One-On-One With Brooklyn Rapper ‘MarkMyWord’

When I hear the name MarkMyWord, I get the sense that whatever he spits is the truth. As an artist, choosing your name has to be one of the toughest decisions to make. You have to make sure that it has a certain flare to it as that is what people will refer to you as. I hear the name MarkMyWord and I think confidence, it’s like a promise. The name is kind of matter-of-factly. You get that exact feeling when you listen to this borough’s rising star.

It was a nice sunny afternoon in Brooklyn when I met up with MarkMyWord — birth name Mark Darden. I was greeted warmly with a smile as he walked over wearing a Supreme tee shirt, dark denim, and a pair of Jordan 4’s. We decided that in order to make the feel of the interview as authentic and as Brooklyn as possible, sitting on a stoop would be perfect.

The 26-year-old, Fort Greene artist, whose artist name was given to him by a friend, says that he fell in love with hip hop as a child, even referencing a memory on his way home from the hospital as a newborn, to the song on the radio being played. It was “Top Billing” by Audio 2. The irony, right?

MarkMyWord says the first album that he purchased was The BluePrint 2 by Jay Z, favorite song on the album, All Around The World. He was fascinated by the amount of traveling HOV talks about.When I asked the Pisces artist, what is a common misconception people have about him, he says it’s that he’s misunderstood, he further explains that, “I’m blunt, people don’t like when you’re outspoken, they don’t like when you say how you feel, everyone wants a yes-man”

Opening up his first show at Club 405 in Texas for SXSW,(one of the largest music festivals in the world), reassured him that this is what he’s supposed to be doing. He realized that it’s all love. He says, he’s locked in, and he received confirmation that he needed and is still high off of his first performance even though it happened in March.

OurBKSocial: What inspires you?

MarkMyWord: A lot of 90’s hip hop, the dark stuff, being that that’s where I came from.

Thoughts about hip hop today: Change is good. New is good. New hip hop today is in a whole different world coming from different angles. It’s more watered down. We don’t have full bodies of work. It’s a lot of fabricated stories. People before made music that you could connect to, music that you could vibe to. You have to be able to move the people to get a response.

Top 5 Dead or Alive: In no particular order, Nas, the old Jay Z (that’s the Jay I can relate to), B.I.G, Mobb Deep, Kendrick and Drake. 

A HOV line that can describe your life to a T. “N*ggas see me in the street, with no bodyguards just two big guns that’ll body your squad. Could n*ggas be schemin on me? Probably are. Think Jigga’s a joke n*gga? Hardy har” snippet from HOV’s song, So Ghetto from Volume 3: Life and Times of S. Carter

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be? I’d love to get a hook from Mary J. Blige! It would be great to work with Kendrick, to do something with someone from the West Coast, that’ll be special! And Ty Dolla Sign.

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3 words to describe your artistry: Me! Soulful! Timeless!

What is your ultimate goal in life? For my next 25 years to be very different from my first 25. Growing up in a group home, I’ve seen a lot and gone through a lot, and even though I have no regrets and I wouldn’t change anything, I’d just like my next 25 years to be different.

Advice to give someone that you wish someone would’ve told you: Believe in yourself. Don’t be afraid to be alone. Don’t be discouraged.

What is one thing about music that you miss? Full bodies of work, playing an album and falling in love with it. I also miss the mystery behind an artist before the internet allowed you to see so much.

Given the power that music has, what is your “go-to” song to get you out of a slump? Hmm. that would have to be Michael Jackson’s, Off The Wall. Cause he says when the world is on your shoulder, you gotta straighten up and boogie down. 

What do you want to be remembered for? My great music and the love in my heart. I also would like to be remembered for the leap of faith I took, and overcoming certain obstacles, never allowing anything to hold me back.

If not music, then what? If I couldn’t do music, then I wouldn’t be happy. Music is the only thing that I’m in control of. It’s honest, it’s real. It’s the only thing in life that I didn’t take any shortcuts with. 

His late grandmother is who he says was his favorite human being in the world who he loves unconditionally, aside from his niece Taylor. She always told him that he was going to be great. He remembers on her final days in the hospital, he went to visit her, and he played her one of his songs. As she listened to it through his Beats By Dre headphones, tears came to her eyes, she didn’t say a word, she didn’t have to, and for him, that’s how he knew he was on the right path.

I’m going to leave you guys with some advice that MarkMyWord shared with me that is relatable to anyone, “You can’t be mad at a person who doesn’t see what you see. Your vision is for you. When you cook that pie and that pie bakes, it’s yours. Nobody can say anything.”

Check out his one of his singles below, and you can expect to hear more from MarkMyWord as his EP, Grand Scheme will be dropping soon. You can keep up with MarkMyWord on Instagram and Twitter.