The 30-year period of 1970 to 2000 in Malang, East Java, was characterized by the self-actualization of the local residents in the form of Arek Malang, a cultural identity that encompassed elements of gangster and rock music culture until Aremania, the Arema FC supporters, superseded it as a form of self-actualization. This study aims to analyze the influence of modernity and the dynamics of Arek Malang to defend their existence during that period. This research contributes to local history in the contemporary era, particularly research about gangsters, music, and football fans. It also attempts to account for why this phenomenon developed in Malang, a renowned cosmopolitan city of the early twentieth century characterized by quests to form cross-cultural conceptions of the self and community (and proto-nationalist) among local politicians, artists, and Chinese and Indonesian populations.