WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.259 Welcome in. It's so good to have you here for 00:00:03.259 --> 00:00:05.400 today's custom -tailored deep dive. Yeah, glad 00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:06.900 you could join us. Because we've got a story 00:00:06.900 --> 00:00:09.960 for you today that, honestly, it feels like it 00:00:09.960 --> 00:00:12.339 was ripped straight out of some surrealist movie 00:00:12.339 --> 00:00:15.599 script. Completely. But it is entirely unbelievably 00:00:15.599 --> 00:00:18.320 real. Just consider this contrast for a second. 00:00:18.500 --> 00:00:21.420 How does a child actor, someone who is literally 00:00:21.420 --> 00:00:23.780 casting a sunny smile on television alongside 00:00:23.780 --> 00:00:27.179 Big Bird, grow up to face a life sentence in 00:00:27.179 --> 00:00:29.750 a maximum security prison? Right. It's a massive 00:00:29.750 --> 00:00:31.969 jump. Exactly. And how does that same person 00:00:31.969 --> 00:00:34.750 survive being shot seven times in a single incident, 00:00:34.969 --> 00:00:37.329 lose his mobility, and then eventually pivot 00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:39.789 to become an Eisner -nominated comic book writer? 00:00:40.070 --> 00:00:42.929 It is a mind -bending trajectory. Today we are 00:00:42.929 --> 00:00:45.450 exploring the Wikipedia article on Percy Carey. 00:00:45.490 --> 00:00:48.009 If you, you know, follow underground hip -hop, 00:00:48.049 --> 00:00:50.490 you know him globally as the absolute legend, 00:00:50.689 --> 00:00:53.409 M .F. Grimm. The Grim Reaper himself. Yep. And 00:00:53.409 --> 00:00:55.750 our mission today is to uncover the unbelievable 00:00:55.750 --> 00:00:59.390 resilience, the tragedy, and... And that relentless 00:00:59.390 --> 00:01:02.229 creative drive of a man who literally turned 00:01:02.229 --> 00:01:05.090 his scars into art. He really used reinvention 00:01:05.090 --> 00:01:07.609 as a survival tactic. Okay, let's unpack this. 00:01:08.129 --> 00:01:09.870 Because we have to start at the very beginning 00:01:09.870 --> 00:01:13.290 to even begin to understand how someone navigates 00:01:13.290 --> 00:01:15.549 all these different lives. Yeah, to really understand 00:01:15.549 --> 00:01:18.549 the foundation of Percy Carey, you have to picture 00:01:18.549 --> 00:01:21.530 the Upper West Side of Manhattan in the 1970s. 00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:24.049 Right. This is the environment that shaped his 00:01:24.049 --> 00:01:27.760 early years. He was born in 1970. And his introduction 00:01:27.760 --> 00:01:30.459 to the entertainment world is just, it's one 00:01:30.459 --> 00:01:32.739 of those lightning in a bottle moments that defies 00:01:32.739 --> 00:01:35.400 logic. It totally does. It wasn't through some 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:38.519 aggressive stage movement or a massive citywide 00:01:38.519 --> 00:01:42.019 casting call. The connection actually came through 00:01:42.019 --> 00:01:43.920 his neighbor. And his neighbor happened to be 00:01:43.920 --> 00:01:46.579 Morgan Freeman. Which is wild. It sets the tone 00:01:46.579 --> 00:01:48.659 for the bizarre serendipity of his whole life. 00:01:48.819 --> 00:01:51.420 Seriously. Morgan Freeman actually helped arrange 00:01:51.420 --> 00:01:53.780 for young Percy to get cast as a child actor 00:01:53.780 --> 00:01:56.450 on Sesame Street. This started when he was just 00:01:56.450 --> 00:01:58.950 five years old, and he stayed on the show until 00:01:58.950 --> 00:02:00.950 he was about nine, making his first appearance 00:02:00.950 --> 00:02:03.349 in season seven. We are talking about the golden 00:02:03.349 --> 00:02:05.969 era of educational television here, right in 00:02:05.969 --> 00:02:09.349 the heart of a very gritty 1970s New York City. 00:02:09.590 --> 00:02:12.090 There's this one specific anecdote from the source 00:02:12.090 --> 00:02:14.469 material that just perfectly captures the innocence 00:02:14.469 --> 00:02:17.669 of this era in his life. When Cary was around 00:02:17.669 --> 00:02:20.009 seven, he had a dream about losing his tooth. 