Inspiration can come from wherever. One Boston-based musician summoned it with an app. Eph See wrote the music “Malachi the Uber Driver” after a late-night experience house.
SCOTT SIMON, HOST:
Inspiration can strike wherever, anytime and are available from anyone.
(SOUNDBITE OF EPH SEE SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
SIMON: Would possibly even name it up utilizing an app.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver.
SIMON: A late-night Uber experience led one artist to make this music and to enter it into NPR’s Tiny Desk Contest. “Malachi The Uber Driver” did not win the competition, however the music did win the hearts of our music workforce.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) The entire evening getting…
My title is Felisha Cabral, also referred to as Eph See, and I am an artist, producer and songwriter from Boston, Massachusetts.
SIMON: Eph See has been making music for the higher a part of a decade, however they’d misplaced the spark recently. Then one evening, leaving an artist meet-up, their headphones ran out of battery, and so as an alternative of using house in silence, they struck up a dialog with the one that was taking them house – a person named Malachi.
EPH SEE: He had requested me what I used to be getting back from, and I used to be like, I simply got here from this live performance. So we began speaking about music and streaming and artists not being paid effectively sufficient and all that form of stuff. So I used to be like, oh, this man’s, like, actually educated about music. I ponder if he is additionally a inventive. So I requested him, and that is when he, like, jokingly stated, like, oh, yeah, like, I am Malachi. I am worldwide. Have not you heard of me?
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver, jokes and says he is worldwide. He…
, the battle is actual. I do know artists who’re tremendous proficient and, , nonetheless must work, like, one or two jobs to assist their careers. I used to be like, wager. Malachi, the Uber driver, who’s additionally worldwide, I imagine you. And yeah, then I had requested him, , like, what sort of artwork do you do? And he talked about how he used to do, I believe, drawing and portray, particularly when he was youthful as a result of his, like, grandmother would all the time ship him artwork provides.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) Malachi, the Uber driver, we’re not so totally different, you and I.
There have been simply so many, like, little synchronicities like that of, like, oh, we’re each individuals who discovered artwork a very necessary time in our lives, had particular connections to our grandmothers. And it was simply, like, a stunning dialog with somebody who was keen to attach. And I believe that is one thing that we’re lacking so much today. He was speaking about how, like, he had put the pen down, principally, as a result of he wasn’t any good. And I used to be like, no, like, you must preserve at it. Like, artwork really is for everybody.
SIMON: And in flip, Malachi impressed Eph See to maintain going – to maintain writing, singing and strumming, but additionally to maintain connecting with individuals.
EPH SEE: On the very finish of the experience, he stated, I will see you whenever you’re worldwide. And I simply had this second the place I used to be like, I believe you’re, like, an angel that I wanted to get on this automotive with. It was, like, the primary music I had written in months after, like, such an enormous funk, and it simply spilled out of me.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) Getting…
SIMON: That is Boston-based artist Eph See. Their music “Malachi The Uber Driver” was entered into our Tiny Desk Contest.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, “MALACHI THE UBER DRIVER”)
EPH SEE: (Singing) Drives to move the time and…
Copyright © 2025 NPR. All rights reserved. Go to our web site phrases of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for additional data.
Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts could range. Transcript textual content could also be revised to right errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org could also be edited after its authentic broadcast or publication. The authoritative file of NPR’s programming is the audio file.
