M-Double-A-L

Rappers’ bizarre obsession with a 1937 book
May 6, 2009 by admin

Seeing as we’re in the midst of an economic meltdown, perhaps it’s not surprising that rappers are obsessing over Depression-era self-help tome Think and Grow Rich.

Then again, it’s a little weird. After all, the book’s author was a fuddy-duddy white guy named Napoleon Hill who died in 1970. A small-town Virginia newspaperman who was taught the “15 laws of success” by industrialist Andrew Carnegie, he went on to interview hundreds of other businessmen who used the same formula, including Henry Ford and Thomas Edison. Think and Grow Rich, published in 1937, distilled the interviews and shared the “Carnegie Secret” — that anyone can achieve great riches simply by visualizing success and pursuing it doggedly.

Fast forward to the last few years. In 2004 LL Cool J shouted the book out on his track “1 In The Morning:”

You know my track record, L battle like a savage
I think and grow rich, that gives me the advantage

Jay-Z has also quoted from the book in song, and in 2007 he named an ad campaign for Roc-A-Wear clothing line after one of the book’s guiding principles, “I Will Not Lose.” The spots featured him, Chris Brown and Three 6 Mafia. (Last year, a Georgia-based company called I Will Not Lose, LLC sued Jay and the brand’s owner for $200 million for copyright infringement.)
More recently, the book has caught fire in the underground scene. A Freehold, New Jersey producer chose its title as his stage name, while a St. Louis crew called The Frozen Food Section quotes it regularly.

It may seem odd for members of a style and trend-conscious genre of music to pay homage to this stuffy work, but it’s certainly helped out plenty of people over the years. The book has sold millions of copies, and Hill even went on to gain fame in his own time, serving as an advisor to FDR. There’s even a musical precedent; pioneering hardcore punk band Bad Brains have long been devotees.

Still, Think and Grow Rich is a pretty weird book. It basically says that anyone can be a multimillionaire, so long as they want it really bad. Readers are encouraged not just to pursue their financial goals with every ounce of their energy, but to spend time every day visualizing the money. The language is often impenetrable, it’s full of weird pseudoscience, and gets into all sorts of kooky mind/body stuff.

But, hey, there’s no doubt that believing in yourself is a winning message, and some emcees are trying to make the book more accessible. San Diego rapper M-Double-A-L recently released a mixtape entitled Think and Grow Rich, which features snippets of Hill reading his text set to hip hop beats.

“I wanted to make a motivational mixtape; that’s never really been done,” he tells me. “Kids in the inner city wouldn’t just listen if you told them to go out and get the book, but if you set it to music it kind of sinks into the brain. It can really help you, especially if you’re young. The book is for individuals who want to succeed.”

The artist, whose real name is Jamaal Hale, says Hill has helped him gain success as an underground rapper, adding that he’s moved 20,000 copies of his independently released debut album. “I read the book, stopped watching TV, and got my Andrew Carnegie on,” he explains.

“I would assume Master P and Diddy have read it, and you can tell 50 Cent has,” Hale adds, citing the entrepreneurial emcees’ public statements and actions as evidence.

If that’s the case, one would think Curtis could be a little more creative with the title of his next album. I humbly suggest Think and Grow Rich or Die Trying.


http://www.suprememag.com/2009/?p=1966 - Supreme Magazine

Return of the Mack
Local rapper M-Double-A-L rages against the major-label machine with street smarts and indie cred
By Seth Combs


Jamaal Hale knows the dos and don’ts of the music industry all too well. After all, he’s had to move away from his hometown for a fresh start after seeing his first rap group implode following a major label fiasco. A rapper since he was 13 (he’s now 30), he could definitely be seen as a veteran in the rap game.

Working under the name M-Double-A-L (Maal, for short), he still warns up-and-coming artists about the potential pitfalls of the industry on his new mixtape, Think and Grow Rich: “If you don’t know what this industry’s like / Imagine riding a bike up a hill with no wheels / You got skills / But if the person that’s signing the checks ain’t knocking at your door / You ain’t getting a deal / But think about if you need one for real / Cause even the Internet still caters to cheap thrills.”

In many ways, Maal looks at San Diego as a second chance after moving here from Ohio five years ago.

“I was in Cleveland, and my brother calls me and says, ‘Man, you need to move out here, bro—it’s a black man’s paradise.’” He laughs, and adds, “I visited in April and I was done.”

Although he’d just released his first solo album, Mackalactic Music, Maal says that once he was here, he stopped doing music for about a year until, one day, he made a beat and fell in love all over again. He started battling at the Hot Monkey Love Café and Club Recognize, gaining respect in the local scene.

“It was a good move to get out [of Cleveland], but the hardest thing was breaking into the hip-hop scene here. The thing is, coming out here, or anywhere, you have to earn it again. You’re starting from ground zero.”

