MAMiMagazine
MACK WILDS
“The city is like a beautiful struggle, a place where roses grow through the concrete” the 24-year old singer says
of his native New York City; the inspiration for his debut LP New York: A Love Story
They say you never forget your
on HBO’s “The Wire” and CW’s
Growing up, Mack saw his father
At around the age of 13, after pu-
first love and when Mack Wilds
“90210” respectively, but before
sing in local bands. He looked to
berty hit, Mack noticed his voice
first fell in love, he fell hard. “The
he hit Hollywood, Wilds dreamed
follow in his dad’s footsteps by
began to change and he then
city is like a beautiful struggle, a
of a career in music. “I don’t re-
practicing around their home in
added rapping to his repertoire.
place where roses grow through
member a time in my life when
Stapleton housing projects, the
“The music has always been my
the concrete” the 24-year old
music wasn’t a factor in my life,”
same housing projects that pro-
first love,” he says, even though
singer says of his native New York
the Staten Island product says. “I
duced numerous members of
his teenage years were spent act-
City; the inspiration for his debut
was immersed in what music was
Wu-Tang Clan. Wilds’ earliest mu-
ing on television and in films like
LP New York: A Love Story.
in the ’90s. Everything we heard
sic influences were Stevie Won-
2008’s “The Secret Life of Bees”
in hip-hop, I could look outside
der and Marvin Gaye, but he also
with Queen Latifah and Dakota
Tristan Paul Mack Wilds is best
of my window in the projects and
took to hip-hop idolizing MCs like
Fanning and in 2012’s “Red Tails”
known for his acting roles as
see it going on.”
Jay-Z and Nas.
alongside Cuba Gooding, Jr. and
Michael Lee and Dixon Wilson
Terrence Howard.
“I don’t remember a time in my life when music
wasn’t a factor in my life,”
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