James Ryan Ho, known professionally as Malay, is an American record producer, songwriter, and audio engineer. He won Best Urban Contemporary Album at the 55th Annual Grammy Awards for his work on Frank Ocean's Channel Orange (2012).

Early life and career

His father is Malaysian. Malay grew up in Bellingham, Washington where he was introduced to classic rock at an early age by his father. Both Jimi Hendrix and Pink Floyd sparked his interest in music. While he wrestled in school and showed great potential, he eventually quit the sport to pursue his career in music. He began to teach himself guitar and piano while making money with a local band in Bellingham. During this period he would go on to build a recording studio in his home. He adopted the producer name 'Maylay' during the 1990s, derived from his best friend's native language's word for 'mountain'. In the mid-2000s, his skills were noticed and Jake One, a hip-hop producer, recruited him to help with the production he was doing at the time for rapper 50 Cent’s G-Unit music group. After working closely with Jake One, Malay moved to New York where he got a job producing on the MTV reality TV show "Making the Band." Malay moved again this time to Atlanta where he produced on multiple projects before finally settling in Los Angeles in 2010. Malay has produced for a number of artists. He was producer for John Legend in the album Evolver (2008) and Frank Ocean in channel ORANGE (2012); the latter won a number of accolades, including the Grammy Award for Best Urban Contemporary Album, as well as 2013 Grammy nominations for Album of the Year, Best New Artist, and Record of the Year for "Thinkin Bout You". He has also produced for Zayn's debut album Mind of Mine (2016), as well as Stacy Barthe, Fantasia, Linus Young, and Yelawolf. Malay also went on to co-found his own record label in 2016, named Britannia Row Recordings, in partnership with BMG. In 2018, the label announced its first signing, The Parlor Mob.

Discography