We were lucky to catch up with Malcolm Hinton recently and have shared our conversation below.

Malcolm, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Did you always know you wanted to pursue a creative or artistic career? When did you first know?

My grandmother was into African American art. I grew up naturally watching anime with friends and started coming up with creative drawings in my spare time. In addition to art, she also pushed me to play the violin and to join the festive plays at the private schools that I attended. I fell in love with hip-hop when I first listened to A Tribe Called Quest’s “Electric Relaxation”. From there my influence became Kanye West, N.E.R.D, and De La Soul. I began to mimic their rhymes which lead to me becoming a musician.

Malcolm, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I got into the next tier of being an artist by simply networking. I was 16 years old when I laid my first track and around that time I thought I wanted to be well known.

When I got to college, my ambitions changed a bit, understanding the gravity of black culture and how the music game came about shifted my desire to be impactful rather than to be known. Of course you go through the cycle of trying to figure out what artist you would like to become, but at this stage, my poetry was the focus more so than the melodies themselves.

I was introduced to a few people while in college and they helped influence my sound. Some of these artists such as Jae Dixon and Kinnz would get up in one of our OG’s basement and create music from scratch. We ran into Luke Nasty and our boy Kheeez in a few of these sessions by affiliation and then I started observing other styles of recording.

From there I made maybe about 20 songs in one year with Jae, took that formula and kept reproducing it as I transitioned back to my home state of Maryland where I would go through the writing process daily. I linked with my engineer Devin through my friend Eric and it was history from there.

I ended up playing songs in front of event curators and starting getting introduced to spaces like the Howard theatre, Union Stage, the Filmore, Pure Lounge, and Culture House which all of these spaces hold some level of prominence throughout the DMV. My music got in the hands of a few ARs and now I’m in the process of performing at bigger venues while curating music as a DJ on the side.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The process is the most rewarding. Not the compliments or the fans, the process is why I wake up with the ambition and drive to create. That’s your safe space, but it’s also your mirror. When you don’t pour enough into the behind the scenes work, you feel empty a bit. That’s why it’s so rewarding when you put your all into that process because you can look back and affirm that the results of your work can only be attributed to one thing… the process.

Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?

I’ve learned that non-creatives can be judgmental only because they do not understand the experience of being a creative. They usually are those without a creative skillset of their own, and so the desire to be an artist will never appeal to them unless there’s a big monetary pay off.

The beauty of life is that we are all creatives. That satisfaction from putting together an outfit or decorating your room is the same satisfaction I get after spending hours creating a song. The connecting piece is that regardless of how someone feels about that outfit or that living room set, you yourself enjoyed putting that together. That’s really what it’s all about, the only difference is some people are getting paid to showcase their own little project of work in a more complex fashion.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: NOMAD MAL
• Twitter: @_nomadmal
• Youtube: NOMAD MAL
• Soundcloud: NOMAD MAL
• Other: I’m pretty easy to find. my website is under construction at this time.

Image Credits

Philip Russell
Nikki Williams