MALACHI
Malachi Broadnax is self-taught artist based out of NYC. My work includes a variety of techniques and mediums. He draws inspiration from over 80 residences in 14 cities, 5 states and 1 district. He gives credit to the many great people that I’ve meet along my journey. Both with inspiring and supporting him as an artist. I have always known him as an Arsenal and DC United supporter.
How did you become an Arsenal fan?
Let's see. Thierry Henry. Actually, as we're talking about World Cups, what was that? The 2003? 2002? The one where it was South Pacific. The matches were on 2, 3, 4 in the morning. I miss those days. Battling insomnia a bunch. I'd be up And I already watched football here and there. But, yeah, that was right, fucking watching that.
And I was watching matches and fucking watched Thierry Henry fucking do something with the ball. Like, he put some English on the ball and, like, split two defenders. Ball bounced right back in front of him, like, mid-stride, never broke stride. And it was right when, like, Tivo came out. So I was like, click, click, click, click.
Right. And fucking playing it over and over again.
And it was like, I fell in love with like the subtle, more of the subtle nuances, football. And then even then it really wasn't, that just got me like fucking playing FIFA. I think like that next year or something, I think 2004 was the first year I got FIFA, like a buddy of mine. It was like when I first started playing FIFA. And that really kind of introduced me to fucking, Uh, more of it. Even then, uh, it wasn't even that. What fucking I looked up what team he played, and obviously you couldn't watch fucking matches in the U.S. Like, there was no streaming. There was no you couldn't even bootleg shit back then, right? There was no there was no watching matches, right?
The Arsenal-Barcelona rivalry, Arsenal was very consistent. Yeah, no, right? They were very consistent. And it wasn't just that. It was the little bit of video that I could see. Arsenal, their style of play back then, especially as well, there wasn't... there was not too many teams playing as smooth as they did. Right. Like that, that kind of balance of like power and strength and fucking, you know, they, nobody was playing like them.
And so it was, it was also fucking more entertaining to watch. Like that, that was another thing as well. It was like, they actually had entertaining football, Chelsea. I just. Yeah. Yeah.
Would you? Okay, so like, I think it's interesting, because a lot of people like even, well, I would say historically, you would say like the World Cup is where people or players get discovered. And you literally just described that kind of like moment where like, oh, you discover this player. And that was your gateway to the drug, which is like the game, but also like playing FIFA.
I don't know if it's that far, but in, um, bro, you know, actually there's a song that there's a couple of FIFA songs, but the, the fucking, um, I can't think of what year it came, but the Franz Ferdinand, uh, what is it? Yeah. If you want me blah, blah, blah, blah.
That shit was fucking, that song is forever. Like it's on one of my, it's on my Spotify playlist somewhere. Uh, cause that song will ever end. Fuck. There's a couple other songs. Fucking, um, these are all more recent from one of the recent ones. I can't think Honestly, if i if i popped it in, I'd probably fucking Like, this is a bang Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I would hear and be like, oh, shit, like, in fucking word for word uh but no nothing like nothing from that far back it's it's funny thinking about, like, these fifa playlists, because they were what, like, Spotify wants to be now.
Like, you get exposed, like international music that's because EA back then fucking had the model, right? Like, everybody forgets EA. EA put so many artists on early right they their their fucking notion of go out, discover fucking cool music all they really all they fucking really did was just listen to college radio. That's all they fucking really did. Like, let's be real. But, you know, having lived in college towns, like, that's where the music always comes fucking first and Well, yeah, they basically kind of kept up with that model, right? And so you'd hear so many songs before they ever went big came out on FIFA first. There was a ton of songs that we'd probably be like, yep, that fucking... Yeah. I think part of this exercise or in the future will be like, hey, give me your songs from this game. You know what else?
FIFA also introduced me to, and I don't know who else did, which was... you know, playing, I fucking, fuck, I used to play with Winder Berman, actually, as well, with the fucking Bruins League, just because that was, like, a buddy of mine's, like, family was German, and that was their team, and that was the only person I knew who fucking, like, supported a professional football team. So, yeah, so we used to play. But, fuck, you know what it really introduced me to, which was fucking all the random-ass lower-tier teams, and the geography. Man, I can't tell you how many people I meet fucking from around the world that like, I'm like, oh yeah fucking oh fucking blah blah blah yeah that's that's over there. And they're like, how the fuck do you know that? I'm like, oh yeah, FIFA. It's like, especially when it comes to the UK, it's like, Jesus Christ.
