Because Mvstermind's 'Mali Moolah' Showed St. Louis to the World
One of 75 reasons we love St. Louis in 2016
by Christian Schaeffer
JERMARCO BRITTON
Mvstermind is showing off his city, and ours.
Muhammad "Mvstermind" Austin is hardly the first hip-hop artist to rap about money — talking up your bankroll is part of the game — but on this year's single "Mali Moolah," Mvstermind deployed his characteristic frankness to talk up the struggles of getting paid. As an artist whose mind is usually attuned to a higher calling, he settles on something more than dollar signs: "I knew my worth since birth / I don't need no money."
The song is a stunner on its own, but the accompanying video is a personal and expansive view of the artist and his environment. The clip offers both a birdseye and on-the-street view of St. Louis, but it's not one likely to be used by the regional tourism board. We follow Austin from the city's urban core — the Moolah Theatre on Lindell, a payday loan joint on Jefferson, a Save A Lot parking lot — to grand vistas of a greened-over flood plain and an early-spring reverie on a riverbank. Director Louis Quatorze captures the vastness of these landscapes with quick, immersive cuts and drone-assisted overviews, but Austin stays in the center of the frame, his clear, piercing eyes locked on yours. The video's emotional payoff finds the rapper in his childhood home, now vacant, blown-out and on the verge of collapse.
The local hip-hop community has been keyed into Mvstermind and his MME crew for a few years, but it was no small victory that the "Mali Moolah" video introduced the wider world to Austin's slice of STL when it was broadcast on June 3 on the channel BET Jams. Even if it was only for four minutes, Mvstermind's vision and talent filled TV screens coast to coast.
75 Reasons to Love St. Louis
Because the Fox Theatre Can Still Work Miracles
Because Amy Milton Proves That Nothing Is Funnier Than Honesty
Because the World's Fair Isn't Just the Glorious Past
Because the National Dance Scene Comes to Us
Because Westminster Press Gives Marginalized Artists a Place of Their Own
Because Libbie Higgins Might Be the Funniest Person(s) in the State
Because the Black Rep Is Back and Better Than Ever
Because Our Theater Scene Is Year-Round Now
Because Here, a Farmer Can Become an Artist
Because We've Got a Movie Screening for Every Mood
Because We've Got the Spirit, Yes We Do!
Because Renegade STL Tours Give Us New Reasons to Love St. Louis — Every Time
Because 'Flapping or Filling' Will Never Get Old
Because Who Needs Napa When You Have Hermann?
Because Even the Birds Love It Here
Because Wrestling at the South Broadway Athletic Club Is the Best $8 You'll Ever Spend
Because We Literally Worship at the Altar of Skateboarding
Because We're Fielding the Best Football Team in the Nation
Because We're Battle-Tested — and Better Than Ever
Because We're the Iowa of Presidential Debates
Because We're Building a Better Breast Pump
Because We've Invented a Prosthetic Nipple
Because Lewis Claybon Proves That Someone Cares About Your Morning Commute
Because GlobalHack Is Putting the Midwest on the Map
Because LaunchCode Is Tackling the Paucity of Women in Tech
Because We Can Turn Adversity Into a Breakthrough
Because We Have Better Dive Bars Than Anyone
Because Side Project Is One of the Best Places in the U.S. to Enjoy Craft Beer
Because Start Bar Is Giving Game Lovers a Home Away From Home
Because We Drink Our Gin in Buckets
Because Scarlett's Wine Bar Proves That Lightning Can Strike Thrice
Because Taste's 'Hot Jupiter' Will Give You a Planet-Size Rush
Because Porano Has Given Us Negroni Slushies
Because You Can Drink Out of Hemingway's Head at the Libertine
Because the Hideaway's New Owners Have Made a Great Bar Even Better
Because You Can Get Wasted Here for $15 ... or Less
Because We've Figured Out That Great Food Doesn't Have to Be Fancy
Because Our Restaurants Don't Just Talk the Talk
Because Vista Ramen Puts Substance Behind the Hype
Because Comet Coffee Has the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies on Earth
Because Boundary's Ceviche Can Save You Airfare to Peru
Because Even Our Toast Shops Are Charming
Because Our Chefs Prove That Creole and Korean Fusion Actually Works
Because the Best Nashville Hot Chicken Is Here in St. Louis
Because We Know There's More Than One Way to Serve a Hot Dog
Because Edibles & Essentials Has Perfected the Neighborhood Cafe
Because Reeds' Andrey Ivanov Proves That Top Service Can Still Be Approachable
Because Our Italian Food Is No Longer 'Red or White Sauce'?
Because We Still Have Old-School, Subversive Coffee Shops
Because We Take Our Fish Fries Seriously
Because a Woman Is Leading Our Best New Restaurant
Because Private Kitchen Has Redefined the Tasting Menu
Because You Can't Stop Watching Mike Randolph
Because Our Best Chef Had the Courage to Start Over
Because Cherokee Street Is Basically One Long Street Party
Because Chris Baricevic Is Putting St. Louis on the Musical Map
Because Our Music Scene Gives Vegas a Run for Its Money
Because Concerts at MoBOT Are the Perfect Summer Evening
Because 'South City' Is the Anthem We've Been Waiting For
Because Damon Davis Is Making Afrofuturism Vital
Because No One Does Cover Bands Like St. Louis
Because We're Home to the Midwest's Biggest Underground Hip-Hop Festival
Because KSHE's Sundays Achieve Classic Rock Nirvana
Because This Year We Put the 'Lou' back in LouFest
Because St. Louis' Metal Scene Is for the Dogs
Because We Still Buy Books Here
Because Even Retail Deserts Are Seeing New Life
Because the Normal Brand Shows That 'Midwestern Fashion' Isn't a Misnomer
Because Even Our Old Barns Are Trendy
Because Our Resale Shops Can't Be Beat
Because in St. Louis, Every Day Is Record Store Day
Because We've Got the Ink
Because We Invented the Anti-Trump Trump-Scented Candle
Because OSO: A Style Lab Has Given Us the Boutique We Were Missing
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