"The LA and AR in Malik Flint’s moniker, bLAck pARty, are capitalized in homage to the places that molded him: Arkansas, where he grew up, and Los Angeles, where he now lives. Flint’s music has a rare ability to nestle in the ebbs and flows of real life. “I make R&B music,” he told me at a diner in SoHo back in June,“but I’m not R&B. "