Uh, I, we were, we were, we were fucking somewhere and we met some English people and they were like, oh yeah, I was like, they have their accents and I was like, I can't quite tell. Um, I was like, where are you guys from? And they were
And they were like, how the fuck do you know about Sheffield Wednesday? And I was like, well, I mean, shit, right? Yeah. How do you not know? You guys got the dopest fucking before. The little owl is fucking fantastic. And they were like, oh, yeah, you really do know what the fuck you're talking about.
I think there's nothing more disappointing than meeting someone from across the pond that isn't a fan of something or doesn't have an association.
That must be me in a nutshell because I've met so many of them. And actually, most of our friends in the UK and Sam has a ton of them, obviously, from being a Commonwealther. Some of her friends are direct families. We're born there. But maybe two of them are avid supporters Like boom like everybody else is like now like a few people I've met in rugby but for the most part I've not met not a ton of fucking like English people who are like die hard fans because they're too busy at the bar or like you know at the match yeah yeah exactly no it's crazy they fucking they I'm like damn man this shit I really thought it would be more of a thing but it's kind of like.
It's kind of like college football here, right? There's a shit ton of college football fans, but in the scheme of things, they're so centralized or like in their places, right? Because some of those other diehard people who are fans, the English don't fucking travel outside of their areas, right? Like they fucking... That's true. Oh, 30 miles, that's fucking forever. And it's like, you have a train and you'll be there in 45 minutes. And they're like, yeah, that's ridiculous. Unless they're going to a match. Unless they're going to a match. Yeah, and then they'll travel for days.
Seriously. No, man, I probably ended up probably, probably a good 20 fucking 30 jerseys of like just gifted jerseys over the years of drafting table.
Tell me your first jersey. Give me a rundown. Your first jersey, your favorite jersey, your newest jersey. I'm going to make you go through the bin.
Fuck, first jersey. First football jersey? Yeah. Fuck, because it was such a tidal wave. It went from
Yeah, why is that one so iconic? Why do, like, everyone loves that one? Or what's, like, your iconic Arsenal jersey, if it's not that one? You know, luckily, fucking, because I got so early in those early, like, in those early years of drafting table, right, when Arsenal was on the, right, the moderate slide, I was able to cop so many of these kits for fucking cheap, right, because it was, you know, it was like, you know, motherfuckers were about off it. Um, so, fuck, that, uh, let's see. That, yeah, the the the sega ones i i'm still trying to find the red one, the dreamcast one. I probably get that i mean that that o2 on Rewind. Those O2, so i've got all three of those, because fucking partial those is because i fucking bought those fucking for you and fucking edwin to have to wear So those two, I have all three of them.
That's so funny. But the two that I have, the first two that I copped were fucking make you assholes wear. For that bet, yeah. The fucking blue and yellow ones. Oh, man. Which is hilarious. I need the red one. That's the one I think I don't have. But let's see. Super iconic. The fucking, a bunch of the Adidas ones are fucking sick. Those classic Adidas ones that fucking, I only have one or two of them. And a couple of the Nike ones. the Oh, shit. The Nike that has, like It has, like, the lightnings on it. Fucking, what is this? Like, 2000 and I don't know. I need to look at kits to actually see.
But that fucking year is, like, home and away are fucking super dope oh Shit, and another one that fucking I copped early that people fucking hated, and now you can get them, everybody's wearing fucking Arteta ones, bootleg None of you motherfucker I was like, I promise to God, Arteta, nobody had a fucking Arteta was the fucking, the Queen's Jubilee. The black and fucking purple ones that fucking no one liked.
Early in the game for super cheap. I remember that with the red... Yeah, fucking people hate
It was nice. Tell me about... Have you been to see them live in London? You've been to the Emirates? You've been to Highbury?
