With the airwaves plagued by hollow, cookie cutter noise, King Maliq looks to bring back authenticity to this world through his beats and rhymes. Despite a troubled past that he looks to put behind him, the Sydney-based Hip Hop artist presses on, using music as a vessel to channel his memories and experiences.

With a style that is both fluid and free, King Maliq meanders between moods. Whether he’s spitting rhythmically frantic bars, or floaty, melodic rhymes, he focuses on harnessing the power of real emotion to create tracks that stand the test of time. For King Maliq, the end result guides the process, which is to connect with people across all walks of life, spreading love, unity and wisdom along the way. He opens the doorways to conversation about topics deemed ‘taboo’, with the intention of offering strength to those who need it.

King Maliq is currently sitting on a slew of past mixtapes (Rookwood Road I, II and III), which served as a compelling summation of his journey so far. Fast forward to today and he is gearing up for his next release ‘FEAR’ (F*** Everything And Rise), to be released in March 2020. King Maliq has performed at Rock The Block, and performed at Pop Culture 2019. Further release details to follow.

1.) What elements and/or characteristics made you say to yourself that you wanted to do music for a living? Who are your influences/heroes/role models?

I’ve done a multitude of jobs good and bad and just didn’t ‘fit in’ It got to a point where the work i was doing was not particularly safe.. I had to transition.
I was once told that if you do something with a ‘half-arsed attitude’ you’ll get a half arsed result.
So i called a meeting with the now, SOV team and said Let’s go!

Definitely been influenced by the likes of Gary Vee!
Most importantly my team,
My Beautiful wife!
@thatkidkape
@jvniorali

I put us in a position where i’m responsible for my peoples,
I don’t lose!

2.) If you could compare yourself to an already established artist, who would that be and why? If you don’t like to compare yourself, then music-wise, what separates you from other musicians?

My self cooked State of vibes sound -clean 808’s / snappy drums – I don’t like to compare to anybody because I believe we’re all very special in our own way! I just always have the intention of unity and making sure everything is cool – That reflects within my sound I suppose!

3.) Everyone in life goes through adversity of some sort. Is there anything in your life that has any influence on the kind of songs you write? What is the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure on your path to becoming a musician?

Everything – To be completely honest, i’ve had a dark past. My biggest fear was overcoming myself,
learning to believe in myself again. Understanding everything is not milestone based! Once i took the time to fit back into my skin – it was go time from there onwards – It’s a constant battle – thats what makes life dope though. Never a dull moment!

4.) How do you prepare yourself to write certain songs? What is your song-writing and recording process?

It is completely different every single track,
I sometimes have a melody for the hook and it stems from there!
Sometimes, we’re cooking up and it comes (these ones are my favourite, for real!)

Others are planned.

Since I started my State of Vibe Sound – I generally work my songs off improvisation and emotion opposed to writing. I do write! This method is my vibe right now though!

5.) Unfortunately the music industry is full of talented individuals who just don’t get any recognition for their talent and/or hard work. What do you plan to do to make sure you stand out and get noticed? Would you rather be on a major label or would you rather stay independent? Why or why not? In regards to the music industry itself, do you think that the traditional music industry model as we know it is dead?

This is a great question!
My answer is simple! INDEPENDENT!

I have a team, I have mouths to feed – I want to feed them well!
We will work until we are ‘major’ ourselves.

I loved the idea of record labels etc! It’s a very uncertain time we’re in!
I guess the smartest and sharpest win eh?

6.) Are you able to make a living with your music? If so, how were you able to attain a career doing what you love? If not, what do you do in order to fund your music career? What advice would give to someone who’s interested in pursuing a career in music?

It all depends on how hard you want to work!
If you don’t have a massive team behind you or a large budget then i suppose you are every related job under the sun.

We offer our services – mixing and mastering etc to grow our skill set and our bank – It’s a blessing, double investment!

7.) How do you think the internet and social media affected the music industry and how musicians are able to market themselves? Social media is obviously an extremely important element in today’s world, especially when it comes to business, branding, marketing, etc. With that being said, do you think an artist will be able to survive in today’s music industry if they’re not social media savvy?

Hellllll naaaw! I think every business / artist etc needs to have all hands on deck with social media – A great example is Will Smith! He adapted and dominated social media, I aspire to be great!

Deff need to have social media game poppin!

8.) Artists who try to make music for the general public and make more money are usually seen as “sell-outs.” Do you see it that way and if so, what do you plan to do to make sure your music stays true to your brand and make a good living at the same time without having to “sell out”?

I believe there’s a place for everyone – Theres nothing wrong with commercial music!
I see alot of people get sensitive about this topic – it is what it is, It’s a business world.
Just remember to have a bit of integrity at the end of the day!

Our brand will never sell out – we built our foundation on innovation – it’s a core value – it ain’t going nowhere it’s a ‘State of Vibe’.

9.) What are the positives and negatives of the music industry? What is it about the music industry that makes some artists push forward? What do you think makes some artists quit?

I think the music industry is a very interesting place,
it’s not a place for the faint – It has taught me strength and resilience! I believe it gave me a very direct approach to life! But it broke me down completely at one point!

Positives would be the impact you can make,
Negative is definitely the impact you can make,
choice is yours, right?

10.) What trends do you see staying or going?

Ooh! I’m going to answer this answer simply,

Australia,

Australia is the new wave.

We are going to stay baby!

11.) With so many people online who are expressing their opinions on any and everything under the sun, how do you know when to take something as constructive criticism or when to see it as trolling?

I used to be very sensitive to criticism even feedback, like.. good feedback!
I remind myself, what am i trying to do here? Do i still love what i do despite what ‘they’ are saying?
.. 99.9% of the time i still carry on, then the cycle repeats!

However! When something is identified, ‘someone doesn’t like something etc’ i do take a moment to honour the opinion and try to find reason,
If none is immediately found, carry on!

12.) If you were to advise an up and coming musician on how to get more fans, what advice would you give them?

ENGAGE , ENGAGE, ENGAGE! Don’t be afraid to do things! (Be reasonable ofc)
Talk to, and love your people! They will love you back!
No cheat codes to this, for real!

13.) There are multiple ways of attaining fans and building up your fan base, so what are some ways you acquire fans?

Absolutely,
Social media is the most slept on! But very powerful! because you can meet people in the real world and maintain that relationship, by some simple thumb tapping!

14.) Professionally, where do you see yourself 5 years from now?

State of Vibe is an established brand.
My team is winning, eating good!
We are doing good things to build our communities
and making some bomb-a** music!

I don’t have intentions of being mega rich, just sufficient with enough to help with
#ahwhoop