Where did all the hippies go? A smoker’s smoker, Maal found his artistic voice by making songs that at first did not appear to be hip-hop. This was his cover- part camouflage and part red herring – that allowed him to insert his own lane into the hip-hop milieu; he comes from a subculture rooted in the working class youth, where how many holes in your boots is absolutely paramount and you never leave home without a jar of grass.