No, I haven't been to a live match. Fuck. Which is crazy because I've been to the UK fucking... What, three times now we'll be back in July actually and we've stayed fucking weeks. Like, over the years probably stayed a couple months in the UK and been, like, November.
I guess we did go July once. November twice no man the fucking, the first time I didn't I was going to go to a Champions League, or Europa League match, and fucking, like, the day of tickets weren't that expensive. I was like, I'm going to grab one. And fucking the fucking day, it was just shit. It was like the worst day ever. It was like fucking 38 and raining. I was like, you know what?
And the guy's like, oh, you're, uh, yeah, so he's like, oh, you're American. And he sees my arsenal thing, he's like, hey, man, just a heads up, you know, you might want to be careful of, like, while you're walking around wearing that, like, in this neighborhood.
Fuck it. I don't feel like going. And I'm glad I fucking didn't because we end up losing fucking 2-0 or 2-1 against Frankfurt. And instead, I end up pulling up fucking in a bar in Chelsea, like in the neighborhood we were staying. So I pull up at
And I was like, oh, no, I know better, man, I didn't, I just brought it out for the match, I'm not wearing it out while i'm out. you know, I don't fucking, I'm not, I've yet to fucking see anybody I'm really worried about fucking fighting in the UK. Yeah. But I was like, yeah, totally. So we get back, end up talking to the guys, like, fucking, they're both, one of them's ex-military and the other one's, like, active, but he's in the Royal Band. Whoa. And so we started shooting the shit, like, in the Royal Band. And he actually, he's like, he's like, hey, Man. cats uh No, so he ends up in like inviting us to like go on this like tour of the barracks and see all this from behind the scenes. So it was like, man, I was actually glad i didn't go because we literally got to see the changing of the guard from the inside. Oh, that's dope. Yeah, through all the royal fucking barracks. We saw all the shit he gave us. Literally a three-hour tour of all this shit from the inside out. Explained a bunch of shit about how the marching bands and shit, the different ones for...
There's a naval one, all this stuff. Why they march differently, all this other crazy shit. I was like, oh man, I'm glad I didn't go. And then this last time, last summer, it was July when we went. I just ended up doing a fucking... we ended up just walking around fucking the neighborhood. Actually. Yeah. We spent the day just fucking walking around the whole fucking neighborhood. Went to like the Ohio library, walk through those like new apartments. And then, uh, yeah, which is crazy. And then like the front part, it's crazy. Cause like the front entryway, right.
Where like the door guy is, it's like, we're like used to walk in. Right. And it's like, you're the fucking like statue still is. And like the bus and like that tile is still all on the floor. And it's like, These are like somebody's entryway. It's like, it's crazy. That is pretty cool though. How they like kept it. Cause you know how it is too in the UK, like the fucking stadiums are just planted in neighborhoods. Like the fucking, the new fucking hybrid, like, or the new Emirates, like the backside, like it's fucking like, it's like apartments. Yeah. It's, it's fucking, it's crazy the way it's like built in and you would have no fucking clue.
You get over in this neighborhood and, you would have no clue that this gigantic fucking structure of a stadium is right. It's there. It's like, uh, so yeah, that fucking did a couple of tours around there and then like saw some of the other stadiums while we like fucking walked around, like saw Brentford stadium, which is also fucking right in the middle of fucking that shit's in the
Yeah, when I tell people that London has so many professional teams, they're like, what? No way. And I'm like, yeah, no. It's no joke. It's crazy, yeah. We nonchalantly... Was it QPR? Yeah, I think we saw QPR as fucking grounds just driving Wby. They're like, oh shit, yeah. Damn. Yeah, I remember even taking the train. I think it might be QPR that you pass on the way to the airport. It's so, so funny.
Like when I was in Berlin, saying like, okay, like Union Berlin isn't like in the heart of the city per se, but it's actually crazy because it's like in a residential kind of area. Like you have a mall, but then it's like just neighborhood. It's just like people live there. And that was pretty funny. We have like seven minutes left. I was going to ask like, hey, definitely like.Audi Field. What's that like? Because I've yet to go to Audi Field.
