#throwback thizz

For any Bay Area native, Mac Dre and his cohort of dope rhyme spitters make up a huge portion of the essential rap canon. From the strange, engaging deliver of P.S.D tha Driver to the energetic lyricism of Da Unda Dogg, Mac Dre put on a variety of rappers that, while never getting major radio play, spit fire: remaining completely under-rated and under-recognized. 

This blog post series, “Throwback Thizz,” is an effort to explore and reveal some of the rappers that, while doing numbers within the Bay Area, have yet to reach a wider audience.

In this series, I’ll outline two projects from each rapper; this week, I start with Mac Mall.

Hailing from the CCC, or Country Club Crest, Mac Mall proudly represents the North Side of Vallejo, sometimes called the North Pole. With a confident delivery and a boisterous style, harnessing the dialect of the pimpalistic player, Young Mac Mall paved a lane for himself, first spreading his beat slaying wings on Illegal Business? which dropped in ‘93. Rapping over beats entirely composed by Vallejo’s Khayree, Mall asserted himself as a prominent force within the burgeoning underground Bay rap scene. 

To me, Sick Wit Tis is a clear-cut savage track from Mall’s freshman record. As Khayree sprinkles the beat with synthesized horns and a tenacious drum pattern, Mall acknowledges his own obscurity, taunting the females that try to get with him for some clout:

Turn up the beat and let me come wit’ some game, mane Talkin’ about these hoes who be tryna claim to fame, mane But it’s a waste of time, because Mac Mall ain’t no celebrity I’m just a playa wit’ some G-A-M-E 

The beat switch on this record, using a jazzy sample, highlights the clever way that Mall lures women in with his pimpin’:

But when we first meet, I give ya full respect I’d be the sweetest muthafucka that ya ever met But don't think I’mma stop doin’ scandalous shit I’m takin’ mail, food stamps, check, even WIC, bitch

Jumping back into the aggressive synth-loop orchestrated by Khayree. This is just one slap of many on the record, so check it out on Spotify or buy the physical.

Untouchable is the only project that Mall released on a major label, and it remains a palpable project that hits hard on relevant political issues, most notably on songs like Ghetto Stardom. 

Over a wavy beat produced 2Pac and E-40 collaborators Femi Ojetunde, Rick Rock, and Mike Mosley, Mall questions the representation of the black constituency, asserting:

And I doubt a republican or democrat Gives a fuck about us young inner city blacks It's a trap, Uncle Sam keeps cursing me Rather have me in the pen than the university

With the discussion of black lives in the Black Lives Matter movement, the suppression of black voices continues to be a problem in the political sphere. After 8 years with a black president, has anything come to change? Over two decades ago, Mall was asking the same questions that we are now, a haunting reminder that change happens now, not later. Mall doubles down on the conscious message in his hook:

They try to tell us in the verses and the scriptures But I guess the real message must have missed us In '96 all my brothers and my sisters Is on a mission, we're trippin' livin' senseless Tell me, will I see the sun in days to come Will blacks be the victors instead of victims Or will my people keep killing over fuckin' crumbs Pushin' dope just to reach ghetto stardom

I encourage all my readers to check this man out. Dig into this Bay rap shit, because it delivers more and more as you dig deeper and deeper. The Bay Area scene is one of the last to be thoroughly tainted by the record industry, and this is prime music for the hip-hop head. Check him out, and give me your thoughts.

Peace

—AoT