Born Malachi Jacob Thompson, Malakinesis spent the majority of his life growing up in Memphis, Tennessee. As a teenager he began learning how to play the guitar, and making covers of popular songs using a game called Mario Paint. Shortly after starting college, he became more interested in composing original music. After years of experimentation he has finally found his sound. A lot of his music is heavily inspired by the many different video games he'd play as child. From the 8-bit era all the way to modern day games, Malakinesis has studied the soundtracks in order to incorperate elements to make listeners feel as if they are inside a video game.