Malkovich
The Globetrotting Rapper
By RAPstation Staff
Three years after saying goodbye to a permanent mattress and all his worldly possessions, rapper Malkovich embarked on an open ended global walkabout from Los Angeles to…everywhere. His journey has a definite purpose, but follows no set path. The purpose is the quest for otherworldly beats while exploring personal freedoms and building a global network. As far as his path goes, Malkovich's next destination depends on his latest musical discoveries. "My offer stands," Malkovich says. "Any producers worldwide should send me their beats and if I like them, I will come to their countries and record with them."
After linking up with producers that he clicks with through his Twitter page, Malkovich literally brings the project to their doorstep, no matter where on Earth they live. He chronicles these journeys through an intriguing YouTube series entitled #1Bag, which has episodes in Cyprus, Italy and most recently Bangkok. The first musical culmination of his new lifestyle since leaving L.A. was just released, his new mixtape called "Pre-Boarding" is mixed by non-other than DJ Spinna (Eminem, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, De La Soul) and premiered as part of DJ Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Premiere series on BBC Radio.
"'Pre-Boarding' marks the true beginning of my career," Malkovich says. "I always dreamed of doing nothing but traveling and rapping about what I see, and after 20 years of rapping, my dream is my reality."
"Pre-Boarding" is truly a look at hip-hop from the eyes (and ears) of the rest of the world. The project is several layers deep. First, there is really not one "traditional" hip-hop beat. He raps over African, Caribbean, Brazilian, Indian, and Cape Verdean world music classics revamped to knock your stereo in any time zone. This makes the project truly one of a kind; even the two beats from L.A.'s Computer Jay are unconventional. Malkovich literally opens up a whole world of sound while holding it down like a true California emcee. Secondly, DJ Spinna's style and technical proficiency keeps it moving like the Earth around the Sun and seems to musically sew the whole globe together. Then there's the obvious: how it was made. Talk about a journey, right?
Malkovich is currently safe and sound in Namibia, where he says the internet is "two sticks and a lighter," but he was happy to answer some questions via e-mail exclusively for RAPstation.
RAPstation: Where are some of your favorite destinations?
Malkovich: I love Africa. I spent seven months in Namibia last year and I'm there as I write this, just flew in from Cambodia. A rapper like me will be opening for ghastly aging backpack rappers, touring Midwestern college keg parties and sleeping in freezing minivans into my 40s if I stay in America. You can't just fly to Europe as an unremarkable American rapper and stumble into adoring crowds and wide-open legs like you could 15 years ago. Now you're more likely to fly all the way there just to get your music derided by a series of chain-smoking deejays in priceless retro Nikes over an $8 Coke. Asia and South America just don't speak nearly as much English as Africa. Africa's the future for smart rap and I'm betting my livelihood on it. Hundreds of millions of English-speaking rap listeners in one of the world's fastest-developing economic markets. I'll be here a year or so, and hopefully much longer. New York is my favorite city in the world; it's heaven for walkers, hustlers. Bangkok might be second. It's a place where no matter who you are, you can be yourself. The most beautiful place I've ever seen is Costa Rica.
What do you look for in a beat?
Edge. Unique moods. Dirty, but hummable. I'm a sucker for horns. I hate obviousness. No trap. I tend toward sample-based beats. Dr. Dre can make sample-free beats, but chances are you aren't Dr. Dre. Drums should complement the beat, not overpower it.
Since you've been globetrotting out of one bag, what is essential for world travel?
A passport from a Western country. People from some countries have difficulty traveling anywhere at all. Americans, Brits, etc. are instantly allowed in most countries. Money: the initial $1-2000 for that plane ticket plus a minimum $50 per day, even if you plan on being a filthy backpacker. Your journey of enlightenment will get dark quick if you're broke when shit happens - and shit will happen eventually. A pair of durable, comfortable shoes that work in any occasion. Tan suede Clark Wallabees do me right. A pen. A suitcase with wheels, and a plastic bag so your dirty clothes don't stink up your clean ones. An international power adapter that isn't so heavy and gigantic that it won't fit in certain wall sockets or fall out completely. Write down your goals and read them daily because waking up one morning wondering what you're doing with your life is a lot scarier when you're alone in the middle of nowhere. Floss and brush daily and take care of your body religiously - sometimes doctors in foreign countries only make problems worse, especially when they don't understand what you're saying. Most importantly, don't be short-tempered, a pussyhound, drug addict, or an alcoholic. Plenty of shifty characters are across the world and are more than happy to help you kill yourself.
Any helpful border/customs tips?
