Malcolm-Jamal Warner Was a Grammy-Winning Poet and Said It Showed “A Different Side of Me”

To many, Malcolm-Jamal Warner's name is synonymous with their childhoods. He was the older brother his fans wished they had as Theo Huxtable on The Cosby Show. As his career continued over the years, the same fans followed him, fostering his craft on shows like Suits, Reed Between the Lines, and The Resident.

In the wake of Malcolm's tragic death, which was caused by an accidental drowning while he was on a family vacation, many are collectively grieving the unexpected loss. While mourning the person and actor he was, some are also reflecting on other aspects of his legacy, including his love and talent for spoken word poetry.

While much of his career was spent on TV screens, Malcolm had a passion and flair for the spoken word poetry stage. He shared in an interview with Wavy-TV that he "was a poet before I was an actor" and found that his poetry allowed him to show another side of himself to the masses, many of whom associated him with the characters he played.

"A lot of people come knowing one side of me because of what they’ve seen, my public persona, what they’ve seen me do as an actor," he explained to the NBC affiliate. "What I do with my poetry is a different side of me, and it allows me to express myself in ways that I can’t as an actor or as a director, and I think people tend to walk away feeling like they know me and my art better, and also walk away inspired because, though I entertain, I also feel a responsibility to inspire.”

Through his poetry, Malcolm often highlighted issues facing the Black community, doing so by sharing his personal experiences in his art. His work achieved recognition from his industry peers, including musician Robert Glasper. According to Malcolm's website, in 2015, he won a Grammy for his "spontaneous and meaningful contribution" to Robert's Black Radio 2.

Malcolm penned and recorded a spoken word piece for the singer's rendition of "Jesus Children Of America." The song was a tribute to the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook tragedy

Following his 2015 Grammy win, Malcolm continued to gain recognition for his contributions to poetry. In 2023, he was nominated for another Grammy, this time for his solo poetry album, Hiding in Plain View. The album featured nine poems, including Asante Sana, which he performed on The Breakfast Club in January 2023.

Although Malcolm was a Grammy-nominated poet and likely one of the most famous members of the spoken word community, he remained deeply connected to the culture and shared his opinions about it on social media. In February 2024, a year after his Grammy nomination, he shared how the industry had become more mainstream, highlighting that the Grammys had created a category specifically for Best Spoken Word Poetry Album, for which Hiding in Plain Sight was nominated.

"Spoken Word Poetry has become a business," Malcolm wrote in an Instagram caption. "And now that there’s a separate Grammy category for it, expect for the art to change, much in the way poetry slams and poetry TV shows changed the game a bit, for better or worse. But the appreciation of the art form from fellow artists I respect is an intangible that rivals the Grammy and industry attention."

"Poets, do NOT forget the art is what matters," he added. "Everything else is politics over which you have no control. I have a Grammy and a subsequent Grammy-nominated album, so this is not a slight to the Grammys, myself, or 2X Grammy winner (and a big reason there is a Spoken Word Poetry Grammy category) @j_ivy.

We and the other Grammy nominated poets bust a-- and put in the work, but it’s still first and foremost about the art. Please do not compromise yourself or the art chasing outside attention. Continue to build your arc. The rest will come."

Rest well, Mally Mal!