The love and joy of music in Malakai’s life started from a young age listening to death metal blasting from his parents’ stereo and his dad’s guitar amp. His life changed when he decided to pick up the guitar at the age of 12. Since then music has been nothing short of an obsession for Malakai. Growing with (not apart from) his rock and metal roots, Malakai started finding love for other sounds as well. Artists like Prince, The Beatles, Steely Dan, Parliament-Funkadelic, Joni Mitchell, Pat Metheny, Miles Davis, Wayne Shorter, Robert Glasper, Hiatus Kaiyote and many others influenced Malakai’s eclectic style that he hones today. While a student at the University of Wisconsin- Stevens Point, he earned a bachelor of music studying jazz. Since graduation, Malakai has been busy with many projects: A funk band (Stank Town), A couple Jazz Groups (Meade St. Collective and Jazz for 90s kidz), a metal band (Liar!) And most recently, his solo project.