Swagger is the ultimate catalyst for success in the hip-hop genre, and for Malcolm Kay, it’s as quintessential an element in his sound as the very style of rapping he utilizes in the new single “What You Think.” In both the track and its music video, there’s an inescapable confidence around every corner, with verses bleeding into the thrust of the percussion to forge a hurricane of sonic heroics that start and end with Kay himself. He’s a beacon of composure in this piece, which is perhaps his most well-rounded to hit record store shelves in 2020 thus far. 

We get some seriously decadent visuals in the music video for “What You Think” that, while being commonplace in the upper tier of contemporary hip-hop, have the potential to make an indie poser look like a weakling – of course, this isn’t a problem for someone like Malcolm Kay art all. The imagery we come in contact with here is backed up with a legit prowess from behind the mic that you just can’t fake, no matter how many synthetics you sew into the mix. He’s the real article, and if you weren’t clear on this beforehand, he’s going to make it more than obvious in this five-minute jam. 

I really love how minimal the melodic component to the instrumentation in this song is; we’re focused on the vocal from start to finish, and scarcely is there any instance in which anything here is allowed to rival its presence in terms of volume and presence. All things considered, I can see Kay being just as dominant in a battle situation for one big reason – that aforementioned confidence he brings to the table with every piece of material he records. He’s got the attitude to move mountains, and even with limited cosmetic assistance, he sounds unstoppable in the studio right now. 

If there’s one thing I took away from my first sit-down with Malcolm Kay’s new single and music video “What You Think,” it’s that this rapper is someone with a really big future ahead of him – and he’s taking it as seriously as he should. There’s no complacency here, no obvious desires to expose his sound to plasticity and sell-out in the name of scoring a hamburger sponsorship with McDonalds. Kay is producing aesthetical integrity in his work, and in times as unpredictable as these, his consistency is very refreshing indeed. 

Zachary Rush