00:02:20.539 --> 00:02:22.800 Pretty normal kid thing. Right. Most kids tell 00:02:22.800 --> 00:02:25.219 an adult, the adult smiles and everyone moves 00:02:25.219 --> 00:02:28.919 on. But young Percy Carey told Jim Henson about 00:02:28.919 --> 00:02:31.300 this dream. The creator of the Muppets. Yes. 00:02:31.560 --> 00:02:34.439 And Henson actually turned that dream into a 00:02:34.439 --> 00:02:37.520 real episode. There is an actual episode of Sesame 00:02:37.520 --> 00:02:40.080 Street where Percy Carey and Big Bird spend the 00:02:40.080 --> 00:02:42.240 day walking around the street trying to find 00:02:42.240 --> 00:02:45.060 his lost tooth. Wow. It's this incredibly pure, 00:02:45.199 --> 00:02:47.960 crystallized moment on television. What's fascinating 00:02:47.960 --> 00:02:50.280 here is the stark pivot that happens just a few 00:02:50.280 --> 00:02:53.919 years later. This is where we see the first major 00:02:53.919 --> 00:02:57.099 character shift. We go from this wholesome televised 00:02:57.099 --> 00:02:59.699 innocence, you know, walking hand in hand with 00:02:59.699 --> 00:03:02.780 Big Bird, to a much harsher reality as he enters 00:03:02.780 --> 00:03:05.000 his teenage years. Yeah, the contrast is jarring. 00:03:05.180 --> 00:03:07.860 It really is. He attended Park West High School 00:03:07.860 --> 00:03:10.460 in Hell's Kitchen, and his time there ended abruptly 00:03:10.460 --> 00:03:13.139 and violently. He was expelled after beating 00:03:13.139 --> 00:03:15.919 up a high school dean. And the reported reason 00:03:15.919 --> 00:03:18.599 for the altercation was that the dean allegedly 00:03:18.599 --> 00:03:22.259 owed him drug money. It's a staggering escalation. 00:03:22.259 --> 00:03:25.419 You go from Sesame Street to being expelled for 00:03:25.419 --> 00:03:27.780 assaulting a school official over narcotics. 00:03:27.960 --> 00:03:31.120 But right in the middle of this dark turn, there's 00:03:31.120 --> 00:03:33.620 another vital picket happening. He's finding 00:03:33.620 --> 00:03:36.460 hip hop. He decides at the age of 14 that he 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:38.840 wants to be an emcee. And interestingly, his 00:03:38.840 --> 00:03:41.580 mother doesn't push back against this. She actually 00:03:41.580 --> 00:03:43.879 supports his dream. She bought him his first 00:03:43.879 --> 00:03:45.759 turntables and a microphone. And he didn't just 00:03:45.759 --> 00:03:48.659 casually pursue this in his bedroom either. He 00:03:48.659 --> 00:03:51.740 dove headfirst into the culture. In the early 00:03:51.740 --> 00:03:54.639 90s, he even moved to California for a bit, formed 00:03:54.639 --> 00:03:57.680 a DJ and rapper group called the Grabtagaz, which, 00:03:57.780 --> 00:04:00.060 just as a note, is a separate entity from the 00:04:00.060 --> 00:04:02.840 more famous horrorcore Grabtagaz. There was distinction 00:04:02.840 --> 00:04:04.699 to make. Yeah, and he worked with the legendary 00:04:04.699 --> 00:04:08.319 Rock Raida as his DJ. His raw talent was just 00:04:08.319 --> 00:04:11.789 undeniable on the circuit. By 1993, he was making 00:04:11.789 --> 00:04:14.889 serious waves as a battle rapper. He placed third 00:04:14.889 --> 00:04:16.610 at the World Supremacy Battle that year. Which 00:04:16.610 --> 00:04:20.170 was huge. Huge. To put his industry momentum 00:04:20.170 --> 00:04:22.529 into perspective for you, he was performing at 00:04:22.529 --> 00:04:24.589 major events like the Jack the Rapper Convention 00:04:24.589 --> 00:04:28.089 in Atlanta on Execution Night. Oh man, Jack the 00:04:28.089 --> 00:04:30.550 Rapper. Yeah, for those who might not know, in 00:04:30.550 --> 00:04:32.449 the early 90s, the Jack the Rapper Convention 00:04:32.449 --> 00:04:35.730 was the absolute epicenter of the hip -hop industry. 