|
(Press Play For Audio Article)
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The 5-track project of ‘Monde Froid’ reveals Hip-Hop roots and the versatility of the Maryland rapper Malik Shaeir.
Bringing his swag to the forefront, Shaier shares his lyrical banter over a nostalgic era of 90’s Hip-hop. It’s surely evident that the EP ‘Monde Froid’ by Malik Shaier displays the personality of a rising lyricist under the Native Roots imprint. Previewing a lighter side of his talent, bar for bar Malik overshadows the fact that ‘Monde Froid’ barely scratches the surface of his intentions, which puts him on top of the world. Capable of so much more, let’s not forget the EP is a follow-up to his introduction ‘The Lonely Kid’ released in 2019.
We were able to get the blessing from Malik himself for the interview release to accompany his debut on our site down below. You might have also seen Malik Shaier blessing us with a video shoutout in the bottom of the page.
Interview release of ‘Monde Froid’ EP below.
What do you want your name to be synonymous with within music?
- I want it to be synonymous with a high level of quality. Not even necessarily with just my music as the art, but with anything I’m doing that has my imprint on it. I take pride in working at the things I want, not just working hard for’em, but working at the craft of getting better at it, I think the recognition of getting better each project or continually reaching a level of excellence that people are shocked by should be the goal.
How much has Baltimore contributed to you doing music as well as the type of music you do?
- The work ethic is the biggest thing, there’re a lot of sounds in the city so as far as influence it’s not sonically influencing me right now except for a few, but regardless of sound, every artist I follow and look at from a standpoint of inspiration or influence has a great work ethic. My engineer Scotty Banx does 4 or five different things when it comes to music alone, and all at a high level and he’s only getting better. They all invest in themselves and bet on themselves, and they’re not afraid to say fuck it and go it alone. You can’t be looking for anyone to be like oh lemme help you, and a lot of niggas say they want it but they are just content to do normal shit. Baltimore nig**s say they want it and they bustin in your door till they got it.
I see you have a huge influence on Nigeria. How has this contributed to your art?
- Bruh, lol I’m starting with Fela. Fela was the only secular artist I’ve ever heard my dad play except MJ. He has every Fela record and so growing up listening to that before rap, I was writing and doing spoken word because of that. Wale is my favorite rapper and sort of the blueprint for niggas like me right, urban but suburban immigrant kid navigating an African American art form and doing it well lol. I love the current alte scene in Nigeria, Cruel Santino (Santi), Odunsi, Pretty Boy muthaf**kin Do my guy lol, it’s a lot of great energy all of them are bringing. I’ve been getting to a fuck it’ mindset through this pandemic and i feel like they really represent that and their music has been a Godsend through all this. The political and socio-economic situation in Nigeria also heavily impacts me because it feels like a bad joke that you think can’t get worse but surprise they literally make it worse. End of the day it’s always the people that suffer and for too many Nigerians, it’s the blind man who’s king in the kingdom of the blind.
What was life before MONDE FROID? and explain life after?
- Life before MONDE FROID… shit lol I was STRUGGLING, I was in a bad place mentally. I smoked 12 blunts a day for a week in April 2020 that shit was sick. I had to really get myself right and disciplined. Starting with God, working out, I was running hills and fasting and shit lol. Then back to the bars, I was searching for beats, mostly listening to random shit and trying to figure out sonically where I was going. The thing is I was always a boom-bap guy and I didn’t want to just do that. I wanted sounds that could be recreated by a live band and you’ll see why God Willin at the end of the summer 😁. I didn’t know what the project was going to be called or that it would be a project. I recorded it after getting my second COVID shot, yo I had bronchitis lmaoooo I recorded the EP with bronchitis and a blunt lol. Life after MONDE FROID. The love has been great. I need MORE!! I want to really keep pushing it because I think it’s a great project. Definite room for improvement and I want to hear that too. I have to keep working on incorporating melodies because I think performance-wise that’s how you get people into it, not necessarily every track just when it fits but giving more of an effort to it. I love rapping so much I will just be spitting and then the whole track is done lmao. I feel like I’m a real rapper now and MONDE FROID is the reason, it’s a real ass project.
Do you think your astrology has a lot to do with your music?
- I don’t know anything about astrology, except I’m a Capricorn, do with that what you will lmao. I’d say spirituality has a lot to do with it because I try to self-reflect as much as possible. Like I know I will be doing f**ked up shit so I talk to God and let him know I know so he knows I know and I’m not just out here frontin’. I don’t want to preach to anyone, and I don’t want to be a model to anyone which is a sad cause that’s what Christians are called to do but I know I’m living in the world right now (that’s what the church folk would say of my lifestyle lol).
‘Monde Froid’ EP Is available on all streaming platforms linked below.