Immigration officers are typically provincial people who never travel; have nothing going for them other than the fact that one country in the world can't kick them out, and no joy in life other than the fact that foreigners are routinely at their mercy. They'll ask you goofy questions like, 'short trip, huh?' as if that's going to cause you to break down and confess to the drugs hidden up your ass. Don't stutter. Be prepared for a harder time each time you return to the same country. Avoid immigration officers who aren't smiling; they hate life and they'll make you hate yours. Most African countries will want to see your exit plane ticket upon entry. I learned that the hard way last week when I was frog-marched from customs to an interrogation room, then to the South African Airways desk where I was forced to buy a flight to London. Southeast Asian countries are much more lenient; they seem to enjoy the idea of foreigners coming to their countries to spend all their money. As soon as you leave the plane, look around for people filling out their immigration forms that means you need to do the same. Otherwise you'll stand in line at passport check for 30 minutes just to be sent back. Don't forget that pen, so you don't end up wandering around airports asking people who don't speak English if you can borrow a pen. If you're sick, try not to look it, lest you end up in the Ebola room."
Your track "Empire State Of Mind" speaks of revolution. What movements have you seen out there?
Five months ago I was in Cyprus (visiting a woman then claiming to be mine who's recently been spotted way more than five months pregnant). 40 years ago Turkey seized half the island after Greek Cypriots tried to stage a coup to steal the island for themselves. The island's still cut in half; I crossed the border by foot - #1Bag Cyprus. The two sides are trying to reunify, but they've been trying for 20 years. More recently I was in Thailand, where the king ordered the army to take over the country from the elected party who were being a bit too friendly towards poor Thais. I was just in Cambodia, which has been run like an Italian mafia village for 30 years by Hun Sen, who advises political opponents to wear steel helmets and orders goons to throw hand grenades into the offices of any newspaper that tells the truth about him. I'm currently in Namibia, which just re-elected SWAPO (South West African People's Organization), the political party made up of the people who won their independence from South Africa by gunpoint in 1990. Today, foreign companies pull billions of dollars of diamonds and uranium out of the same Namibian land now rated #4 in worldwide housing-price increases. Violent revolution is a romantic idea when you've watched too much CNN, but money decides the winners now. Revolution today is freedom from money, whether through making a ton of it or giving up the concept of it altogether.
Please visit https://www.youtube.com/user/mrmalkovich for much more!
Malkovich: The RAPstation Interview
Malkovich
The Globetrotting Rapper
By RAPstation Staff
Three years after saying goodbye to a permanent mattress and all his worldly possessions, rapper Malkovich embarked on an open ended global walkabout from Los Angeles to…everywhere. His journey has a definite purpose, but follows no set path. The purpose is the quest for otherworldly beats while exploring personal freedoms and building a global network. As far as his path goes, Malkovich's next destination depends on his latest musical discoveries. "My offer stands," Malkovich says. "Any producers worldwide should send me their beats and if I like them, I will come to their countries and record with them."
After linking up with producers that he clicks with through his Twitter page, Malkovich literally brings the project to their doorstep, no matter where on Earth they live. He chronicles these journeys through an intriguing YouTube series entitled #1Bag, which has episodes in Cyprus, Italy and most recently Bangkok. The first musical culmination of his new lifestyle since leaving L.A. was just released, his new mixtape called "Pre-Boarding" is mixed by non-other than DJ Spinna (Eminem, Mos Def, Talib Kweli, Pharoahe Monch, De La Soul) and premiered as part of DJ Gilles Peterson's Worldwide Premiere series on BBC Radio.
"'Pre-Boarding' marks the true beginning of my career," Malkovich says. "I always dreamed of doing nothing but traveling and rapping about what I see, and after 20 years of rapping, my dream is my reality."
"Pre-Boarding" is truly a look at hip-hop from the eyes (and ears) of the rest of the world. The project is several layers deep. First, there is really not one "traditional" hip-hop beat. He raps over African, Caribbean, Brazilian, Indian, and Cape Verdean world music classics revamped to knock your stereo in any time zone. This makes the project truly one of a kind; even the two beats from L.A.'s Computer Jay are unconventional. Malkovich literally opens up a whole world of sound while holding it down like a true California emcee. Secondly, DJ Spinna's style and technical proficiency keeps it moving like the Earth around the Sun and seems to musically sew the whole globe together. Then there's the obvious: how it was made. Talk about a journey, right?
Malkovich is currently safe and sound in Namibia, where he says the internet is "two sticks and a lighter," but he was happy to answer some questions via e-mail exclusively for RAPstation.
RAPstation: Where are some of your favorite destinations?