00:04:36.149 --> 00:04:38.670 If you were on that stage, you were deemed the 00:04:38.670 --> 00:04:41.189 future of the culture. Absolutely. We're talking 00:04:41.189 --> 00:04:43.269 about sharing the spotlight with heavyweights 00:04:43.269 --> 00:04:46.550 like Lady of Rage, Tupac, and Ty Dog Pound. He's 00:04:46.550 --> 00:04:49.310 releasing 12 -inch singles like So Whatcha Wanna 00:04:49.310 --> 00:04:51.870 Go? and collaborating with absolute legends of 00:04:51.870 --> 00:04:54.689 the era, people like Cool G Rap, Curious, and 00:04:54.689 --> 00:04:57.610 a group called KMD. He is building this massive, 00:04:57.689 --> 00:05:00.769 undeniable momentum. He has a full album's worth 00:05:00.769 --> 00:05:02.850 of material recorded for his debut. He's basically 00:05:02.850 --> 00:05:04.990 on the precipice of mainstream success. He is 00:05:04.990 --> 00:05:08.180 right there. And then we hit 1994. I think it's 00:05:08.180 --> 00:05:10.540 important to prepare you, the listener, for the 00:05:10.540 --> 00:05:14.100 sheer brutality of this chapter. In 1994, Percy 00:05:14.100 --> 00:05:16.060 Carey was the victim of an attempted murder. 00:05:16.259 --> 00:05:19.100 He was shot seven times by rival drug dealers. 00:05:19.439 --> 00:05:21.980 And what makes that even more harrowing is that 00:05:21.980 --> 00:05:24.399 the source notes he had already survived being 00:05:24.399 --> 00:05:26.779 shot three times in a previous attempt on his 00:05:26.779 --> 00:05:29.899 life back in 1986. Just think about the gravity 00:05:29.899 --> 00:05:32.240 of that. Ten bullets in total, and he's only 00:05:32.240 --> 00:05:35.240 in his early 20s. The physical devastation from 00:05:35.240 --> 00:05:38.660 that 1994 attack is difficult to fully comprehend. 00:05:38.980 --> 00:05:42.000 The medical fallout was absolute. He was left 00:05:42.000 --> 00:05:45.060 comatose. He was deafened. He was blinded. And 00:05:45.060 --> 00:05:47.639 he was paralyzed from the waist down. It's horrific. 00:05:47.899 --> 00:05:51.000 And the tragedy extended far beyond his own physical 00:05:51.000 --> 00:05:54.490 trauma. In that same attack... His half -brother 00:05:54.490 --> 00:05:57.290 and manager, Jansen Smalls, was killed. Oh, man. 00:05:57.490 --> 00:05:59.910 It's a total catastrophic collapse of his world. 00:06:00.089 --> 00:06:01.990 And when you look at it from an industry perspective, 00:06:02.370 --> 00:06:05.209 the music business is notoriously cold and unforgiving. 00:06:05.370 --> 00:06:07.509 Very true. When doctors predicted that Grimm 00:06:07.509 --> 00:06:09.310 would be paralyzed for the rest of his life and 00:06:09.310 --> 00:06:11.389 that his senses would remain permanently dulled, 00:06:11.389 --> 00:06:14.769 the industry math changed. Every single record 00:06:14.769 --> 00:06:16.649 label that had been courting him for his debut 00:06:16.649 --> 00:06:19.329 album immediately severed ties. Just dropped 00:06:19.329 --> 00:06:22.050 him. Completely. He was viewed as a liability. 00:06:22.879 --> 00:06:24.800 All that material he had recorded on his rise 00:06:24.800 --> 00:06:27.319 up. Much of it was stolen or lost while he was 00:06:27.319 --> 00:06:30.120 in that coma simply because nobody expected him 00:06:30.120 --> 00:06:33.620 to wake up. It is the ultimate rock bottom. Trapped 00:06:33.620 --> 00:06:36.019 in a coma, grieving the loss of a brother you 00:06:36.019 --> 00:06:38.240 can't even attend a funeral for, your career 00:06:38.240 --> 00:06:40.480 erased, and the people who wanted to profit off 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.899 your talent completely vanished. Yeah. But the 00:06:43.899 --> 00:06:47.500 story refuses to end there. Grimm miraculously 00:06:47.500 --> 00:06:49.939 recovers his full vision. He gets his hearing 00:06:49.939 --> 00:06:52.199 back. His speech ability returns completely. 