'I was in jail for 10 years - now Eminem is a fan of my rapping and I've become a dad'

A Scouse rapper who gained notoriety after illegally recording tracks from behind bars looks unrecognisable nearly a decade on from his imprisonment. Malcolm Graham, from Bootle in Merseyside, was sentenced to prison in 2016 after officers found video evidence on his iPhone showing him test-firing a handgun that was later used in the fatal shooting of teenager Kevin Wilson. Kevin was shot in the back in February 2015, with Graham subsequently pleading guilty to two counts of possession of a firearm, possession of bullets and two counts of wounding with intent. There is no suggestion that Graham had any involvement in the murder. He received an 11-year prison term and launched a drill rap career whilst incarcerated - now performing under the alias Mazza L20. Graham, now 27, unlawfully recorded several tracks - bragging about possessing a pump action shotgun at 14 and intimidating police informants - before uploading them to TikTok and YouTube, reports the Liverpool Echo . Graham was released from prison in May 2024 and has subsequently dropped five albums as Mazza L20, detailing his experiences in custody. His biggest hit, Murdaside, features the lyrics: "They can the lock the locks but not the clocks, they got us servin' time. I'm from by the dock and we love Glocks, we call it, "Murdaside". Hangin' out the window with a shotty, that's a scary ride." Mazza L20's popularity has skyrocketed, with his most popular songs amassing tens of millions of plays and attracting attention from hip-hop icon Eminem - who contacted him via Instagram suggesting they meet when he's next in Britain. His appearance on Fire in the Booth - a YouTube series where celebrated rappers demonstrate their improvisational skills - has become the platform's most viewed episode ever. His Instagram following has also grown to more than 450,000. Following his prison release, Mazza's "bouncing flow and razor sharp bars" have "turned heads across the industry", positioning him as "one of the genre's most exciting rising stars", music publication Wonderland reports. Twelve months after leaving prison, Graham became father to a baby boy with his girlfriend Kee. Revealing the pregnancy news, he posted on Instagram: "Words can't describe how I feel. Me and Kee have turned 2 into 3. No. 1 priority, but what's understood doesn't have to be explained. "Thank you to everyone for all your support - you don't know half the s*** we've been through... Family first... Now it's time to take over." Speaking with podcaster James English, Mazza discussed his childhood and his descent into criminality - alongside his imprisonment experience. He disclosed his home "was always getting raided" from an early age, affecting his education and eventually resulting in his exclusion from school. Discussing his release from custody, he said: "When you go away for that long, all the relationships you had, all the bonds get broken...because of the distance and that's what people don't realise.So since I've been out I've been rebuilding relationships with my family, settling down, me bird got pregnant."