Denver, CO – As I prepared for the photo shoot this evening with King Kash and Marco Park$, I put on their new album M.O.T.H. What I heard, wasn’t what I had come to expect from either one of them. Both artists have a style that is recognizable anywhere, but right off the bat, I could tell this album was something different. More profound, heartfelt, and I could tell this would be a ride as I progressed through the tracks. The raw emotion in this album strikes you like a punch from a heavy weight boxer. The name is your first clue as to what this album is going to be: Memoirs Of The Brokenhearted. This isn’t your regular Hip Hop album. The emotion here is real and raw.
The album is broken up into two parts. The first half is titled Love Letters, and the songs are powerful. You hear the mixture of love and pain intertwined together seamlessly. “Moth”, “Love Letters”, “Last Leg”, and “Shameless” (ft. Joey Cool) all make you realize what you have in life and that it gets taken from you far too soon. The second half of the album is titled Hate Mail, and the hurt and anger in these songs show you the flip side of the album. “Speak Up”, “Trust”, “Left 4 Dead”, and “Issues” all speak on the things we all feel and think but never say out loud.
The mental health movement in the Hip Hop industry is something to be commended. There are many artists speaking up about it and two of the leaders are King Kash and his long-time friend King ISO of Strange Music. People use music as a release, but it gives you a sense of belonging when you can relate to the words. For so many of us, people finally talking about their struggles with mental illness is a breath of fresh air. Finally, the stigma is being lifted and subjects that have been taboo, are finally getting brought into the light. Speaking on such subjects, helps the fans relate even more with their favorite artists. This album is one such example.
I sat down with Marco and Kash after the shoot to talk about the album and what it meant to them.
Digital Beat Magazine: What inspired you to collaborate on an album together?
Marco Park$: I think the recent collabs we’ve had on singles and other projects have shown us that our chemistry is good, and I think it was necessary for me and Kash to do a collab project. We felt that doing this collab would be soothing to the ear.
King Kash: My main reason for this album is because me and Marco have certain similarities that we related to each other on. If people don’t know, we have known each other for over a decade. I’m an artist and I can recognize when an artist has talent and I felt like Marco needed his respect. Marco is a super talented artist, he’s humble, and deserves all the credibility he can get.
DBM: What was the inspiration for this album? What were you feeling when you wrote these songs?
King Kash: I felt like when I first moved to Denver, Marco and I built a connection. We had already known each other for years, but we didn’t really get close until we were both going through separate situations in our lives where we were dealing with hard problems in our personal lives. I deal with mental health, anyone that knows King ISO knows we preach mental health. That’s one of the things I deal with, and it never goes away, and I recognize that he (Marco) as a man, as an artist, deals with the same thing, just like everyone does. That’s where we related.
Marco Park$: I think that at the time when we were conjuring M.O.T.H., we needed each other. Even though we have people around us that we know love us, we needed each other and that’s why M.O.T.H. is a thing. We had that connection.
DBM: Where do you both go from here?
King Kash: I haven’t spoke on a lot of things that I have been going through, opportunities I have been given right now, but I feel like this is the start of something fresh, something new, and I feel like what Marco and I have accomplished with M.O.T.H. is something that is completely outside both of our lanes. He has pushed me as an artist to accel and do better and I know I have done the same thing for him. I feel like from now on, if you don’t see us together, at least you know the names and the creativity behind everything.
Marco Park$: Where do we go from here? I don’t give a damn where we go. I know that it’s up. We’re never going down again. That’s all I know. We work very hard to get where we are today and the only thing I know is we are headed up.
M.O.T.H. is being released on all platforms on October 3rd, 2021. If you want something you can relate to, something that will move you, speak directly to your heart, go download this album on all platforms.
