Young Vibez

"There is wisdom in heartbreak; learn from our mistakes, and find the soulmate with what you've learned". - Young Vibez, 2020
Joshua Brian Griener (February 19, 1999 - November 10, 2020) was an American rapper and athlete from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, known as Young Vibez.
Young Vibez was one of the five founders of Young Rich Nation (YRN), the predecessor of Young Grown Nation (YGN) and co-lead it alongside his close-friend and business partner, Young Squadz, from the founding in February 2020 - his death, in which Squadz retired acted as leader until retirement shortly after.
He was a well-respected athlete during his childhood, and a popular, beloved jock during his school football and basketball careers, prior to graduation, and had expressed interest in joining the NFL sometime before he was 23.
Young Vibez and Lil Foxy were both fatally gunned down in an unprovoked, non-gang affiliated drive-by shooting on November 10, 2020 which was a consequence of a failed robbery attempt on Vibez. Although both musicians were killed prior to YGN's formation, they are both heavily tributed and mourned for their accomplished and memorable involvement in the lives of not only the future YGN, but lives everywhere.
== History ==
=== Childhood (1999 - 2009) ===
Joshua Brian Griener was born to an unknown mother and Robert Griener on February 19, 1999, in Thomasville, North Carolina. Although his parents broke up briefly, Robert would return in summer 2002, when he'd conceive a second child, who would be named Anthony Michael Griener (and later, Juvie Kidd). 
Robert ran away again, shortly after Anthony was born, and moved back to Puerto Rico. This took a toll on both brothers, who were raised by Robert's wife at the time, who fought to keep custody of the two children, while going through divorce proceedings, and the two boys were left with little male role-models, as all of her relationships afterwords, which did not lead to further siblings, were pawns for drugs, sex and did nothing to provide for the children, although their mother was reportedly caring for the boys, and did her best, despite all of the deadbeat boyfriends.
During his childhood, Josh would frequently find himself up to trouble, getting suspended frequently for fighting, and was well percieved as a troubled adolescent, and bullied many students and other children, especially his brother Anthony.
Josh would later meet Dwight Connors (Papa Brix), in the bathroom at a school in Thomasville, in 2009. Dwight was trying to stab his own throat with a pair of scissors, and Josh witnessing this hit his nerves; he would later report he'd never seen something like this before in person, and had only seen this in movies, and knew what it meant, but somehow managed to talk Dwight out of hurting himself, in return for a "sidekick", considering the situation like a movie scene. having improperly grasped the severity of the situation at the time.
Later, he'd meet Connor Graham (Tha Ghost) on the schoolbus, and would form a trio with Connor and Dwight.
=== Juvenile Arrest (2011 - 2012) ===
Josh would frequently act up in middle school, so much to the point he'd very frequently find himself sent out of class, suspended, or given detention. His act-ups would primarily be fighting, bullying or other means towards students, indiscriminately and out of "territorial" means. At some point in 2011, Josh was expelled after vandalizing his principal's car with a baseball bat, supposedly over the principal allowing the school to begin supporting Pride Month, as Josh was raised to at the time, condemn homosexuality and perceive it as a sin.
Frustrated with the expulsion, he simply upped his aggression, so he got Dwight and his cousin, Blake (Grease) to help him seek revenge, and they tracked the principal's home through LinkedIn (reportedly) and would through bricks through his windows, and spray painted "F*ggot Lover" on his car. After this, the principal would file criminal charges.
Josh reported later, that he regretted his doings in his later life, as he'd later become a strong supporter of homosexual rights, and did not shift his blame for his doings; he stated in his mind, he was bound to hate anything that he figured the majority would, and took the lengths to heart. He would recall that the vandalism and threats he'd made against the school official gave him away, and although the criminal investigation failed to discover the other two accomplices (Dwight and Blake) and only Josh was punished.
This lead to his ten-month stint in juvenile hall, and upon his return, he seemingly was "corrected", and was ready to make changes. Unfortunately, due to his expulsion and exposing his family's reputation as prejudiced and ignorant homophobes, they relocated from Thomasville to Chapel Hill.
=== Chapel Hill Lifestyle/Rap Career Origins (2011 - 2019) ===
After Josh, Anthony and their mother moved to Chapel Hill, they began to adjust to the environment with ease, as they'd moved homes multiple times throughout the boy's childhood, albeit only in Thomasville. Josh would start to adjust well to the change, and actually found himself performing better at his new school, and his grades would rise.
He'd still meet up with his friends on many instances, though it was difficult not seeing them in the halls like he once did, and this complicated things, though he managed to keep a long-lasting friendship with them, or atleast until 2014 when Connor Graham began to slowly distance himself from Josh. 