00:06:52.439 --> 00:06:54.860 He does remain in a wheelchair, permanently paralyzed 00:06:54.860 --> 00:06:57.319 from the waist down. But his mind and his voice 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:00.319 emerge entirely intact. Which, medically speaking, 00:07:00.560 --> 00:07:02.879 defies the odds doctors have placed on him. Here's 00:07:02.879 --> 00:07:05.000 where it gets really interesting. Because Grimm 00:07:05.000 --> 00:07:06.740 doesn't just focus on his own quiet survival. 00:07:07.310 --> 00:07:10.089 he pivots from being a solo performer to literally 00:07:10.089 --> 00:07:12.490 lifting up others in the hip -hop community right 00:07:12.490 --> 00:07:15.310 he takes all that surviving spirit and channels 00:07:15.310 --> 00:07:17.350 it into becoming an architect behind the scenes 00:07:17.350 --> 00:07:19.709 he steps into the role of an executive producer 00:07:19.709 --> 00:07:21.870 and this leads us to one of the most important 00:07:21.870 --> 00:07:24.730 foundational relationships in underground hip 00:07:24.730 --> 00:07:27.430 -hop history You're referring to his bond with 00:07:27.430 --> 00:07:30.449 MF Doom. This is a crucial piece of the puzzle 00:07:30.449 --> 00:07:32.610 for the entire genre. Yes. They had been friends 00:07:32.610 --> 00:07:35.250 since the early 90s, initially bonding over their 00:07:35.250 --> 00:07:38.529 mutual love of hip -hop and comic books. Grimm 00:07:38.529 --> 00:07:42.290 even featured on a 1993 KMD track called What 00:07:42.290 --> 00:07:45.990 a Niggy No Remix, using the alias The Grimm Reaper. 00:07:46.209 --> 00:07:48.509 I love that track. But the bond forged in the 00:07:48.509 --> 00:07:50.930 aftermath of their respective tragedies is what 00:07:50.930 --> 00:07:54.110 permanently altered music history. Doom, who 00:07:54.110 --> 00:07:56.790 was known as Zevlovex at the time, had just suffered 00:07:56.790 --> 00:08:00.610 his own catastrophic loss. His brother, DJ Subrock, 00:08:00.769 --> 00:08:02.430 was killed in a car accident. Whatever in the 00:08:02.430 --> 00:08:05.389 same time. Exactly. Grimm had just lost his brother, 00:08:05.529 --> 00:08:08.620 Jansen, and his own mobility. So you have these 00:08:08.620 --> 00:08:11.300 two incredibly talented artists, both completely 00:08:11.300 --> 00:08:14.019 shattered by grief, both abandoned by the mainstream 00:08:14.019 --> 00:08:17.079 music machinery, and they essentially barricade 00:08:17.079 --> 00:08:18.920 themselves against the world and look out for 00:08:18.920 --> 00:08:20.420 each other. We end up living together. Yeah. 00:08:20.500 --> 00:08:22.839 When Doom is finally ready to reemerge from his 00:08:22.839 --> 00:08:25.860 grief and create his iconic debut album, Operation, 00:08:26.379 --> 00:08:29.360 Doomsday, the person facilitating that resurrection 00:08:29.360 --> 00:08:33.399 is MF Grimm. It's amazing. Grim acts as the executive 00:08:33.399 --> 00:08:37.179 producer. He fends the project. He supplies the 00:08:37.179 --> 00:08:39.639 vintage samples that Doom flips into these iconic 00:08:39.639 --> 00:08:42.919 beats. They record the entire thing right there 00:08:42.919 --> 00:08:45.220 in Grim's basement. Right in the basement. Grim 00:08:45.220 --> 00:08:48.240 even financed the release of KMD's shelved second 00:08:48.240 --> 00:08:51.139 album, Black Bastards, ensuring his friend's 00:08:51.139 --> 00:08:54.259 legacy wasn't buried by label politics. It's 00:08:54.259 --> 00:08:57.080 a profound act of artistic brotherhood. Grim 00:08:57.080 --> 00:08:59.279 is building an infrastructure from scratch. He 00:08:59.279 --> 00:09:01.840 founded his own label. day -by -day entertainment 00:09:01.840 --> 00:09:05.480 in the late 1990s, he put together