Malcolm London • "SELFrighteous"
People make art for different reasons. There are those that make art to make people dance and smile, those that create with the purpose of becoming famous and making money, those that simply do it because they can't think of something else. Then there's that rare subsection of artistry that performs and creates as a way to both affect change and espouse to the world a message that lives innately within them. Malcolm London is certainly of that latter category and the 21-year-old TheseDays January cover subject furthered that sentiment with his release of a new single, "SELFrighteous (free style)" that arrived in the midst of the Kanye/Chance 'T.L.O.P' bonanza.
The release came packaged with a message from the artist on Facebook that in a way spoke to the message behind that January story and set the tone for the kind of year we can expect from Malcolm, one that appears to find itself at an even larger intersection of art and activism for a young man that has worked tirelessly in each realm. Posting the message to Facebook, London wrote:
The song itself, produced by Chicago's own lasko, continues to underline London's motivation to continue pushing forward in both endeavors in a way that, if continued, could prove to position him as one of the more powerful and thought-provoking young people to emerge from the Chicago scene as of late. Not too long ago, Dr. Cornel West likened London to the late Gil Scott-Heron. While at the time it may have seemed like a bit of a stretch, we've definitely learned in Chicago that nothing is impossible, a sentiment recently espoused on a recent London track. Time will prove the kind of affect Malcolm has on the world, but we're just happy he's continuing to provide us with plenty to write about.