Malkovich: I love Africa. I spent seven months in Namibia last year and I'm there as I write this, just flew in from Cambodia. A rapper like me will be opening for ghastly aging backpack rappers, touring Midwestern college keg parties and sleeping in freezing minivans into my 40s if I stay in America. You can't just fly to Europe as an unremarkable American rapper and stumble into adoring crowds and wide-open legs like you could 15 years ago. Now you're more likely to fly all the way there just to get your music derided by a series of chain-smoking deejays in priceless retro Nikes over an $8 Coke. Asia and South America just don't speak nearly as much English as Africa. Africa's the future for smart rap and I'm betting my livelihood on it. Hundreds of millions of English-speaking rap listeners in one of the world's fastest-developing economic markets. I'll be here a year or so, and hopefully much longer. New York is my favorite city in the world; it's heaven for walkers, hustlers. Bangkok might be second. It's a place where no matter who you are, you can be yourself. The most beautiful place I've ever seen is Costa Rica.
What do you look for in a beat?
Edge. Unique moods. Dirty, but hummable. I'm a sucker for horns. I hate obviousness. No trap. I tend toward sample-based beats. Dr. Dre can make sample-free beats, but chances are you aren't Dr. Dre. Drums should complement the beat, not overpower it.
Since you've been globetrotting out of one bag, what is essential for world travel?
A passport from a Western country. People from some countries have difficulty traveling anywhere at all. Americans, Brits, etc. are instantly allowed in most countries. Money: the initial $1-2000 for that plane ticket plus a minimum $50 per day, even if you plan on being a filthy backpacker. Your journey of enlightenment will get dark quick if you're broke when shit happens - and shit will happen eventually. A pair of durable, comfortable shoes that work in any occasion. Tan suede Clark Wallabees do me right. A pen. A suitcase with wheels, and a plastic bag so your dirty clothes don't stink up your clean ones. An international power adapter that isn't so heavy and gigantic that it won't fit in certain wall sockets or fall out completely. Write down your goals and read them daily because waking up one morning wondering what you're doing with your life is a lot scarier when you're alone in the middle of nowhere. Floss and brush daily and take care of your body religiously - sometimes doctors in foreign countries only make problems worse, especially when they don't understand what you're saying. Most importantly, don't be short-tempered, a pussyhound, drug addict, or an alcoholic. Plenty of shifty characters are across the world and are more than happy to help you kill yourself.
Any helpful border/customs tips?
Immigration officers are typically provincial people who never travel; have nothing going for them other than the fact that one country in the world can't kick them out, and no joy in life other than the fact that foreigners are routinely at their mercy. They'll ask you goofy questions like, 'short trip, huh?' as if that's going to cause you to break down and confess to the drugs hidden up your ass. Don't stutter. Be prepared for a harder time each time you return to the same country. Avoid immigration officers who aren't smiling; they hate life and they'll make you hate yours. Most African countries will want to see your exit plane ticket upon entry. I learned that the hard way last week when I was frog-marched from customs to an interrogation room, then to the South African Airways desk where I was forced to buy a flight to London. Southeast Asian countries are much more lenient; they seem to enjoy the idea of foreigners coming to their countries to spend all their money. As soon as you leave the plane, look around for people filling out their immigration forms that means you need to do the same. Otherwise you'll stand in line at passport check for 30 minutes just to be sent back. Don't forget that pen, so you don't end up wandering around airports asking people who don't speak English if you can borrow a pen. If you're sick, try not to look it, lest you end up in the Ebola room."
Your track "Empire State Of Mind" speaks of revolution. What movements have you seen out there?
Five months ago I was in Cyprus (visiting a woman then claiming to be mine who's recently been spotted way more than five months pregnant). 40 years ago Turkey seized half the island after Greek Cypriots tried to stage a coup to steal the island for themselves. The island's still cut in half; I crossed the border by foot - #1Bag Cyprus. The two sides are trying to reunify, but they've been trying for 20 years. More recently I was in Thailand, where the king ordered the army to take over the country from the elected party who were being a bit too friendly towards poor Thais. I was just in Cambodia, which has been run like an Italian mafia village for 30 years by Hun Sen, who advises political opponents to wear steel helmets and orders goons to throw hand grenades into the offices of any newspaper that tells the truth about him. I'm currently in Namibia, which just re-elected SWAPO (South West African People's Organization), the political party made up of the people who won their independence from South Africa by gunpoint in 1990. Today, foreign companies pull billions of dollars of diamonds and uranium out of the same Namibian land now rated #4 in worldwide housing-price increases. Violent revolution is a romantic idea when you've watched too much CNN, but money decides the winners now. Revolution today is freedom from money, whether through making a ton of it or giving up the concept of it altogether.
Please visit https://www.youtube.com/user/mrmalkovich for much more!