this massive 00:09:05.480 --> 00:09:08.580 Godzilla -inspired MC collective called the Monster 00:09:08.580 --> 00:09:11.879 Island Czars, which Doom was an integral part 00:09:11.879 --> 00:09:14.480 of. In 2000, they even released a collaborative 00:09:14.480 --> 00:09:17.419 EP together on Brick Records, simply titled the 00:09:17.419 --> 00:09:20.139 MF EP, splitting the record's material. They 00:09:20.139 --> 00:09:22.000 were creating their own cinematic universe out 00:09:22.000 --> 00:09:23.960 of a basement. But this is where the harsh reality 00:09:23.960 --> 00:09:25.799 of the American healthcare system and street 00:09:25.799 --> 00:09:28.909 life collide in a brutal Catch -22. We want you 00:09:28.909 --> 00:09:31.490 to really imagine the immense pressure Grimm 00:09:31.490 --> 00:09:34.169 faced here. He's funding these legendary culture 00:09:34.169 --> 00:09:36.830 -shifting hip -hop projects. But he is doing 00:09:36.830 --> 00:09:40.009 it while facing staggering, insurmountable medical 00:09:40.009 --> 00:09:43.389 bills from his extended hospitalization and ongoing 00:09:43.389 --> 00:09:45.990 care. It doesn't just pay for itself. Exactly. 00:09:46.230 --> 00:09:49.029 So to pay those bills to keep the label afloat 00:09:49.029 --> 00:09:51.250 and the music going, Grimm turned back to the 00:09:51.250 --> 00:09:53.309 underground economy he knew from his teenage 00:09:53.309 --> 00:09:56.750 years. He returned to drug dealing. And that 00:09:56.750 --> 00:09:59.169 lifestyle inevitably catches up with you. His 00:09:59.169 --> 00:10:01.110 organization was taken down by law enforcement. 00:10:01.429 --> 00:10:04.330 He found himself facing severe narcotics conspiracy 00:10:04.330 --> 00:10:08.070 charges. In the year 2000, Percy Carey was sentenced 00:10:08.070 --> 00:10:11.049 to life in prison. Life. Yeah, he was prosecuted 00:10:11.049 --> 00:10:13.929 under the Rockefeller drug laws. Now, to understand 00:10:13.929 --> 00:10:15.549 the weight of that, you have to know that the 00:10:15.549 --> 00:10:18.429 Rockefeller laws were notoriously draconian. 00:10:18.490 --> 00:10:20.830 Very much so. They established strict mandatory 00:10:20.830 --> 00:10:23.149 minimums, which meant judges were often stripped 00:10:23.149 --> 00:10:25.360 of their discretion. If you were caught up in 00:10:25.360 --> 00:10:27.740 a conspiracy, regardless of the nuanced context 00:10:27.740 --> 00:10:30.480 of your life, you were facing mandatory, severe 00:10:30.480 --> 00:10:33.259 time, in his case, a life sentence. A life sentence. 00:10:33.659 --> 00:10:36.419 It's hard to even process the psychological weight 00:10:36.419 --> 00:10:39.399 of being told you will die in a cage. Unimaginable. 00:10:39.539 --> 00:10:41.639 But the way Grimm responds to this impending 00:10:41.639 --> 00:10:45.200 doom is a masterclass in creative urgency. He's 00:10:45.200 --> 00:10:47.419 out on bail before his prison sentence officially 00:10:47.419 --> 00:10:50.080 begins. He knows the clock is ticking down to 00:10:50.080 --> 00:10:52.659 his incarceration. And what does he do? He records. 00:10:52.879 --> 00:10:56.860 He records his entire debut solo album, The Downfall 00:10:56.860 --> 00:11:01.039 of Iblis, a ghetto opera, in a single 24 -hour 00:11:01.039 --> 00:11:03.820 period. One day. That's all the freedom he had 00:11:03.820 --> 00:11:06.500 left. That's insane. He pulls in production help 00:11:06.500 --> 00:11:09.559 from Doom and Count Bastille, finishes laying 00:11:09.559 --> 00:11:11.539 down the vocals, and then he reports to prison. 00:11:11.740 --> 00:11:14.559 If we connect this to the bigger picture... It 00:11:14.559 --> 00:11:17.519 highlights a man who absolutely refused to let 00:11:17.519 --> 00:11:19.980 the physical confines of a maximum security prison 00:11:19.980 --> 00:11:22.480 or a wheelchair dictate his creative output. 