Young Ontario-based Rap Artist, Mallokay’s New Album Is Making Waves
Oshawa, ON-based rap artist Mallokay unveiled his album, The Graduated Dropout, on February 22. The album has garnered over 1.8 million streams since then. Mallokay recorded & released the album from his home studio, which he has also made available to local youth to foster community.
Listen to The Graduated Dropout below and learn more about Mallokay via our Five Questions With segment.
Care to introduce yourself to our readers?
My name is Brannon Kasthuriratne (don’t worry about trying to pronounce that right), and I go by the name of ‘Mallokay.’ I’m a 23-year rapper born in Toronto and currently living in Oshawa, ON. I’ve been rapping since the age of 11 – a passion I’ve taken seriously ever since, as my whole life has pretty much revolved around it. One thing I consider myself particularly good at is the actual lyrical aspect of rapping – but right now, I’m focusing more on developing better melodies, catchier hooks, etc.
Tell us a bit about your most recent release.
I released my debut album, The Graduated Dropout, on February 22, 2023, consisting of 15 tracks (one of which had Snoop Dogg as a feature, probably one of the biggest highlights). This album was funded by FACTOR, which is mainly why I was able to put so much time, care, and detail into it. The response I got from everyone after releasing it was great, and I got a lot of great feedback as well. I definitely don’t think it’ll go down as my best work, though. I consider it just the start and a taste for what’s to come as I feel like I can do so much better – and I will very soon.
Where do you tend to pull inspiration from when writing?
My inspiration usually comes from different things at different times. Sometimes it’ll be from listening to my favourite artists. Sometimes it’ll be from the feeling of just wanting to achieve all my goals and “win.” There are so many different things I can be inspired by when writing, but at this time, I feel like I’m rediscovering what it means to be inspired when it comes to art, so I’m gonna hold off on a more detailed answer for now.
Do you have any upcoming shows you’d like to tell us about?
I’ll be performing at Chmstry in Toronto on April 25th. Other than that, nothing’s been confirmed – but I have a good feeling I’ll be performing a lot more later this year/next year.
What’s your goal for 2023?
I have a lot of goals for this year, but if I had to water down my answer a bit to keep it simple, I’d say I want to transform myself as an artist tenfold. I’m nowhere near satisfied yet with where I’m at as an artist, but I believe I can make one of the biggest transformations anyone has ever seen (mainly in terms of the quality/sound of my music). Through this, I’m expecting to have more opportunities come my way instead of going out and aimlessly looking for them like I used to.