WHY I RATE:
Lil Macks

Selected By: Blessing Borode
Photography: Ramsey Ramone

Name: Lil Macks

Where He’s From: Milton Keynes

When He Started: “I started making music in 2017, but it wasn’t serious at all. I’d just go studio with my friends and we’d rap on some beats. It wasn’t until around 2020 that I actually started making music I wanted the world to hear.”

File Next To: wewantwraiths, Nino Uptown, Bandokay

Sounds Like: “My sound is just a reflection of a lot of my feelings that have been built up over the span of my life. I really think my music is unique—the proof’s in the pudding!”

First Music That Inspired Him: “That’s a hard one to pinpoint but my first introduction to music was listening to 50 Cent and Lil Wayne. I remember watching Get Rich or Die Tryin’ and wanting to do something like that myself.”

British-Somali artist Lil Macks is stirred by his own visions of becoming a household name in UK rap. He made his debut in 2020 with the track “Top Floor”, where his distinct take on melodic rap hooked our attention. Since then, he’s been buried in his craft and has delivered a batch of melody-based accounts that cover the spectrum of his experiences. 2022 was one of his golden years, which saw the release of bangers such as “Oslo”, “Barbados”, “Through The City” and two Mad About Bars freestyles. Talk about work-rate! This continuous output has allowed Lil Macks to strengthen his pen in a way that, now when he steps behind the mic, he exudes nothing but boldness and clarity in his performance.

The Milton Keynes native has come a long way from his initial unreleased track, “Money Comes First”, where, he tells TRENCH, “you can tell it was my first song just by listening to it.” As Lil Macks’ name begins to ring increasingly louder with each release, he feels no pressure to respond to anything other than his own drive to succeed. “I feel pressure from myself to achieve what I believe I can, but not from people who don’t understand what I go through,” he says. “However, when you start to make a name for yourself, a lot of people start to weigh their opinions and it’s up to you, as a person, how you choose to deal with that.”

Macks salutes the late American rapper/producer Speaker Knockerz, who left a lasting impression on his own art because “his music was different from others at the time and he could be versatile with songs like ‘Rico Story’. I’d wanna try a song like that one day.” His early knowledge of music was informed by rap champions like 50 Cent and Lil Wayne, which then led him to the Chicago scene with rappers like Chief Keef, Lil Durk and L.A Capone.

While most of his musical influences are from across the pond, Lil Macks brings a distinctly British flavour to his melodic raps, comfortably cruising in his own lane next to the likes of D-Block Europe, Nafe Smallz and M Huncho. As for the future, he’s determined to win. “Things like winning awards and hitting the charts shouldn’t be a goal because you either do it or you don’t,” he says. “But for me, they’re expectations I’ve set for myself and I’m sure I’ll achieve it all in the near future.”

TRENCH Highlight...


Posted on March 01, 2023