00:11:22.659 --> 00:11:24.740 Right. Because the story doesn't stall when the 00:11:24.740 --> 00:11:27.240 cell door locks. While he is serving this life 00:11:27.240 --> 00:11:29.279 sentence, he creates a second album. It's called 00:11:29.279 --> 00:11:32.559 Digital Tears. Email from Purgatory. And he releases 00:11:32.559 --> 00:11:34.840 it under one of his Monsta Island Czars aliases, 00:11:34.980 --> 00:11:38.019 Superstar Jet Jaguar. And the logistics of this 00:11:38.019 --> 00:11:40.750 are what make it truly legendary. Oh yeah, he 00:11:40.750 --> 00:11:42.629 didn't just write lyrics in a notebook and wait 00:11:42.629 --> 00:11:45.129 for visiting hours. He actually created the drum 00:11:45.129 --> 00:11:47.509 beats while locked up. Using a portable drum 00:11:47.509 --> 00:11:49.909 machine that he somehow successfully hid from 00:11:49.909 --> 00:11:52.149 the prison guards for the entire duration of 00:11:52.149 --> 00:11:54.620 making the album. It's wild. The source material 00:11:54.620 --> 00:11:57.659 doesn't even fully explain the sheer logistical 00:11:57.659 --> 00:11:59.960 miracle of how you keep a piece of electronic 00:11:59.960 --> 00:12:03.759 music gear hidden during daily cell shakedowns 00:12:03.759 --> 00:12:06.740 for months on end. It really doesn't. It adds 00:12:06.740 --> 00:12:10.179 this massive layer of mythos to the record. You're 00:12:10.179 --> 00:12:12.860 in a highly surveyed, hostile environment, sitting 00:12:12.860 --> 00:12:15.539 in a wheelchair, secretly tapping out complex 00:12:15.539 --> 00:12:18.399 beat patterns on a smuggled device, writing an 00:12:18.399 --> 00:12:21.899 album called Email from Purgatory. It is an unparalleled 00:12:21.899 --> 00:12:25.600 level of dedication. Fortunately, the legal landscape 00:12:25.600 --> 00:12:28.779 shifted. Yes. The Rockefeller laws faced massive 00:12:28.779 --> 00:12:30.919 public and political pushback for their severity. 00:12:31.259 --> 00:12:34.019 His sentence was eventually reduced. And in 2003, 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:36.960 M .F. Grimm was released from prison. Which brings 00:12:36.960 --> 00:12:40.019 up a wildly poetic detail. He was released in 00:12:40.019 --> 00:12:43.019 2003. Meaning that he heard his own debut album, 00:12:43.240 --> 00:12:45.639 The Downfall of Iblis, for the very first time 00:12:45.639 --> 00:12:48.600 only after he became a free man. Wow. Yeah, he 00:12:48.600 --> 00:12:51.320 recorded it in that frantic 24 -hour blur back 00:12:51.320 --> 00:12:53.840 in 2000, went to prison, the album got released 00:12:53.840 --> 00:12:55.399 on his independent day -by -day entertainment 00:12:55.399 --> 00:12:57.740 label while he was inside, and he couldn't even 00:12:57.740 --> 00:13:00.100 listen to the final mixed product until he wheeled 00:13:00.100 --> 00:13:01.700 out of those prison gates three years later. 00:13:01.899 --> 00:13:04.440 Once he was free, his output became practically 00:13:04.440 --> 00:13:07.860 superhuman. He and Doom collaborated again in 00:13:07.860 --> 00:13:10.580 2004 for an album called Special Urges and Spices 00:13:10.580 --> 00:13:13.840 Volume 1, where Grimm freestyled over Doom's 00:13:13.840 --> 00:13:16.320 instrumental beats. Right. He released a compilation 00:13:16.320 --> 00:13:18.980 of his older pre -Prison material called Scars 00:13:18.980 --> 00:13:22.200 and Memories in 2005. But the project he drops 00:13:22.200 --> 00:13:25.460 in 2006 fundamentally altered the scale of independent 00:13:25.460 --> 00:13:28.179 hip -hop releases. The triple album, American 00:13:28.179 --> 00:13:31.190 Hunger. It is hard to overstate the magnitude 00:13:31.190 --> 00:13:33.769 and the sheer risk of this release. It was the 00:13:33.769 --> 00:13:36.929 first 60 -track triple CD album in hip -hop history. 00:13:37.129 --> 00:13:39.669 60 tracks. He conceptually divided it into three 00:13:39.669 --> 00:13:41.570 meals, breakfast, lunch, and the last supper. 