Half kid half amazing! Bold statement you may think, but one listen and on viewing his live performances, you’ll completely agree with why the singer/ rapper Marius Malone is carving out a name for himself that will soon be etched in your MP3 players and your hearts permanently.

His musical journey began at the age of four through his mother who he’s very close with. She’d be playing the likes of Ray Charles, Nina Simone and Nat King Cole and they’d share sing-a-longs  as she raised Marius and his older sister. Add in the obligatory love of Michael Jackson and in his early teenage years, Lemar, and you get to understand the eclectic influences that have inspired Marius. Introducing his singing was an after thought in Marius’ wanting to be an entertainer though, as he thought it was soft to be known as a singer growing up between the tough streets of Lewisham and Caledonian Road in North London. The rapping side of his gifted entertaining he owes to his older cousin who taught him the artistry of flows and word play. Marius completed his tuitions listening to Tupac and DMX to name a few. Comparisons of Drake spring to mind but Marius is as strong a singer just as he is a rapper and interweaves the two seamlessly on his tracks.

Though the gifts were apparent for all to see and hear, Marius never took it seriously and only showcased his ability to do easily what all the others were doing on the music channels as well as those posting up videos on sites like YouTube. Knowing that he could not only rap but genuinely sing, or to put it,  manipulate musical notes with his sultry voice, led to him using it to manipulate the heart strings of the girls in school, while only rapping to entertain in cyphers on his estate.

A fiercely private person he never talks much about his life growing up, but when he does, music is never far behind as Marius lives through songs. In his 21 years, he’s lived a stereotypical single parent life, and his experiences are narrated through his music. His soulful and playful tones are apparent with every joyful lamenting sentence sung, fused with his flippant lyrical flow bringing out a dichotomy that becomes apparent upon hearing Marius. The truthful and simplistic beauty of his music accompanies intellectual, emotional and relevant subjects to his generation and is delivered with a vocal tone that surpasses his years.

With many kids speaking or writing in un-recognisable slang to the older generation now-a-days, music has given Marius the vocabulary in which to express himself, with both the older and younger generations appreciating and liking his material in equal measures. This put him in the enviable position of his peers by signing his first deal. Unfortunately this first experience of a recording contract didn’t work out quite as he’d dreamed. “I was signed young and just did what I was told so lost a lot of my natural creative process.” “My inexperience meant I gave up control over the creative process, and the stuff I was coming up with no longer represented me but what everyone else was doing, they wanted me to be just like whoever was hot at that time.”

After that deal finished he spent time finding himself, getting involved in mixtapes in his neighbourhood, listening to his heart and writing from an honest place again. In essence, he woke up his imagination. That awoken imagination was what prompted 89 Arrogance to sign Marius having heard him perform. 89 could see that it weren’t broken, so why try fix it, and encouraged him to explore that creative process more.

Though young and living in the ‘hood’, Marius uses this as a positive to source inspiration for his material. When not writing, he likes nothing better than  acting his age and getting involved in a kick-a-about in the park, hitting the skate parks or playing computer games. As he says, ”I never leave home without my DS or PSP man”. Having Italian blood in him, he’s taken up cooking and reckons he makes a good vegetable lasagne. ”Girls like that stuff”, he laughs. ”Mum taught me how to be a man and treat Mrs Malone, when she comes along, right”.

It’s another type of cooking he’s really focused on now though, cooking up those hits in the studio. Working on his EP at present, Marius can’t wait to get his material out there and rock stages like he knows he can. ”My stuff is a little different to those my age but addictive. I’ve heard comparisons and people saying i’m the British Drake, that’s a big compliment because of his success but I see myself as just me, Marius Malone, half singer, half rapper, full entertainment”!

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