Malik Salaam's destiny was written a long time before he made his debut on this planet. Words like destiny and legacy are more associated with commercials and sales gimmicks these days. Malik knows otherwise. Born, Malak Abdul Ibn-Shakur Abdus-Salaam, to Renford and Sylvia Silvera, Malik struggled to find his own voice outside of the legacy he inherited.

After Malik's father became estranged, Malik found himself mentally disconnected from his lineage and began an uphill battle to define his legacy as his own. While Malik Salaam's closest friends were making arrangements for prison bids, he was in basic training for The United States Navy, as well as, for the rest of his life. Strenuous hours on the flight deck and long voyages on the Pacific Ocean sparked the voices in his head that would eventually transform into the words that he would one day paint on page.

Malik discovered that words shaped thoughts- not only his- but he noticed the shift in conversation whenever one of his shipmates requested one of their favorite poems. Poems that combined the lessons of tradition with the light that his generation could bring a generation that had been written off long before they had even really got a chance to shine. Malik Salaam found himself caught in the current of trying to find his own voice. The structure that was his life began to disintegrate before his eyes.

He had been granted the vision to recognize the ability to make change and to create. And it wasn't long before Malik, composition book in one hand, was embarking on a never-ending quest to sculpt what would become a distinct and undeniable literary voice. It would be almost a decade before that voice would begin to properly resound.

After five years of touring on the country's college and open mic circuits and an artistically limiting experience on HBO Def Poetry, Malik has set his sights on exposing the beautiful struggle that is the Black Male Diaspora through theatre, print, and film. Malik is in touch with the experiences that are encountered on the road to manhood, and uses his fresh and timeless perspective as a catalyst for social change and cultural growth. Malik Salaam is dedicated to reshaping the cultural climate of his generations. And like such legends as Gordon Parks, who came before him, Malik has found art to be his weapon of choice...