He had stardom, massive success and all the money in the world. But Gene Elliott Thornton Jr., the rap pioneer formerly known as "Malice," still could not find fulfilment and satisfaction.
He tried drugs and even became a drug dealer, but that only made things worse for him. He was on a freefall to damnation when he finally found what he was looking for: the ultimate meaning and purpose of life through Jesus Christ.
After his public conversion to Christianity in 2011, "Malice" changed his name to "No Malice" the following year and even made a video where he attended a "funeral" to bury his former self, according to Faithwire.
Now Netflix has just released a documentary titled "The End of Malice" where the rap artist explores his dark past and his personal journey towards redemption in Jesus Christ.
In a two-minute video by I Am Second, No Malice explains how he left his old drug dealing ways after the "devil came knocking" in 2009 because "he was coming to get his stuff back."
For the past decade, hip-hop fans have known Malice as one-half of rap group the Clipse with his brother Terrence "Pusha T" Thornton.
Things changed in early 2011 when the Virginia-based rapper added author to his resume with the release of his debut novel, "Wretched, Pitiful, Poor, Blind, and Naked."
The book was inspired by real-life events and his newfound faith in God, according to Black Enterprise. The independently published book reportedly sold an estimated 10,000 copies in just a few months after it was released.
No Malice told Black Enterprise that the title of the book was derived from Revelations 3:17, "which speaks about for as much as you thought you were rich and as much as you thought you got everything going on, you were actually wretched, pitiful, poor, blind, and naked, which is the direct contrary to how you look to the outside world."
Asked what led him to embrace Christ, No Malice said it was at that point in his life when he realised he was in depression—"just never being satisfied, always wanting and searching and looking for the next big pie, but never being able to reach it."
"Without a shadow of a doubt," he said, "I know who saved my life. It was Jesus Christ."