It was fucking bland at first. Obviously, DC United is a fucking wreck of a fucking organization. I can't say this enough. They have absolutely just shit the bed when it comes to fucking ownership and building.
I will say it you know, I, you know, there's tons of football bars here and it's that, but i still put having experienced football in both cities enough. Um, you know, I still put dc as like should have been now it's, it's lost out now because the they dc united and they you know, they did such a job with the spirit as well.
I didn't even go to the first couple matches. Like, I just got video from people and being like, this shit sucks. But, you know, I think they...
Like they've done such a job with all, with both teams that they've really killed off a good of like what they could have started as a lot of great grassroots, which could have started years ago. Right. Like we're talking years. I think about like fucking you were a season ticket holder for a year. Like if there's just shit like that, like they did so bad. Like I could never get them to come out to drafting table. They said to fucking like beg them. Like I couldn't get them to do shit to come out.
I'm like, bro, at least I asked him for like, give me a t-shirt or fucking something. I'm like, man,
They had a chance that those first couple matches were fucking crazy, like, right, with Wayne Rooney and stuff like that. They were crazy. That moment, right, that whole Wayne Rooney moment, right, where he's the slide tackle to the assist to the shortest guy on the fucking field to Costa, like, I still put up there as one of the greatest moments that I've ever experienced.
Like, you know, in a moment of, like, where a whole stadium sparks on has since the whole same spark at the same time um that that was that like it was like literally um that moment of right everybody gasped at the same time which literally you could feel like it the vacuum and then the explosion back out it was fucking crazy it's like it was literally that explosion like the vacuum of all all that energy and boom um and that was crazy like that and that started so much and that that kicked off, which was seeming like you know that.
DC was gonna really fucking take head and take claim of like being like the kind of i i always said like the mecca for for soccer in america like i i still yet to meet people who are as knowledgeable about football as as people who are dc and that's also because people let's face it, DC does have a higher educated demographic. It's an international city. Yeah. Yeah. You don't have, we don't have like, sure.
We have like a hockey team that historically has been good. Basketball team has not historically been good. Yeah. Baseball has been up and down. No, but I think it's a bit of that, right. The educated fan and it's, and it's the international fan too, as here it's been, it's a lot of just American fans. Yeah.
So like your niches into but that being said, that's fucking, it's still kind of nice that like, right. I've got, there's, fucking four arsenal bars that i can go to right that i that i've been to. Right. Like, uh yeah. Um, you know, it's that now I, it's still American.
We are. Right.
It takes us less time to get to fucking to the. the city, than it does our friends in brooklyn and our friends in Queens. It's like, it really does. So, um, there are so many people here that like, you can have, you know, a niche thing can fucking still have a million people, right. Or have a couple hundred thousand people involved. Right. Like that's the difference.
Fucking four arsenal bars that i can go to right that i that i've been to. Right. Like, uh yeah. Um, you know, it's that now I, it's still American.
Like, I don't think like, or at least how, what i think like lucky bar was and all the places like in DC, I think those were closer to almost like pubs, you know, and drafting table pubs, whereas like there was a, there's a bit of a decor, and and stuff like, you know, the other day we were watching the match in the Arsenal bar and like three dudes who fucking Madrid fans like came in, opened the door and were like actively cheering.
And I was like, get the fuck out. Like, how the fuck you guys think this is? Like, get the fuck out. And like the bartender was like, yo, man, your drinks are on me. Thank, I appreciate that. I was like, oh, bro, I fucking, I, you guys have been around for a while. I'm saying, the fuck are you guys doing? How the fuck did they even get in here? That's my first time in this bar.
Fuck, like, that's just disrespect, like, fucking, we don't like everybody's welcome, but, like, fucking, you're not gonna, like, don't actively be a dick, like, in somebody else's place, and I'm, and, like, I was talking to, like, people about that, and I was like, yeah, that's kind of the difference, I was like, man, we, fuck, you and it never got away with this shit, like, nobody would have ever got away with this shit, like at draftee tables like everybody knew to be welcome, but, like, you're not gonna fucking gonna be chill. Yeah, yeah. you're gonna feel about it, like.
NEWCASTLE UNITED:HOME, 1995-97
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