On Wednesday July 29th, 2020 my lil sis Porsh hit me up saying she heard Malik B had died. Nah. Trust & believe if Malik was dead my phone would've been ringing off the hook. Nah...gotta be a rumor. I told her to let me make some phone calls and straighten this hoopla out. The problem was when I made those phone calls, there was nothing figured out because it was true. We had lost Malik B.
See, to the average listener Malik was just a "sidekick" to Thought and NOTHING could be further from the truth. But I get it. If you're not from Philly and/or aren't a REAL head, then yeah Malik was just the guy rhyming here and there on Roots albums. BUT if you are from Philly (during the early to mid 90's) and/or were a head then you KNEW how dope Mal was. But you know what ya'll...let me keep it COMPLETELY a buck with ya'll...when I first heard Mal on "Proceed" I thought he was wack. "I can make a nerd say he's superb." Word? REALLY? "I can make a nerd say he's superb?!?!" That's all you got huh? I'll pass. But keep in mind, it wasn't just Malik I wasn't feeling. It was the whole damn crew. See, I've never been into that whole incense, chew stick, Howard circa 92 dread crowd so "Do You Want More" just wasn't for me. Outside of "Proceed" & "Silent Treatment" I was good money with them. But then something magical happened. Well it really wasn't THAT magical...these mofos just remembered hip hop was about drum machines and samples and not a got damn live band on stage bragging about "look ma...no samples!"
See, when "Illadelph Halflife" dropped THAT'S when I became a fan of the Roots. I absolutely LOVE that album. It's easily a top 20 hip hop album EVER for me and guess what my fave song is? Mal's solo jawn "No Great Pretender." Now...hold tight. How the hell did this bul go from being "wack" to having my fave song on my fave Roots album? I look at Mal's "No Great Pretender" as his "Butter" moment because when I first heard Tribe's "People's Instinctives..." I was like "why is this other cat even in the group?" Hell, to be honest...I was like why all these 3 other mofos in the group?" Neither here nor there but when Tribe dropped their sophomore album "Low End Theory" and I heard "Butter" now I knew why that "other cat" was in the group. Well the same could be said for Malik. There's not ONE bar on "Illadelph" that Mal spit that I didn't LOVE. And then going into the Roots' 3rd album (for all of the Roots stans I don't count "Organix" as an album. That jawn is a demo at BEST) "Things Far Apart" Mal didn't lose a grip on the mic at all. From "Step Into The Realm" to "100% Dundee" and his dolo song this go 'round "The Spark" were ALL crazy and Mal EASILY became a name that I would bring up for YEARS as one of the dopest MC who stepped his game up big time!
Not to mention for me Mal was the heart and soul of the Roots. And what I mean by that is Mal was Philly while the rest of the Roots just happened to be from Philly. On "Episodes" when Mal said "HRM, Ogontz Ave, Brickyard to Hollow..." I felt that cause I live off 79th & Ogotnz and I spent most of my teenage life trying not to get robbed by HRM (Hit & Run Mafia)! And when he kept going with "you wore your little rope chain in West Oak Lane and niggaz from Logan came to extort you know the game"is more of that Philly street talk I LOVE! See I had a girlfriend who lived in Nicetown (the hood right next to Logan) so I knew ALL about those UNLV (United Niggas of Logan Val) all too well. So again, this is what I mean by Malik WAS Philly!
It TRULY breaks my heart that more websites (ESPECIALLY okayplayer cause if Thought died that damn website might shut down), bloggers, social media influencers and the hip hop media folk aren't saying more about Malik. Hell, it's not even saying more cause at this point just say something! This dude is a founding member of what some folk call one of the dopest hip hop group EVER and nothing more than a #RIPMalikB hashtag floating around? I see why Jag lost her shit behind this. Welp I've never been one to focus too much on what other folk do so while everyone else is silent as church mice I'll just bang out to my "The M-Illitant" mixtape dedicated to one of the ILLEST MC's outta the 215 EVER!
Tracklisting:
The Lesson 5
Adrenaline
100% Dundee
Lost Desire
Distortion To Static (Remix)
The Good, the Bad, the Desolate
I Can't Help It
Don't See Us
Game Theory
Proceed 3
Sections
Da Jawn
No Alibi
Push Up Your Lighter
In The Music
Proceed 2
Step Into The Realm
No Great Pretender
The Spark
Clones
Quicksand Millenium
Mellow My Man
Proceed 5 (Da Beatminerz Remix)
It Just Don't Stop
Distortion To Static
Devil
Proceed
Rips In The Paper
Metal Is Out
Definition
Rhyme Exercise
Episodes
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