Alexander Melamid was born into a Jewish family in Moscow. His mother was a publicist and translator and his father was a historian.

The future artist studied at the Moscow Stroganov State Art and Industry Academy, where he got acquainted with Vitaly Komar. In the late 1960s the two friends began to co-author paintings and founded Sots Art, which combined elements of the Western Pop Art and Hyper Realism with painting stereotypes of Social Realism.

Alexander Melamid participated in underground nonconformist exhibitions and was one of organizers of the scandalous Buldoser Exhibition.

Both Alexander Melamid and Vitaly Komar emigrated to New York from the USSR in 1977 to escape pressure of the Soviet authorities. In 2003 each of the two artist decided to continue creativity individually, on their own. About that time, Alexander's first son Dan introduced him to the Hip-hop world which included his clients and close friends DJ Whoo Kid and 50 Cent. Melamid was intrigued with Hip-hop community because of its rich history and worldwide popularity and thus portraits of Hip-hop singers became his first personal works after parting with Vitaly Komar. His works were displayed in the Museum of Modern Art in Detroit.

Alexander Melamid presently works  on his project of the Art Healing Ministry in Chelsea (New York).