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Malko: the Cult Nation catalog behind MOTOMAMI

Published October 20, 2026

Malko is a Francophone artist on the Montreal scene, signed to Cult Nation, whose full writer name, Malko Joseph-Lissade, appears in the credits of his own records. He is not a bouyon artist, and this profile lends him no bouyon title: his place on this site rests on one precise and verified credit. On “MOTOMAMI” and “ONE LOVE” in 2023, then on most of SAHARA and Émotionnellement indisponible in 2024, production is credited to Hypnotic Beatz, the producer this site documents as HYPNO for his 160 BPM bouyon. Between those two shores, the Malko file is rich: a founding EP, MAELSTRÖM, an Amazon Music Canada distinction presented as a Francophone first, and a 2025 ADISQ nomination. This profile follows his credits record by record and separates his catalog from the many other Malkos on the platforms.

Who Malko is: a full name in the credits, one scene, Montreal

Malko is the artist name of Malko Joseph-Lissade. That full name is not press information: it appears, record after record, in the writer credits of his Cult Nation releases, from “TORNADE” to “Parapluie”, alongside the recurring composer William Lareau. That full credit is what makes the right catalog traceable, because the short name, Malko, is shared by many unrelated artists, as the namesake section of this profile shows in detail.

The presentation published by PAN M 360 for the Francos de Montréal, adapted from a Cult Nation text, describes him at 23 as one of the promising figures of the hip hop new wave. It names his stated influences, Josman, Laylow and Stromae, and two traits that recur in his image: a flair for fashion and inspiration drawn from the visual arts. It places him between Quebec and France, two territories his release path confirms, with a return to Paris in spring 2024 to work with other producers.

What the opened sources do not give, this profile does not invent. No source consulted publishes his birthplace, and none presents him as a bouyon, shatta or soca artist. His documented genre is the one on his release tags: hip hop and rap on MAELSTRÖM at Qobuz, pop on 30°, SAHARA and Émotionnellement indisponible. His link to bouyon is a producer link, not a genre link, and it is solid enough to justify this profile: the same production name recurs on his records and on the HYPNO page of this site.

His creative team is stable and readable in the credits. Willy Wonder, presented by PAN M 360 as his creative partner, produces or co produces almost every record opened for this research. William Lareau composes beside him on nearly the whole catalog. Yannick Cabald composes on the records produced by Hypnotic Beatz. And Jean-Christophe Barrette mixes or masters SAHARA and Émotionnellement indisponible, after Richard Addison of Trillium Sound on 30° and MAELSTRÖM. Malko therefore moves with a fixed workshop, record after record.

30° in 2023: MOTOMAMI, ONE LOVE and the Hypnotic Beatz credit

The project that installs the name was released on August 18, 2023 on Cult Nation: 30°, three records and six minutes twenty eight in total. The Qobuz album page gives the exact order: “TORNADE”, already released as a single on July 28, 2023, then “MOTOMAMI”, then “ONE LOVE”. PAN M 360 presents the project as a trio with Afro influences, co written and co produced by Willy Wonder and Hypnotic Beatz. The detailed Qobuz credits refine that formula: Hypnotic Beats, spelled with an s on that page, is credited as producer on “MOTOMAMI” and “ONE LOVE”, and is absent from the “TORNADE” credits.

“MOTOMAMI” is the record that changes the scale of the project. According to the Cult Nation presentation carried by PAN M 360, within a few weeks it became the most streamed song in Malko catalog on Spotify. The title shares its name with the Rosalía album released in 2022, and this profile notes the coincidence without lending it a link: no source consulted connects the two works, by sample or by stated tribute. Malko “MOTOMAMI” is a two minute three record, written among others by Yannick Cabald, William Lareau and Malko Joseph-Lissade.

“ONE LOVE”, the third record, carries the same double credit as “MOTOMAMI”: Willy Wonder and Hypnotic Beats on production, Yannick Cabald, William Lareau and Malko Joseph-Lissade on composition. That pair of records is what directly links Malko to the producer Bouyon Shattaz follows as HYPNO, whose page on this site lists “MOTOMAMI” among his productions. Bouyon soca, started in Dominica by Dada in 2003 according to the first hand testimony of Sean Smokiller Francis and popularized by Triple Kay, has its own history on this site; Malko bridge to that history runs through a studio and a credit, not through a riddim.

Before 30°, the Malko Cult Nation catalog starts earlier. Its Qobuz discography page lists “Spleen Amore”, released on November 17, 2021, then “Patience (Stripped)”, on April 21, 2023, and “LAPIS LAZULI” by Halo, also on Cult Nation, in May 2023, where the Halo name will reappear on MAELSTRÖM. Those early traces are cited here from the discography page opened for this research; the records carried in the structured data of this page are, by contrast, reserved to the albums opened page by page.

