Mako Shark is an underground white rapper who says that he comes from “one of the whitest towns in America. Rap music spoke to him and showed him what it meant to live. Today, he produces music that screws over the rules as a means of inspiring the masses.” A few months ago Mako released the single “Silence Says”. On this excellent single, Mako Shark keeps deepening his game — spooling out dense, mordant rhymes over a dark blunted track as he somehow sucks you into his sunless reality. It’s amazing that music so claustrophobic can be this engrossing. He is most compelling when he’s going toe to toe with his own demons…and yours!
Mako Shark darker side comes off way more authentic than some of his peers and colleagues – he sounds more psychological, and his deadpan delivery adds to the cause. Line by line, each heartfelt confession is countered unpredictably with some grim realization.
Mako sounds brutally candid on the parts I could pick up on, unfortunately I didn’t have a lyric sheet, and not everything is easy to latch onto in just a couple of listens; however it seems to be a visceral, unrelenting snapshot of a genuinely fucked up world.
Running through his catalog, “Silence Says” might just be one of Mako Shark’s most mature and nuanced lyrical performance, but it takes a few listens to fully appreciate the depth and complexity of the writing, because the production is so weird and abrasive.
There are shimmering waves of synth-pianos, sparse gurgling bass, and echoing and scurrying machine-like snares. Production-wise, Mako doesn’t draw from conventional Hip-hop sources, but rather reaches out to widen his scope. This recording finds its most complete strength in the strange musical atmosphere of an unsigned rapper from Hollis, New Hampshire.
The end result is genuinely sinister, producing all sorts of sluggish and evocative background effects and distant echoes. Fittingly, Mako Shark’s vocal pitch and delivery isn’t the crispest or most straightforward thing either. At times, Mako slows his flow right down to the point that lines begin to splinter and fragment; at others, his flow speeds up as he follows the drum sequences.
Mako Shark obviously has a very clear personal aesthetic vision and works hard to realize it, as his songs rely heavily on atmosphere and mood, which takes real discipline and focus to achieve.
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