Vakill

Donald Mason came into the world in 1975 on Chicago’s near south side before adopting the MC name Vakill. Bob Mehr’s profile in the January 27, 2006, edition of Chicago Reader recounts that hip-hop caught his attention during early adolescence, when he was drawn to the literate, ingenious rhymes that would later shape his own work. At high school he joined forces with classmate Ed Zamudio, a partnership that endured after Zamudio co-founded the Molemen collective and took the alias Panik. In addition to issuing the 1995 debut cassette Who’s Afraid?, Vakill lent his voice to numerous Molemen-helmed compilations and mixes, most prominently linking with Percee P and Rhymefest on the 1996 single “Keep the Fame.” Though underground listeners praised his terse rapping and razor wit, he stayed largely unknown until the 2003 arrival of his first full-length album, The Darkest Cloud, which slowly accumulated attention in the months that followed. Once his cult following had taken root, the rapper reemerged in early 2006 with the acclaimed Worst Fears Confirmed.