There are artists who come along every so often who don’t make any sense but click at the same time. Rappers come and go by the dozen in today’s age, with mp3’s and smartphones replacing CD’s and the Walkman things are much different than they used to be. And didn’t CD’s replace cassettes before that? But amidst the shifting sand that is the scene every so often you find somebody who can transcend the nonsense to just make great music. Madd Maxxx is one of those. Rough around the edges no doubt but amongst the better lyricists today, though largely unrecognized. His rhymes are direct and impactful, leaving everything and nothing to the imagination while you go for a ride that can be a leisurely stroll or a death march, sometimes all at once. His roots are in hip hop and the wicked, dark laughter and street cypher sessions combined to form tracks that don’t leave you so quickly, it’s a feeling that stays with you. Sick Hop is what he calls it, and has since 2006 at least. There are a few others who rep the terminology, but only the originals from the early days of rap can rightfully claim that style. In the underground, Madd Maxxx holds the title and awaits eagerly anyone who wants to try and claim it. There is plenty that can be said about Madd Maxxx but what’s the point? Why not just listen to something?
The history of Madd Maxxx is simple and inauspicious, except for that one thing. He isn’t special but some special incidents have led him down this path into the vocal booth and onto the stage. The reality of his origin comes back in 1999, around May, not long after Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold decided to make “school shooter” a new cultural identity. His schoolmates and their parents thought Maxxx was dangerous because he liked Marilyn Manson and ICP and other weird music like those two kids who brought shotguns to class in Colorado. so they got together to try and have him kicked out of the school a month before he was set to graduate and leave anyway. It didn’t work, but it still took Max into a dark, angry place. One day, Maxxx’s father overheard him saying how he never wanted to kill anyone until they all accused him of plotting to kill them. He knew Max was listening to rap music but newer and different rap that didn’t sound like the old Beastie Boys and Nas tracks he was familiar with. In what was either a stunning epiphany or a fleeting realization he said to Maxxx, “Why don’t you just make a song and kill them there? They can’t put you in jail for that”…….and so it began.
Madd Maxxx has released music on at least four labels to date, though no official release has ever been made until recently with his first true record to date, “Where Thx Wxld Thxngs Are”, scheduled to drop in early 2016. His most highly regarded work to this day remains “In the Absence of Sanity” which contained songs such as “F*ck Life”, “Be My Victim” and the aforementioned “Classtime Horror”. It is also the only work save for the forthcoming album recorded professionally, the rest of his work has been done on several different home set-ups and “studios”. Compilations such as the origin project “Sick Hop”, “Unearth the Underground” and more recently “Sex & Violence” showcase his ability to take a found beat and a simple setup and turn it into something powerful. No matter what the audio quality is the lyrics shine through, giving him an ability to captivate fans for more than a decade now. It is not unusual for someone to say they have been listening to Madd Maxxx since High School and they’ve just recently finished college. And his rhymes continue to flourish; with his arrival on Brix 2 Tha Stix Entertainment alongside Boston heavyweight rapper Wayne Da Payne he only further solidifies his place as one of the real contenders in the underground. He’s been lighting up stages all over New England the last 6 years, and he shows no signs of slowing. Having performed alongside acts such as Twiztid, Hed P.E., Hopsin, Swollen Members, D12 and more, Maxxx is certainly at home on stage. Where he goes from here remains to be seen, but looking at his track record one can only imagine…
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