Grafh: Biography

• Overview
• Discography
• Biography
• Related Artists

• 50 Cent
• Saigon
• Aasim
• Juelz Santana
• Cassidy
• Jae Millz
• Papoose

• Nas
• 2Pac
• The Notorious B.I.G.
• Jay-Z
• Rakim
• Big L

Birth Name:

Philip Bernard

Genres:

Rap & Hip-Hop Music, East Coast Rap Music

Decades Active:

2000's

Simply put, Grafh was on the verge to be one of New York's biggest rap stars à la 50 Cent in the early 2000s. His electrifying mixtapes and guest verses grabbed the attention of rappers from all coasts, enabling him to cut tracks with JayZ, Scarface, and E40. Unfortunately, label shakeups and general inertia, alltoocommon recurrences in the record industry, left the aspiring MC's projects on the back burner. Grafh was known for his unbridled personality and graphic wordplay, which prompted some to call him the black Eminem, but those qualities are reflections of his past. Growing up in Jamaica, Queens, Grafh aka Philip Bernard witnessed the gunning down of two important figures in his life: a mentor and father figure who taught him his street smarts and his estranged father who returned into his life in his midteens. He still managed to make it to college but quit after three years, partly due to financial reasons but mainly to concentrate all his energy into a music career. In competition to attain a record deal with artists from GUnit, Dipset, and many other N.Y. camps, he found a home at Epic Records. Between 2003 and 2004, he rhymed on the remixes for Top Ten hit singles by Ginuwine and Beyoncé. However, due to the restructuring of Epic's parent label Sony in 2004, Grafh had to take his recorded material elsewhere. CoCEO of RocAFella Records Damon Dash reached out to the Queens rapper and his Blackhand Entertainment label for a lucrative distribution deal. The following year, the split of RocAFella Records yet again added more obstacles in the way of releasing his first solo album as he moved over to the Damon Dash Music Group.

- Cyril Cordor, All Music Guide