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Finally the UK’s answer to Eminem, ladies and gentlemen allow me to introduce to you, Streatham’s very own Marga Man. “I’m a comedian, I’ve been doing comedy for years, but then I started freestyling and putting my jokes into my lyrics,” tells the 27-year-old comedian-turned-rapper. “I started taking this seriously a few years back, but then Eminem came out with the same thing! I knew people would accuse me of copying him, so I didn’t really do anything about my talent.” Malik Alves is rapidly becoming one of the most respected underground UK artists. The Jamaican emcee grew up on a strong foundation of reggae music; Marga Man’s father and his uncles were in a band that performed their reggae music in shows and live dates around the UK, assisting the likes of Bob Marley. This inspired Marga Man to take up an interest in music from an early age. He began to learn how to play instruments and how to produce tracks while he was still at school. His love for music accompanied his talent to entertain. Marga Man was always into comedy and entertaining people. This led him to hosting several school concerts where he would perform his comedy too. However, his skills as a producer were not undermined. “I started producing and really taking it seriously back in ’94, but it was mainly for friends,” says Alves. “Whenever they would rap, I used to just jump in and chat rubbish, but then people started saying how it was joke, and that I should use it as my flow.” After a while, he started believing that he was good at rapping. It was then that he decided to make a mixtape under the name of ‘Too Sticky’ and titled ‘Marga Man’. “The mixtape did really well, so I decided to do something about it because now I knew how to produce and people were telling me I could rap,” he explains. The success of the mixtape, and the popularity of tracks like ‘Butterz Friend’, led Malik to change his emcee name from ‘Too Sticky’ to ‘Marga Man’.
In early 2004, Choice FM’s native DJ Jenny Francis got hold of Marga Man’s track ‘Butterz Friend’ from his first mix tape. After continuous play on Francis’ ‘Hype’ show as one of her favourites, it soon became clear that it was a highly requested song. “Jenny started playing it and all of a sudden everyone was requesting it,” says Marga Man. “I was really pleased with the response it got, because I wasn’t even planning on releasing it as a single, so big up Jenny Francis for all of her support!” However, it wasn’t until early 2005 that Marga Man decided to put a video out for it as his first promotional single. “I had to put a video out for it because everyone was talking about it!” he explains. The video for ‘Butterz Friend’ proved to be a huge success on Channel U and landed at the No.1 spot on the Channel U chart show. “Choice FM and Channel U support UK acts a lot. They’re definitely giving UK artists a chance to do their thing.” The next step for Marga Man was to tour the USA with Dizzie Rascal for over five months, bumping into the likes of Jay-Z. Marga is featured on Dizzie’s single ‘Girls’ from the hit album ‘Showtime’, and is also on Taz’ single ‘Just Walk’. The track from Taz’ debut album, ‘Analyse This’, became a very popular underground single, and was receiving air play on pirate radio stations such as Extreme FM. This gave Marga Man the recognition that was long overdue. He also began to get a taste of the fans and all of the good things that would come along with his accomplishments. “It’s crazy when people start to recognise you and ask you for an autograph, especially school kids, but it’s still a good feeling, because you know that they’re your fans,” he tells. The single ‘Fish and Chips’ is Marga Man’s latest hit. Although it is another promotional single, the video is available to request on Channel U. The remix features samples from Kriss Kross’ ‘Jump’ and focuses around the topic of why women are not as “homely” nowadays. Marga Man gives us a bit more insight: “You go to a girl’s house and tell her your hungry, and she’ll give you pizza, second time chips, third time KFC and then you start thinking to yourself, ‘Come on man, where’s the proper food at? You don’t want to keep eating junk.’” Marga Man’s lyrics definitely make him stand out from your common UK artist, and his comedic style is something the public seem to take a strong like to. Despite all of Marga Man’s success in his music career, his comedy and combined acting skills have also come into effect. He has made his debut role in acting starring in a movie called ‘Breaking The Cycle’, where he plays the role of a barber, alongside Lethal Bizzle, Bradley Macingtosh, and J Roc from the group Big Brovas. The movie is due to be released some time next year. Meanwhile, Marga Man is also currently working on his sitcom ‘The Bredrinz’. “Hopefully that will be aired on Channel U or MTV Base soon,” he reveals, “so that’s something else for you to look forward too!” With so many projects in the pipeline, you can expect to hear and see a lot more of Marga Man in the coming months. Talking about future collaborations, Marga expresses interest in artists like Baby Blu, Estelle, Roots Manuva, Klashnekoff and Sway. “I want to do the whole thing like Will Smith,” he gushes, hoping to be an all round entertainer. “Have my sitcom, drop an album and hope it goes platinum! Star in movies too, all at the same time.” Marga Man is focused and set to be doing big things in the near future, so you might as well start getting familiar with the name. Currently doing promotional shows and live Pas, Marga Man is on a mission to make himself known, so make sure you check him out. Whether it’s music, acting, comedy or the whole lot at the same time, it is clear to see that Marga Man has a whole lot of talent to offer the UK, and anything that you may have seen already is just a taster! For more information on Marga Man check out http://www.margaman.com.
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