McKinley Dixon (Photo by David Muessig)
McKinley Dixon will be the first to tell you he’s not a rapper; he’s a storyteller.
“I really enjoyed stories, and I think that rapping was just something that seemed so natural to me and my situation,” says Dixon, who was named one of NPR’s 2018 Slingshot artists after he self-released his first two albums, 2016’s “Who Taught You to Hate Yourself?” and 2018’s “The Importance of Self Belief.”
His latest, “For My Mama and Anyone Who Look Like Her,” completes a trilogy of albums that find an intersection between inner demons and societal problems. He raps about the trauma of his past while relating it to the harsh realities faced by Black people in America. The Maryland native’s lyrics are introspective and include incisive observations about race, religion and family.
“We process where we’re at based on where we’ve been,” Dixon says about his creative approach, calling it “musical time travel.”
It was his lyricism that attracted the attention of Richmond’s Spacebomb Records and its co-founder and creative director, Matthew E. White. Dixon’s signing is the label’s first foray into rap, but White, a well-known artist and bandleader in his own right, says that Dixon was a natural fit with the label’s aesthetic of freedom and experimentation.
“There’s a lot of excitement to work in that genre because there’s so much freedom and so much space,” says White, who praised Dixon for his lyrical nuance and storytelling ability.
“I really enjoyed stories, and I think that rapping was just something that seemed so natural to me and my situation.” —McKinley Dixon
Dixon uses that freedom to craft his unique hybrid of jazz and rap, drawing inspiration from Kendrick Lamar’s funk-rap fusion and the vast sonic arrangements of jazz artist Kamasi Washington.
“I like the theatrics of how songs are arranged,” says Dixon, who rhymes over complex jazz instrumentals rather than a simple beat. His most recent single, “Chain Sooo Heavy,” which he describes as a more rap-oriented song, features layers of instrumentation along with dramatic flourishes.
Dixon released his latest album, "For My Mama And Anyone Who Look Like Her," this month.
Dixon says his musical style has developed since he arrived in Richmond in 2013 as a freshman at Virginia Commonwealth University. “I met a lot of these cats that I worked with now when we all sucked, at the beginning of our collegiate time together. ‘For My Mama’ is eight years later. We all don’t suck no more,” he says with a smile.
His creative process is expansive and collaborative, featuring artists and sounds from all across the world.
“This album was recorded over the span of three years, and all over the place. If I met somebody on tour, I would ask them to record something. There’s four or five bassists on the whole album. I think somebody recorded drums in Japan,” he adds with a chuckle.
For a storyteller who raps about his life experiences, Dixon is shy when it comes to his personal life. He’s reluctant to share anything about his college years (“I don’t like talking about VCU”); his upbringing in Maryland (“It gets all the seasons”); and his mother, who is mentioned in a few of his songs and his current album’s title (“I don’t really talk about my mama in interviews”). Instead, his music tells his story. You’ll just have to listen.
“He’s still got a lot to say,” White says. “The next record, we’ll get a chance to make music together, and that’s a powerful ritual.”
Dixon doesn’t have a time frame for his next album. That’s part of the reason why he doesn’t really consider himself a rapper.
“These albums take 2 1/2, three years,” he says. “I want to tell stories, and I think rap was just the next thing from talking.”