MAELSTRÖM: the first EP and the Amazon Music Canada distinction

A few months after 30°, on December 1, 2023, Malko released MAELSTRÖM on Cult Nation, presented by PAN M 360 as his first career EP. The Qobuz page counts six records for twelve minutes forty five: “GOD COMPLEX”, already released as a single on November 10, 2023, “paradis”, “TRISTE & CÉLÈBRE”, “P3LÉ”, with Halo as a main artist alongside Malko, “le monde sur moi” and “lettre à maman”. The genre shown by Qobuz is hip hop and rap, the most urban of his opened projects.

The Hypnotic Beatz credit returns twice there, spelled Hypnotic Beats on that page: on “P3LÉ”, alongside Halo, A$tro and Jaisea on production, and on “lettre à maman”, alongside Mike Clay and Willy Wonder. The four other records show the wider workshop of the project: Hockitay, Jaisea and hellyes! on “GOD COMPLEX”, Dayhills on “paradis” and “TRISTE & CÉLÈBRE”, Halo producing the latter. The EP confirms what 30° had shown: at Malko, Hypnotic Beatz is a recurring producer, not a single pass.

The distinction attached to that period is given by the Cult Nation presentation carried by PAN M 360, and this profile renders it with its exact attribution: with MAELSTRÖM, Malko became the first Francophone artist named Breakthrough Artist by Amazon Music Canada. That is a claim by his label, carried by a Montreal cultural media outlet, and no independent source opened for this research contradicts it or details it further. It is therefore published here as a fact reported by the label, not as an awards list verified line by line.

In spring 2024, according to the same presentation, Malko returned to Paris and connected with producers RayDaPrince, Lucci and Bloody. The RayDaPrince trace is verifiable in his credits from the following fall: he produces “Club Story” on Émotionnellement indisponible, a record also released as a Cult Nation single on September 13, 2024. The Quebec and France path announced by the label therefore leaves traces in the song pages, which allows it to be told without inflating it.

SAHARA and Émotionnellement indisponible: the year 2024, record by record

SAHARA was released on July 19, 2024 on Cult Nation, four records for eight minutes thirty seven, presented by PAN M 360 as a summer four pack. The Qobuz page order is “Aaliyah”, “Baby Push”, “Habanero” and “Mami Quiere”. Hypnotic Beatz, spelled this time with a z, is credited as producer on three of the four records: “Aaliyah”, “Baby Push” and “Mami Quiere”, with Yannick Cabald composing on those three records. “Habanero” is the only record on the project without his credit, produced by Willy Wonder alone among the listed names.

Those are precisely “Aaliyah” and “Baby Push” that the HYPNO page of this site holds in its list of the producer productions, alongside “MOTOMAMI”. The cross check is clean: the bouyon site already knew those records through the producer, and this profile puts them back inside the artist record, with their dates, their label and their full credits. For a bouyon reader, SAHARA is the most direct entry point into the Malko catalog, because three of its four records carry the production signature that links the two scenes.

Émotionnellement indisponible was released on October 11, 2024 on Cult Nation, six records for thirteen minutes forty two: “Champagne”, “Club Story”, the title record “Émotionnellement indisponible”, “DNA”, “Parapluie” and “Le plus beau des diamants”. Hypnotic Beatz is credited as producer on five of the six records, all but “Club Story”. Yannick Cabald composes on those same records, and Samant, under his full name Samant Mathur in the credits, co produces three of them.

“Parapluie”, the fifth record, is the collaboration announced by PAN M 360: Chanceko appears there as a main artist alongside Malko, and his full name, Chancelin Gbalia Kobanga, appears among the composers. The project closes the year 2024 on the format that defines Malko so far: short records, three to six songs, rarely more than fourteen minutes, built as linked runs of singles rather than as long albums. The verified continuation of the catalog, still on Cult Nation according to the opened discography page, runs through “Danny Glover” in January 2025 and “Fashion Week” in July 2025.

ADISQ 2025: nominated in R&B and soul, not a winner

The institutional recognition in the file is Quebec based, and this profile gives it without rounding it up. At the Premier Gala de l’ADISQ 2025, held on November 5, 2025 at MTELUS in Montreal, Émotionnellement indisponible was nominated in the Album of the Year R&B/Soul category, alongside ANJXLXE by ANJXLXE, Softboy Actif by Blynk, Un coin sombre pour danser by Naomi and Aura by Shah Frank. The winners report published by Atuvu gives the category to Shah Frank for Aura. Malko therefore leaves that edition nominated, not awarded.

The category itself tells the positioning of the project. A record presented as pop by its distributor ends up classified as R&B and soul by the Quebec gala, where MAELSTRÖM was tagged hip hop and rap. The three tags turn around the same short and melodic catalog, and none of them brings it closer to bouyon: it is the shared production credit, once again, that makes the link with this site, not a genre kinship claimed by anyone.