Sure, he was broke, but it forced him to concentrate more on his music, which is reflected on tracks like “5000,” on which he raps, “For me the unemployment line is another album budget / I take that money, press a couple up and make the world love it.” The subsequent album, Table Manners, garnered enough local buzz to get him nominated for “Best Hip-Hop Album” at last year’s San Diego Music Awards.

This was great considering what happened with Maal’s first rap venture. He was the ostensible leader of the Cleveland crew The Primate Foundation. Maal says they were signed to a record contract on the spot after freestyling in front of a major-label head. But like many young, naïve groups, Maal (who was 19 at the time) says, The Primate Foundation didn’t realize what they were doing when they signed on the dotted line. The deal went nowhere, and the label shelved the album. They wanted out of the deal, but because of contractual obligations, the label now owned not only their music, but also their name. The group called it quits, and out of the six rappers, only two are still making music.
Maal continues to vent about the experience in his lyrics, yet, in person, he doesn’t seem bitter about it at all.

“You gotta go through the bad shit,” he says. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for that. You have to sacrifice something to get to the next place.”

If anything, the “bad shit” taught him self-reliance. Not only is he the MC, but he also makes his own beats and album art and is completely self-promotional. Think and Grow Rich is named after and based on a book by Napoleon Hill, who studied the habits of the rich and wealthy and found that their success had less to do with a desire for money and more to do with focus, love and empathy. It’s a philosophy that Maal says reflects his own attitude toward his career.

“I wouldn’t care if I made $50,000 a year, just something I could live on. If I get to travel and still make my music, then I’m good. That’s the ultimate stuff.” He later adds, “Documentation beats conversation. I have no choice. I would feel like an asshole if I were sitting back, 60 years old, like, ‘Damn, man, I remember when—.’ I’m not into that. I do it for the love.”


Check out M-Double-A-L at www.myspace.com/mackalactickmusick.

Published: 01/20/2009| Other Stories by Seth Combs - City Beat - By Seth Combs

.Local Bands/Performers
M-Double-A-L. .
The Skinny
Genre: Hip-hop / Rap
Web site: http://www.myspace.com/mackalactickmusick
Formed: San Diego.History
“Hip-hop is the bastard child of the San Diego music scene,” says Cleveland transplant Jamaal Hale, aka M-Double-A-L. “In some cases, it’s viewed with fear and apprehensiveness; it’s similar to Cleveland in that both cities aren’t known for hip-hop, but both in fact have a lot going on underground.”

In Cleveland, Hale was a member of a six-rapper hip-hop group called the Primate Foundation, which ended up splitting after signing to a label that he says screwed them.

When he moved to San Diego in 2002, at the age of 23, he says, “I saw a heavy indie-rock presence, but I was trying to find hip-hop culture in SD. I stumbled across the Hot Monkey Love Café, [where] they had open-mike nights, emcee battles, break dancing, and deejaying. After involving myself, I found out about groups such as the Icons, Deep Rooted, and others who’ve had success in and outside San Diego.”

“Every weekend, I would go to Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. Armed with a CD player and headphones, I let anyone who wanted to listen to the music, and some would even buy the album [from me].” That 2005 album, Mackalactick Musick, was also carried on consignment at Access Music in Pacific Beach.

In 2008, M-Double-A-L’s record, Table Manners, was nominated for Best Hip-Hop Album at the San Diego Music Awards, where the artist was also nominated for Best Hip-Hop. His 2009 mixtape is called Think and Grow Rich, a title borrowed from a self-help book by Napoleon Hill.
. - Reader

Armed with Headphones
By Jay Allen Sanford | Published Wednesday, Aug. 27, 2008
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“Eyes on first class from Cleveland to San Diego/ Will I return or stay, though my enemies don’t want me to go/ From snow to sunshine, it never rains, they lied/ But I rather move on with pride, and no reason to apologize” (M-Double-A-L, “No Apologies”)

“Hip-hop is the bastard child of the San Diego music scene,” says Cleveland transplant M-Double-A-L. “In some cases, it’s viewed with fear and apprehensiveness; it’s similar to Cleveland in that both cities aren’t known for hip-hop, but both in fact have a lot going on underground.”

After moving to San Diego in 2002, he says, “I saw a heavy indie-rock presence, but I was trying to find hip-hop culture in SD. I stumbled across the Hot Monkey Love Café, [where] they had open-mike nights, emcee battles, break dancing, and deejaying. After involving myself, I found out about groups such as the Icons, Deep Rooted, and others who’ve had success in and outside San Diego.…

“Every weekend, I would go to Mission Beach and Pacific Beach. Armed with a CD player and headphones, I let anyone who wanted to listen to the music, and some would even buy the album [from me].” That 2005 album, Mackalactick Musick, was also carried on consignment at Access Music in Pacific Beach.

Now, three years later, M-Double-A-L’s new record, Table Manners, is nominated for Best Hip-Hop Album at next month’s San Diego Music Awards, while the artist is nominated for Best Hip-Hop. His next album will be released in October. He appears September 24 at RT’s Longboard Bar and Grill in P.B.

– Jay Allen Sanford
- Reader - By Jay Allen Sanford