Mad Marlon

Kansas City, Kansas, could use new leadership. The area has long suffered from a reputation as the Sunflower State’s wellspring of crime, gang activity and general lawlessness. On The Lyrical Chronicles of the Wyandotte Ambassador, Mad Marlon claims that his home county suffers the additional slight of having to pay the highest taxes in the state. “What kind of baby dirty diaper is that?” Marlon asks. Since making that political observation, Marlon has moved to Dallas, Texas, in search of better opportunities. After all, making KCK relevant in hip-hop is a Sisyphean task. And as Marlon’s Midwestern drawl spits angrily over each track, counting out the vagaries of his former home’s postindustrial existence and lambasting mainstream rappers who cater to white people, one has to admire his courage. On “Str8 Up Outta Kansas,” one of the last of the album’s 16 tracks, Marlon is at his best, letting outsiders know, in heated terms, that the Dotte has more to offer than cornstalks.