Malik Champlain born in Brooklyn, New York to a teenage mother, he later moved to Connecticut to avoid violence their current neighborhood attracted.

He was diagnosed with a hearing disorder that soon required surgery, this gave him special education services up until 6th grade. Each year after that those services were declined. Over the next few years Malik struggled to speak because of his stutter. He self motivated himself to read aloud in his room each night to overcome this setback…