Kentucky kid blinded by bullet writes book with Master P – with a co-sign from Snoop Dogg

Nearly two years ago, Malakai Roberts was blinded at age 5 by stray bullets that tore through his family's home in Lexington. But he hasn't let it slow him down – Malakai recently published a children's book, with two huge names in rap behind him.

"Adventures with Malakai" covers "teamwork and overcoming adversity," famed hip hop artist and coauthor Master P said in an Instagram post published Tuesday morning. The book is a collaboration with Snoop Loopz, a cereal brand from fellow rapper Snoop Dogg, who appeared in the video to promote it.

"This 7 year old kid inspires @snoopdogg & myself. He lost his vision due to senseless gun violence. And now he’s an author of his own book," Master P, whose real name is Percy Miller, wrote in the caption.

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"This is who I want to be when I grow up," Snoop Dogg, whose real name is Calvin Broadus, added in the video. "I want to grow up to be like Malakai."

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Malakai was a superstar on two wheels before the shooting, and that hasn't changed since he teamed up with the rappers. Footage was included in the Instagram post of the child riding his bike and popping wheelies with determination that Master P, who has deep ties to Louisville after his family relocated there from New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina, said he admires.

“He just don’t give up. This is a kid that just keeps going, and I love this kid," the rapper said. "And that’s why me and Snoop are celebrating him – because he motivates all of us.”

The shooting that robbed Malakai of his vision occurred in December 2020, when two teens who were later accused of aiming for a home next door allegedly fired a hail of bullets through his family's Lexington home.

Malakai's mother, Cacy Roberts, was shot in her arm while attempting to protect her sons, who were asleep nearby. The bullets only missed Malakai's brain by 2 centimeters and left him permanently blind. He lost his sense of taste and smell in the aftermath of the shooting as well, though those senses slowly began to recover in the months after the incident.

Malakai embraced his recovery, though, family members and supporters say.

His family was invited to the Galt House Hotel in Louisville last November by local activist Christopher 2X, whose Game Changers organization supports families hit hard by violence. 2X also worked to get Malakai involved with the University of Louisville's Future Healers Program, which encourages youth affected by violence to become health care professionals, and he was recognized in Lexington at a Kentucky football game in September. Now 7, Malakai also started attending Louisville's Kentucky School for the Blind, where he'd spend two weeks at a time when he wasn't attending Lexington's Breckinridge Elementary School.

He didn't stop embracing thrills, either. He doesn't need his sight to pop wheelies on his bike, Master P said in his Instagram post. And that adventurous spirit, Snoop Dogg said, is inspirational.

"That's what you're supposed to do," he said. "You're supposed to live life."

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More information about "Adventures with Malakai" will be made available online at LPHousepublishing.com. It's available in Braille and is printed by Louisville's APH Press, headed up by the American Printing House for the Blind. All proceeds will go to Malakai so that he can attend college, the website said.

"My inspiration right here," Snoop Dogg added in the video. "Malakai."

Contact reporter Rae Johnson at RNJohnson@gannett.com. Follow them on Twitter at @RaeJ_33.

This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: Kentucky shooting victim Malakai Roberts writes book with Master P