Show And Prove: OG Maco
Words Miranda J.

Show & Prove is our section in the magazine where we highlight which artists are hot in hip-hop now. Many who have appeared in S&P have gone on to launch successful music careers. Here is the story of OG Maco from our Winter 2014 issue featuring Kendrick Lamar on the cover, available on newsstands now.

OG Maco had no idea what was about to happen when he rereleased his viral hit “U Guessed It” last August. In less than a month, the rowdy anthem spread rapidly across the country on the strength of its catchy hook, aggressive feel and creative video. By November, the track was getting airplay on radio stations nationally, landed on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, became a YouTube and Vine hit, was remixed by 2 Chainz and referenced in Nas’ new song “The Season.” Not bad for a rap newbie’s breakout record.

Born Maco Mattox, the 22-year-old from Atlanta knew he wanted to rap since the age of seven, but his parents always taught him that getting an education was the priority. So Maco put hip-hop on the back burner and it wasn’t until he attended college in 2010 that he decided he wanted to focus more on rapping. While studying film and philosophy at Georgia State University, the rap hopeful formed the duo The Free-Minded with a friend and soon dropped out of college, spending the next three years honing his rap skills. “When I was like 18... [I realized] I could actually be one of the greatest with this shit if I tempered it,” says Maco. “So I started taking it kind of serious and by the time I was 20-21, I was dedicated.”

In November 2013, the hip-hop hopeful dropped his first EP, Live Life, which featured the locally bubbling record “Road Running.” Maco then linked with A-Town rapper Key! and in July 2014 the two put out the Give Em Hell EP. The project spawned the first version of the banger “U Guessed It,” featuring both artists. The following month, Maco re-released the record along with a video and replaced Key!’s verse with another one of his own. Soon the new version exploded. “OG Maco is going to have a big influence on the rap/punk rock world like in the '80s, when rap met punk,” says Coach K, who inked Maco last August to his label, Quality Control Music, home to Migos and Rich the Kid.

In October, Maco dropped his third EP, the well-received Live Life 2, followed by a self-titled EP and he’s prepping his debut album, Children Of The Rage, which doesn’t currently have a date. “I’m going to let that fall on the people,” says Maco. “[It’s] when they ready for it.”

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Stream OG Maco’s BREATHE EP
Listen To OG Maco’s Self-Titled EP
OG Maco Rises Above Rap Jealousy With His New Mixtape

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