A criminal overtone often finds its way into the Malaa brand – but until now, marketing materials have stopped shy of glorifying drug use. The artwork for a single offered up by the masked producer(s) titled “Belleville” features the unmistakeable image of a miniature zip lock bag.
The title itself is surely intended as a nod to techno enthusiasts. Belleville, Michigan is the hometown of Derrick May, Juan Atkins and Kevin Saunderson, the trio commonly referred to as the Belleville Three widely credited as the originators of the genre. However, the song “Belleville” itself is not techno. Largely hinged around a sample from the song “Repose en Paix” by French rapper Booba, it exhibits the gritty fusion of bass house and G house common to releases from the Confession imprint.
Surprisingly, the combination of the artwork and song title hasn’t elicited any notable outrage from members of the techno community who would ordinarily be quick to denounce any cash in on the genre that simultaneously reinforces negative stereotypes about dance culture. Perhaps more than anything else, the lack of negative response demonstrates how insulated underground electronic music fans steer clear of the scene’s more mainstream avenues.
Malaa always performs while wearing a ski mask and has never publicly disclosed their actual identity. Shortly after the project’s launch in late 2015, though, Redditors all but confirmed it to be a collaboration between Confession label head Tchami and fellow Frenchman DJ Snake, and neither artist has made any statements disputing the claims.
“Belleville” by Malaa came out via Confession on June 20th as a free download. The track is only officially available on SoundCloud as of this writing.
