘I never thought I would see this happen in my time, to see this much progress and change.’ And I am grateful to be a part of it. We still have a lot of work to do. It’s not anywhere close to where it needs to be, but it is very reassuring to see it taken seriously and that people are stepping up to it.” A pride that stretched into the local scene, “All the Chicago artists, white and black, are coming together. It will always be a race war, but we are really shedding light that this is a class war as well as a race war.” 

Like many artists today Malci is intentional with every moment of his work, and when gently asked about his use of the N-word he was more than forthcoming, “My dad is a straight up cat from the hood, from the South. He don’t like me using it, my Mom don’t like me using it, but it got forced upon me because I’m Black passing. Everyone just sees me as a Black man. I think it’s part of our culture, this generation, how we grew up. This is how we communicate with each other. It has a different meaning and intention than how it was meant. But I’ve full on embraced it. I endearingly call Davis n****, I endearingly call Alex n***** and it’s not out of any hatred in there, it’s almost love now. I feel closer to cats that do call me n**** because we’re in this together. It’s our right of passage.” 

Looking inward has always been a conceptual basis for his art but Malci’s explorations into his fascination with mental health shows up in many of his tracks, “It’s really important and understated,” he said “Once I started to see some symptoms in myself, I thought ‘well let’s dive into this,’ it’s not so much a hindrance as much as it is a deeper understanding of myself and my mental health.” Though he tries to remember to keep up with the fact that at the end of the day art is a form or entertainment and escape. Fellow local artist Serengeti gave him some advice several years back. Words Malci still tries to embody, “He told me part of the reason he raps like he does is to have fun, he doesn’t rap too much about himself, because it can get dark. I try and remember that. I don’t want to spread my trauma. Even though it’s important. I’m trying to find a balance of that in my new music. Trying to be conscious of mental health and keep it as a discussion piece but also remembering to have fun. At the end of the day, I started at thirteen rapping over Neptune beats. I gotta try and always keep that in the forefront, never lose track of it.”

-Kyle Land