Former HipHopDX Features Editor Andre Grant said in his “Defense Of The Struggle Rapper” editorial, “Out of all the things the Hip Hop web has vilified, the “struggle rapper” might be the least deserving of all that ridicule.” Before Kendrick Lamar became big enough for Barack Obama to sing his praises or Drake found himself making deals with Apple, they were artists without a significantly large fanbase attempting what seemed like the impossible. Hitting the top of the charts became a distant goal to making past one hundred streams of a song possibly made within the confines of their bedroom walls and gaining likes, re-post or anything else that would reach someone. Providing a weekly outlet for those getting their feet wet in the sometimes brutal sport of Hip Hop, allow us to give readers a look into tomorrow’s possibilities through “Up NeXt.”
Malitia Malimob Has Now. Frontman Chino’o Explains Putting Seattle On The Map. For Real.
Hip-Hop has never had a Somalian representative, at least not a credible one. What was your upbringing like to make you fit right in within the culture?
Hip-Hop is very diverse, I feel like it started from struggle. You are most creative in the struggle. Born in Mogadishu Somalia, the land of the poets, my family was well off so at a young age I experienced life’s luxuries. Then everything changed. The war started and we experienced the worst of life, genocide. That movie people like to watch called The Purge, that’s the type of shit we lived through. Now I can speak about it, and Hip Hop was always a passion before knowing what I wanted to do. Being able to reflect on life, see through the bullshit, and help people find themselves.
Define Sport & Coke.
Sport is a plate you order for about 3-4 people. A portion meant to serve a group. Coke I mean Coca-Cola. That is a typical drink to have with Sport. These 6 songs are an invitation to my house. Sit down, grab a plate and really get to know Chino’o Capo Gaddafi. This project is more personal to me, the second project I put out since J.Krown (the other half of Malitia Malimob) got locked up. That’s why I’m going from singing to rapping on so many of the songs. I’m going through different emotions from losing my father to death and losing my partner to prison in the same year. I had no choice but to pick up and keep moving. Now thankfully we are in a better place and Krown is proud about what he’s coming home too.
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Why is it “fuck Macklemore” on “S.O.S.?” Isn’t he reppin’ Seattle to the best of his ability?
I have no problem with him. We are not enemies. What I know is that we do not live in the same Seattle, we do not hang out on the same blocks, we do not walk on the same street. I feel like he represents his side, and my side is yet to be represented. So I said ‘Fuck a Macklemore, bitch my city is ruthless’. Not him personally, but the ideology that his music represents all of Seattle.
You have been putting it down since the top of the decade and seem to be on the bubble to blow. What’s the deciding ex-factor to get the rest of the world on that Northwest Malimob movement?
I feel like we are already doing it. Malitia Malimob is a foreign movement. A band of brothers and sisters from all over the world with a common bond of achieving success and helping each other along the way. This is the United States of all foreigners. United States is built off the foreigner. We will never sell ourselves short. I would rather be broke knowing I own myself, and what we build. I did not come to America, I ran from a civil war looking for a better place. We found that place and we are going to make it here anyway possible by any means necessary.
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