Features : Mac Nif leaves the hip-hop box behind with his own rap brand in “Out the Box”

“Out the Box,” Mac Nif’s featured release off his Timeless album, is a showcase of his rap talents and a statement of the artistic vision he has created from his life experiences.

The track is a hip-hop celebration of Mac’s “unorthodox” life, personality and art. The simple melody is carried by chiming strings and snare drums with a fast bassline beat.

“‘Out the Box’ is a few things,” he said. “Me expressing my creative side and painting a picture of my experiences of being exceptional.”

The exceptional is more than art and music though expressed in his art. He was born and raised in Chicago but goes beyond that in his music and in his life. In other words, going out the box.

By no means does he intend to dump on his hometown and the talent in the city.

“We got singers, we got dancers, we got different types of rappers, but for a long time the drill scene took the nation to the point where people across the world want to imitate and emulate that sound. I was never part of that group of people.”

He created his style through his more educated vocabulary and by talking about his thoughts and beliefs on the world and his place in it.

“I’m not afraid to be original with how I think and how I carry myself in real life. That’s what I put on the track. The song is basically talking about how I’m unorthodox. I’m a little different compared to the average person in all those respects.”

From the chorus of “Out the Box”:
We be thinking outside the box
She say I’m unorthodox
Talking over they head in a helicopter
But I started somewhere on the block

Much of rap, he said, is trendy in the language it uses, much of it slang.

“And I come from an element where slang is normal. It’s a kind of language intimacy. But I expanded my vocabulary.”

Mac has earned an associate’s degree and is currently pursuing a bachelor’s degree in software development.

“Out the Box” was one of the songs Mac performed at a Fleet DJ competition, a performance that won him membership in the Fleet DJ’s coalition of more than 700 DJs, producers, journalists, photographers, models and artists.

“I ended up getting selected as the winner of the night, but I didn’t go into it with a typical thought process of this is a competition I need to win. I didn’t really care about winning at all, so just that itself was out the box. In my head, I won already — I had a good time.”

The song includes a kind of vibe travelogue from New Orleans, the Dominican Republic, Mexico and Colorado.

“Every chance I get to travel, I get a chance to adapt to the new energy.”

He began releasing music professionally in 2021 and recently signed a distribution deal with Empire Distribution, Records and Publishing Inc. He started rapping in high school, inspired by his friends and by artists like The Diplomats and the music of Cash Money Records.

His life experiences include overcoming the environment of his upbringing, the South Side of Chicago, “the quote-unquote ‘hood.’” Part of that overcoming is becoming the first in his family to earn a college degree.

“Out the Box” celebrates that as well.

He has set various goals for his music. He wants to hit a million views on his “Groovy Baby” video and has just released his first single under his distribution deal, a song called “I Go.”

In his career, he is working to build his following and his brand.

“I’ve opened up for artists, and I’ve been on showcases with big artists, but one of my next major goals is to really throw my own shows and bring out my full fan base. I want to be the main attraction versus me just opening for another person.”

And, “I just want to continue to make good music and new visuals.”

The philosophical goal is “to be of service to people, for people to be able to listen to my music and have a good time.”

“Music is a form of therapy,” he said. “When we go through situations, if we can find a song that we can learn something from, or at least connect and relate to, a lot of times it can deter us from being consumed in negative energy.”

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