The stage completes the picture. The PAN M 360 presentation corresponds to a free Malko concert on the Desjardins stage of the Francos de Montréal, the major Francophone festival of his anchor city. Between the Amazon Music Canada distinction reported by his label, the ADISQ nomination documented by the winners list, and that festival stage, the institutional profile of Malko is that of a Montreal new wave artist recognised at home, with a regular foot in Paris through his producers.

To place that path in the landscape this site covers, the reader can read the HYPNO page, which documents the producer through his bouyon record MAUVAIS PLAN at 160 BPM, then follow the Hypnotic Beatz produced records in both catalogs. Our bouyon playlist itself stays devoted to bouyon: Malko does not enter it as a bouyon artist, and this profile does not ask that he be classified there.

The other Malkos: the disambiguation this profile owes its readers

The name Malko is a textbook case of platform confusion. The Qobuz discography page opened for this research announces 492 albums under that single artist name and mixes unrelated catalogs: a 2006 trip hop album on Bonsaï Music, Basque language rock records on Autoproducido, pop singles on NEEDA in 2024 and 2025, stock and library music under the name Malko alone, and the Cult Nation catalog of this profile. Attributing the whole to one man would be a complete error, and the aggregators that display hundreds of releases under that name commit it every day.

The method followed here is therefore written in plain sight. A record enters this profile only if it meets two conditions: the Cult Nation label, and the presence of the full name Malko Joseph-Lissade, or of his recurring workshop Willy Wonder and William Lareau, in the opened credits. That filter holds 30°, MAELSTRÖM, SAHARA and Émotionnellement indisponible, and sets aside the NEEDA, Autoproducido and Bonsaï Music releases, whose opened pages carry none of those names. The French rapper of the same stage name, the Finnish electronic artist and the other bearers of the name remain separate artists, with no documented link to this file.

The limits of the file are stated just as clearly. No source opened for this research gives Malko birthplace, nor a detailed biography before “Spleen Amore” in 2021, nor a verified official account this site could link without a namesake risk: for that reason, the structured data of this page carries no social link, and only the Qobuz album pages opened during the research. Claims that come from the label, such as the Amazon Music Canada distinction, are attributed to the label in the text, never turned into archive facts.

If a reader keeps only one listening path, here it is: “MOTOMAMI” and “ONE LOVE” for the Hypnotic Beatz bridge, “TORNADE” for the third record of 30°, MAELSTRÖM in full for the rap side, “Aaliyah”, “Baby Push” and “Mami Quiere” for SAHARA, then “Parapluie” with Chanceko and “Le plus beau des diamants” for the ADISQ nominated record. The rest of the context is read on our bouyon soca page, for the history of the genre to which the producer of these records also belongs, through his other catalog.

Frequently asked questions

Who is Malko?

Malko is the artist name of Malko Joseph-Lissade, a Francophone artist anchored in Montreal and signed to Cult Nation. His full name appears in the writer credits of his records. PAN M 360 presented him at 23, at the Francos de Montréal, as a promising figure of the hip hop new wave, naming Josman, Laylow and Stromae among his influences. No source consulted publishes his birthplace.

What is the link between Malko and bouyon?

A producer link, not a genre link. Hypnotic Beatz, the producer documented on this site as HYPNO for his bouyon, is credited with producing MOTOMAMI and ONE LOVE in 2023, two records on MAELSTRÖM, three records on SAHARA and five records on Émotionnellement indisponible. No source presents Malko as a bouyon artist, and this profile does not either.

What is the best known Malko record?

MOTOMAMI, the second record on 30°, released on August 18, 2023 on Cult Nation. According to the Cult Nation presentation carried by PAN M 360, it became within a few weeks the most streamed song in Malko catalog on Spotify. It should not be confused with the MOTOMAMI album by Rosalía, released in 2022: no source consulted links the two works.

What are the Malko records on Cult Nation?

Four projects were opened page by page for this profile: 30°, three records, on August 18, 2023; MAELSTRÖM, six records, his first EP according to his label, on December 1, 2023; SAHARA, four records, on July 19, 2024; and Émotionnellement indisponible, six records, on October 11, 2024, with Chanceko on Parapluie. The Qobuz discography page adds singles on the same label, from Spleen Amore in 2021 to Fashion Week in 2025.

Did Malko win an ADISQ award in 2025?

No. Émotionnellement indisponible was nominated for Album of the Year R&B/Soul at the Premier Gala de l’ADISQ 2025, on November 5, 2025 at MTELUS. The winners report published by Atuvu gives the category to Shah Frank for Aura. Malko was therefore a nominee, alongside ANJXLXE, Blynk and Naomi, and not the winner.

Why are there so many records under the name Malko on the platforms?

Because several unrelated artists share that stage name, and some platforms merge them. The Qobuz page opened for this research listed 492 albums under the name Malko, from 2006 trip hop to Basque rock. This profile only holds the Cult Nation records whose credits carry the full name Malko Joseph-Lissade or his workshop Willy Wonder and William Lareau.

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