Interview: Stalley (11/5/09)

Kyle Myricks, aka Stalley, left his small blue-collar town of Massillon, Ohio in the pursuit of his hoop dreams on a full ride to play for Michigan.

At a young age, Stalley was given the nick name Stallion because of his athletic presence on the court.  However, after a foot injury prevented Stalley from playing ball at Michigan, he moved to New York and began pursuring a hip hop career.

Once in New York, Stalley quickly hooked up with fellow Ohio native Terry Urban for his debut mixtape, “Goin Ape.”  The tape was well received and helped Stalley establish relationships with GFCny, LRG, and ALIFE.

His most recent project, MadStalley: The Autobiography, tells his story of leaving the small town of Massillon, Ohio for New York City.  The MadStally title comes from the amount of influence Madlib had over the project, which features original production as well as reworked Madlib beats.

Stalley kept the project very personal to let people get to know him as he enters the game, unlike the many artists who hide behind personas or stage names.  Stalley has stated that he’s an everyday person writing for the blue collar men and women.

Stalley – “The Autobiography.”

The video has a cool concept, as it follows Stalley around the streets of New York, while giving us a glimpse into his personality.  In case you want to see Stalley perform “The Autobiography” live in NYC, check out his performance at CMJ.

Stalley offers an explanation of what you can expect from his music with:

“No need for a microphone check, one two,
Cause I’m already on,
Already born to master the ceremonies,
So what I give to you is happiness, struggle of love,
And the reintroduction of, Stalley,
I am above hope, I am faith in your face,
To help you unwind and know I’m taking music to a better place.”

Another track that samples a familiar beat is “Stay,” which has Stalley and Jesse Boykins remaking John Legend’s “Save Room.”

During the past CMJ festival, HipHopAtLunch.com caught up with Stalley to speak about basketball, Massillon, and his lack of a Twitter account.

As the interview shows, Stalley is a very humble dude who’s complex character really comes out in his music.

I would say that everyone who loves growing out their beard, or playing basketball, should hit up Stalley on Twitter, but the dude is very focused on perfecting his craft and is avoiding all possible distractions at the moment.  If Stalley does ever decide to venture into Twitter, I will update the post with his handle.

There have been a lot of powerful co-signs thrown at Stalley in recent months, but probably none bigger than Complex Magazine and Grey Goose Vodka naming him the Ohio representative for their Rising Icon competition!

To give you a taste of Stalley’s live show, check out his performance of “Babblin’.”

That smoothly orchestrated beat coupled with Stalley’s lyricism offers a refreshing live show that is rarely seen nowadays.

Before we left, Stalley told us the story about how he was given his name.

There was no Youtube.com video for Tinlizyfordtoarollsroyceboy, nor did Stalley perform the spoken word track live at CMJ, but I wanted to include an excerpt of its lyrics:

“I used to be influenced by a hustler with a chain,
Now I’m influenced by a man asking for some change,
I used to pray for riches, now all I want is change,
Like Obama mane, I’m tryna do the right thing,
For my mamas sake,
She don’t wanna see her son boxed in, confined in chains,
My pops, he already did that,
Filled with marijuana and coke in his veins,
Not a chip off my old man.”

It’s hard to get more personal than those inspirational lines.

Other standout tracks from MadStalley: The Autobiography are “Masterpiece,” “Slim’s Return,” “All For You,” and “Worldwide” featuring Mickey Factz.

If you’re in the Chicago area, be sure to check out Stalley during the upcoming Leaders of The New Cool concert on December 2nd, alongside Dom Kennedy, Spree Wilson, El Prez, and Harlem’s Cash!