I was first introduced to the rapper Malcolm B through the radio show ”En Kärleksattack på svensk hip hop”, roughly translated to “a love attack on Swedish hip-hop”. Here, experienced rappers and hip hop artists, along with newcomers in the genre, come on to perform and be interviewed by the host, journalist Ametist Azordegan. Even before the show she has been a driving force for new, Swedish hip hop and is constantly proving her expertise through the show and the pieces she writes about music, ethnicity and culture for various publications.

Malcolm B was sixteen when he first came on the show. The beats he’d chosen for his freestyle was Common’s Sixth Sense. What followed was a truly impressive and inspirational rap; totally unstructured and mixing Swedish and English lyrics in a very interesting way, it was something fresh and new from the born-and-bred Bredäng boy. The whole studio is after Malcolm’s performance bowing down to the motor mouth as his last lines linger in the soundproof room. After this, people within the hip-hop community knew who Malcolm B was. More videos started popping up with him rapping in various Stockholm suburbs.

Then all of a sudden, Malcolm B showed up at the auditions for the Swedish version of X Factor. It seemed to me that he could’ve succeeded just as well without the talent show, even though his future sort-of-mentor Ison Glasgow, from hip-hop duo Ison & Fille, was a member of the jury. Malcolm and Ison formed a bond throughout the show, and every time Malcolm came on to perform he did something very rarely seen in a commercial tv-show. He was rapping. Eventually Malcolm was voted off the show but had gained a fan base beyond what might’ve been the case had he gone the other way, fighting his way to the top without the show X Factor.

Last year, Malcolm B’s debut album Tid & Rum was released. Mixing hip-hop with soul and r ´n b, the album is rather unique with Malcolm’s rap style clearly visible on every track. Speaking of him in the third person, Malcolm’s utterly self-conscious persona is unmistakable. Which is probably something truly necessary in today’s music climate, when so many incredible musicians are willing to do whatever it takes to make it.

Words by David Johansson

Malcolm B is performing at the WiMP Live Session at Story Hotel on Febraury 12.