00:13:41.710 --> 00:13:44.409 Keep in mind, this is 2006. This is the pre -streaming 00:13:44.409 --> 00:13:46.909 era. Pressing and distributing a physical three 00:13:46.909 --> 00:13:49.250 -CD indie album without the backing of a major 00:13:49.250 --> 00:13:51.870 label requires massive financial investment and 00:13:51.870 --> 00:13:54.870 logistical maneuvering. But this album also marked 00:13:54.870 --> 00:13:57.950 a very painful shift in his personal life. It 00:13:57.950 --> 00:14:00.090 signaled the public souring of his relationship 00:14:00.090 --> 00:14:02.950 with MF Doom. The brotherhood they had built 00:14:02.950 --> 00:14:05.149 in that basement during their lowest moments 00:14:05.149 --> 00:14:08.690 fractured. On American Hunger, there was a track 00:14:08.690 --> 00:14:12.690 called The Book of Daniel. It's a scathing diss 00:14:12.690 --> 00:14:15.330 track aimed directly at Doom. Yeah, it's rough. 00:14:27.449 --> 00:14:34.870 Ouch. So what does this all mean? You've been 00:14:34.870 --> 00:14:37.590 a child star on network television, a street 00:14:37.590 --> 00:14:40.590 -level kingpin, a survivor of 10 gunshots, a 00:14:40.590 --> 00:14:43.590 battle rapper, a prisoner facing life, and an 00:14:43.590 --> 00:14:45.820 executive producer who helped shape the underground 00:14:45.820 --> 00:14:48.159 sound. That's a full life already. Where do you 00:14:48.159 --> 00:14:50.159 possibly go from there? You execute the most 00:14:50.159 --> 00:14:52.820 unique pivot of your career. You literally translate 00:14:52.820 --> 00:14:55.720 your life story into a comic book, right? In 00:14:55.720 --> 00:14:59.240 2007, DC Comics, specifically under their prestigious 00:14:59.240 --> 00:15:02.620 Vertigo imprint, which is known for massive titles 00:15:02.620 --> 00:15:05.100 like Sandman and Preacher released Sentences, 00:15:05.340 --> 00:15:09.139 The Life of M .F. Grimm. It's a graphic novel 00:15:09.139 --> 00:15:11.820 autobiography brilliantly illustrated by Ronald 00:15:11.820 --> 00:15:13.909 Wimberly. And we have to emphasize that this 00:15:13.909 --> 00:15:16.250 wasn't just a rapper doing a vanity project. 00:15:16.470 --> 00:15:19.370 It was critically acclaimed at the absolute highest 00:15:19.370 --> 00:15:22.129 levels of the comic book industry. Exactly. Writing 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:24.889 under his real name, Percy Carey, he was nominated 00:15:24.889 --> 00:15:28.450 for two Eisner Awards in 2008, one for best reality 00:15:28.450 --> 00:15:31.549 -based work and another for best lettering. For 00:15:31.549 --> 00:15:34.029 context, the Eisner Awards are essentially the 00:15:34.029 --> 00:15:35.809 Academy Awards of the comic book world. That's 00:15:35.809 --> 00:15:38.250 huge. He also won two Glyph Awards for Best Cover 00:15:38.250 --> 00:15:40.230 and Story of the Year. He took all of that trauma, 00:15:40.450 --> 00:15:42.649 the street life, the prison time, and the music 00:15:42.649 --> 00:15:45.289 industry betrayals and synthesized it into an 00:15:45.289 --> 00:15:47.370 entirely different visual and literary medium. 00:15:47.710 --> 00:15:49.909 And he just kept innovating conceptually. As 00:15:49.909 --> 00:15:52.429 we move into the 2010s and 2020s, he drops these 00:15:52.429 --> 00:15:55.350 incredibly dense cinematic hip hop projects. 