From making moves in the streets to making music that inspires people, ATM Mally has come a long way in his life. With a unique blend of raw honesty and unbridled passion, this Louisiana rapper has captured the hearts of fans around the world culminating with his latest album 4 Da Streetz, and a new song in the works with Key Glock.
But while he has only been making music for a few years, music has always been a passion of ATM Mally’s since he was a kid in school. Before ATM Mally was a successful rapper, he was just a kid from the streets of Louisiana. He grew up in a tough neighborhood and had to fight for everything he had, but through it all, he never lost sight of his dreams.”Before I even got into making music, I was listening to music…like I’d do that all day long – all day. Listen to music, no matter if I’m in the car, in school, or whatever. When I was in school, I got headphones and listened to music all day. Boosie was my favorite rapper. I was kind of using his music to help me, you know what I’m saying? He was talking about everything I was going through. So I related to it like personally, you know what I’m saying?” ATM Mally said.
Encouraged by friends and family to take his career more seriously after a fight for his life to beat 2nd-degree murder charges, upon proving his innocence and gaining his release ATM Mally stepped up his recording ethic and everything associated with his career.
“I ain’t never really thought about doing a rap like myself, like doing a rap thing. I just had a lot of people that were telling me like, ‘you live, like a rapper, you know what I’m saying? You live like a rapper already. You got the lifestyle, you got this and that. And you got a story too because you done been through a hell of a lot. Like, you overcame a lot, you had a lot of stuff going on. The same thing that rappers are talking about. You be living for real. So why not put it in the music? Like, tell your story, like put it down.’ So s###, one day I just did it and the rest is history.”ATM Mally’s story is one of overcoming adversity and rising above the challenges life throws your way. Beating a murder charge in Louisiana is not easy and despite facing lockdown in jail for 23 hours a day, ATM Mally was able to remain strong-minded and was ultimately released.
“I done been facing life situations like, sh*t. I’m talking about life, you know what I’m saying, sitting in jail on lockdown 23 and one, you know, really? S### like 23 hours, 45 minutes. Like only get out myself for 15 minutes. Like, you know what I’m saying? I’m one of them, like, I’m just a strong strong-minded individual. My head on my shoulders. All I did, the only thing I did was really read and work out. Like I ain’t really doing nothing else. I was on lockdown the whole time I was in jail. I just worked out, and listened to music, you know what I’m saying? I just, I knew I was coming home, I knew I was coming home so I really wasn’t too much stressing. Like I ain’t never lost no faith or nothing like that.”
From cutting off his water to skipping his meals, the corruption that ATM Mally faced in jail paralleled the tragedies that take place at jails across Louisiana like at Angola where C-Murder is incarcerated and where Boosie served his time.
Post-Jail, ATM Mally transferred the stresses of jail and proving his innocence to his music and every since his obsession with recording music was spawned, ATM Mally has officially become an artists artist, waking up in the middle of the night to record material for his next studio session, proving his true dedication to his craft.
“Man, I could be in the house and I got s### on my mind. I’m thinking about this and that or whatever it is, man. I might jump up at 11, 12, 1 o’clock in the morning and hit the engineer like, let me get in. Like I gotta, I need to get a session in like, you know what I’m saying? Like, I don’t know. It’s just like I need to just let some of this s### out of some s###. Like, you know what I’m saying? Like, I, I got some s### to say,” ATM Mally explained.
“It’s like I ain’t telling nobody else’s story. I ain’t telling nothing about like, no dealing with nobody else. I’m telling my own story in my own way. So, you know what I’m saying? I feel like I got my own lane, I don’t really know what to compare it to.”