Malcolm Mays

Film career

Sony Pictures, Kodak Films, Todd Black, John Singleton, and Denzel Washington, all have played an important role in Mr. Mays’ productions. His film entitled Trouble, aimed to shed light on the African American and Latin American (Black vs. Brown) tension in South Central Los Angeles; the place where young Mays was reared. The New York Times found Mr. Mays’ story to be so compelling that they printed a front page article, “Based on a true story,” telling May's story and accomplishments.

Cash Money Records artist Glasses Malone announced he would be executive producing his first short film titled The Division, which will feature the rapper as a drug kingpin in Los Angeles. "The Division", a Cash Money Records Film, was written by Charles Penniman and Malcolm Mays and will be directed by Max Albert, co-founder of Albert Mason Media.

Mays starred in the 2013 picture Life of a King, co-starring alongside Cuba Gooding Jr.. The film premiered at the Los Angeles Film Festival and Mays was hailed by Variety as a natural and a highlight. Mays was cited in an August 9, 2013 interview of Cuba Gooding Jr. in the Huffington Post as part of the "next generation" of African-American actors. Millennium Entertainment has acquired all U.S. rights to the film.

Mays starred as Gabe in the 2015 sports drama film Southpaw directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by Kurt Sutter. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Forest Whitaker, and Rachel McAdams. The film was released on July 24, 2015, by The Weinstein Company.

Mays has been cast as a series regular in FX’s drama pilot Snowfall, about the beginnings of the crack cocaine epidemic in Los Angeles in the 80’s. Co-written by John Singleton and Eric Amadio and directed by Singleton, Snowfall is set against the infancy of the epidemic and its ultimate radical impact on the culture as we know it. Mays will play Leon Simmons, Franklin’s (Damson Idris) best friend since childhood.

Music career

Malcolm Mays started playing piano at age eleven and is the self-proclaimed writer of music heavily influenced by 90's R&B and 18th century poetry. Mays cites broad influences from music, art and film. Influences cited by Mays as inspirations include music from Eric Dolphy and John Coltrane to Rachmaninov and Beethoven, paintings of Caravaggio and Michelangelo, performers such as Sinatra, Prince, Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones, and the poetry of John Keats & James Baldwin. Mays has also cited the voice of Nina Simone and the readings of Maya Angelou and acts such as The Yardbirds, Cream and Jimi Hendrix as major influences.

In 2011, Mays linked up with producers like Skiii Team who is known to have worked with Hollywood Holt, Mikey Rocks of The Cool Kids to produce the tracks for his initial release.

Mays released his own self-produced tracks titled "Dichotomy" in 2013 and "Ruthless" in 2015. Mays also produced and directed the music videos for each of the tracks, releasing the video for "Ruthless" following the release of the film "Southpaw". Both the songs and the videos were received with rave reviews by critics. After released of the second track, "Ruthless". Hip-Hop blog This Song Slaps, cited "Malcolm Mays is one of the most under-appreciated hip hop artists around today. He possesses a flow unmatched, dense lyrical content, and a sense of melody that’s truly uncommon within the world of hip hop music."

Mass Appeal stated of the Mays production of the film for the song "Dichotomy, "The video opens with a scene reminiscent of a biblical baptism before cutting to a ballet-esque twerk session. Throughout the video, Malcolm pauses to reflect on his past, but keeps getting distracted by matters of a more physical nature... Don’t get too distracted while watching the video, or you might miss out on depth of Malcolm Mays’ lyrical content. Lines like, “I’m trying to live like you, but the truth is, Lord, you had some daddy issues too,” show that Mays talents extend outside of the world of film." Will.i.am said of the video and song, "its crazy fresh... LOS ANGELES coolness".