00:15:55.450 --> 00:15:58.049 Yeah. He did a trilogy with underground producer 00:15:58.049 --> 00:16:01.070 Grazar Monumental called Good Morning Vietnam, 00:16:01.450 --> 00:16:04.230 which explored the Vietnam War concept and later 00:16:04.230 --> 00:16:08.000 introduced heroin as a theme. He released a concept 00:16:08.000 --> 00:16:10.120 album called The Hunt for the Gingerbread Man 00:16:10.120 --> 00:16:12.980 and then followed it up over a decade later in 00:16:12.980 --> 00:16:15.899 2021 with a sequel, Get the Dough, complete with 00:16:15.899 --> 00:16:18.279 animated music videos. It's brilliant. He even 00:16:18.279 --> 00:16:21.480 put out a 13 -page comic book to accompany his 00:16:21.480 --> 00:16:24.720 2010 album You Only Live Twice, the audiographic 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:27.139 novel. He essentially transitioned from a traditional 00:16:27.139 --> 00:16:31.519 MC into an architect of these vast multimedia 00:16:31.519 --> 00:16:34.440 universes. He refused to be confined to just... 00:16:34.679 --> 00:16:37.279 Dropping 16 bars on a beat. It is a wild, wild 00:16:37.279 --> 00:16:38.899 ride. Just to summarize what we've walked through 00:16:38.899 --> 00:16:41.159 today for you, you have Percy Carey starting 00:16:41.159 --> 00:16:43.419 as Big Bird's friend on the sunny streets of 00:16:43.419 --> 00:16:46.519 1970s television. He grows into a battle -tested 00:16:46.519 --> 00:16:49.360 MC and a street -level hustler. Yeah. He gets 00:16:49.360 --> 00:16:51.940 violently gunned down, survives 10 bullets, loses 00:16:51.940 --> 00:16:54.059 his brother, and ends up permanently in a wheelchair. 00:16:54.279 --> 00:16:56.340 He rebuilds himself as an executive producer 00:16:56.340 --> 00:16:59.360 who essentially midwives the solo career of MF 00:16:59.360 --> 00:17:01.779 Doom. He gets hit with a life sentence under 00:17:01.779 --> 00:17:04.640 the draconian Rockefeller drug laws. sneaks a 00:17:04.640 --> 00:17:06.960 drum machine into a maximum security prison, 00:17:07.180 --> 00:17:10.720 gets out, independently releases a historic 60 00:17:10.720 --> 00:17:14.099 track album, and then completely reinvents himself 00:17:14.099 --> 00:17:17.059 as an Eisner nominated comic book author. It 00:17:17.059 --> 00:17:19.180 is the ultimate testament to the power of human 00:17:19.180 --> 00:17:21.220 resilience. This raises an important question, 00:17:21.279 --> 00:17:24.220 one I think is worth leaving you, our listener, 00:17:24.279 --> 00:17:27.089 to ponder today. Absolutely. Throughout this 00:17:27.089 --> 00:17:29.029 deep dive, we've touched on this recurring theme 00:17:29.029 --> 00:17:31.230 of reinvention, specifically through the sheer 00:17:31.230 --> 00:17:34.329 number of aliases he used. The source lists so 00:17:34.329 --> 00:17:36.890 many distinct identities. Build and destroy, 00:17:37.210 --> 00:17:39.970 given to him as a teen by King's son. Yeah. The 00:17:39.970 --> 00:17:43.640 Grim Reaper. GM Grim. And of course, the monster 00:17:43.640 --> 00:17:46.660 island czars aliases like Superstar Jet Jaguar. 00:17:46.940 --> 00:17:49.299 Consider for a moment how in the face of profound 00:17:49.299 --> 00:17:52.259 paralyzing real world trauma, adopting these 00:17:52.259 --> 00:17:54.980 alter egos isn't just an artistic gimmick or 00:17:54.980 --> 00:17:57.519 a clever marketing tool. Definitely not. Building 00:17:57.519 --> 00:18:01.059 these cinematic Godzilla inspired universes might 00:18:01.059 --> 00:18:03.299 actually be the ultimate psychological survival 00:18:03.299 --> 00:18:06.789 tool. It allows an artist to step entirely outside 00:18:06.789 --> 00:18:09.769 of a broken physical body to transcend the limits 00:18:09.769 --> 00:18:12.670 of a maximum security prison cell or a wheelchair 00:18:12.670 --> 00:18:15.710 and become an invincible, immortal character 00:18:15.710 --> 00:18:18.529 in their own story. That is such a powerful thought 00:18:18.529 --> 00:18:20.710 to leave on. Thank you so much for joining us 00:18:20.710 --> 00:18:22.710 on this deep dive today. We hope this look into 00:18:22.710 --> 00:18:25.029 the many lives of M .F. Grimm has sparked something 00:18:25.029 --> 00:18:27.829 in you. Keep exploring, keep questioning the 00:18:27.829 --> 00:18:29.650 narratives around you, and most importantly, 00:18:29.750 --> 00:18:31.329 stay curious. We'll see you next time.