During the years, Josh had anonymously began to record unreleased freestyles and hold karaoke sessions as 'Vibez the Slasher', and kept his identity anonymous with a Hash Slinger Slasher profile pic from Spongebob as his only social media picture. 
Connor would begin to turn on Josh due to stemming jealousy, and would leave the friendship circle, in which Dwight would pledge his loyalty to Josh and the two remained best-friends during their duo partnership in the music industry, while Dwight was known as Brix the Rockstar.
In January 2019, Vibez met a girl named Tracy at his job in downtown Chapel Hill. The two would begin a relationship after several dates, and one of their planned trips was to Seattle, Washington for a honeymoon. 
When it came time for the Seattle trip, Vibez was only allowed by his mother to participate if he brought along his little brother, Anthony, which he reluctantly agreed to the terms. During this point, they met "Robb N. Graves" (Squadz) and Max (DJ Cat) at a Jack in the Box restaurant. They would soon become friends, especially after Vibez found out Robb was also from North Carolina as well, and lived about 40 minutes from his home. 
Vibez and Graves would hang out sporadically in 2019, and Vibez would break up with Tracy in August, after dumping her for a girl named Nyla. 
In September 2019, they would move in together in Graham, and would get engaged in December.
=== Settling Down/Formation of the YRN (February 2020) ===
Vibez would partner up with Graves, who had just gotten cheated on and dumped. Sympathizing with his new friend, he would come into the planning stage of going into the music industry full-time, and had hoped Graves would be a partner in crime to him, which was accepted. 
It was also clear in motivations, that Connor Graham, aka Tha Ghost, was in the middle of a successful band trio, The Graham Triangle, which Vibez had wanted to compete with, and prove a point in might to his old former friend. 
Vibez had gotten Anthony to agree to join the music industry alongside him, and Graves had called together two of his old friends he'd recently gotten in touch with again, King Tweaky and Ashy Robin. The five would form up their own label, Young Rich Nation, and soon their music empire was just beginning. 
Josh had dropped his Vibez the Slasher alter-ego in favor of a more professional title, and decided to become Young Vibez, to mimic Graves' stage-name Young Squadz, which would work out perfectly as both were the co-leaders behind Young Rich Nation, and 'Young' was the first word in the label's title. 
Vibez' childhood friend Brix joined as a casual member, being both Papa Brix (casually) and YRN Brix (music) at various moments. Blake would also join up as YRN Grease, and two other old friends, gay couple Brian Fletcher 'Fluffy' and Terry Cross 'Snuffy' would join up. 
=== YRN Reign (February 12, 2020 - June 30, 2020) ===
Vibez would reign over YRN after making his music debut with the song 'A Chapter of Pain' which was recorded and released on March 4, 2020; a habit in YRN was all material would be recorded, mixed and released within the same day. He followed up with multiple songs, all featuring his old Hash Slinging profile picture as the cover art, before he changed it later on. (They would later be added as the permanent cover) 
He released multiple songs, before he began recording numerous songs tirelessly, which remained unreleased until he could concept albums, themes, covers, etc. 
The YRN both suffered and benefitted from COVID-19, as hanging out and participating in their daily activities had been restricted by law (but ignored and done regardless), they also benefitted from the increased streaming spike, and profited from illegal underground concerts to rebel against lockdowns, although it's believed Vibez would profit mostly from this, taking credit for the idea and "responsibility". 
Anthony, known as Lil Juvie at the time, would be one of his closest followers in the YRN, and was constantly coined a yesman to his older brother. He was also only given an administrative title because of his sibling relationship to Vibez. 
Ashy Robin died from a DUI following a drinking contest the YRN held. Her death left a deep hole in YRN especially as she had been one of the most beloved members of the label.
Despite this, Vibez, Squadz, Juvie and Tweaky recorded a song that initially featured her, titled 'When Emos Die' the next day. She was supposed to be on the song, but died before she could do a verse, a song similarly done with the 5 of them plus Lil Frosty known as 'Roast'. 
Frosty was an associate of Squadz and King Tweaky who was in the YRN temporarily at the time, before becoming owner later on. 
Vibez continuously recorded numerous material that he did not upload throughout his time in YRN, only dropping solos and occasional features with many of the growing roster throughout.
=== Arrest and YRN Civil War (June 30, 2020 - November 10, 2020) ===
Vibez, still a hardcore Republican at heart, got a rise out of antagonizing BLM protesters during the civil unrest in June, though came at a cost, and eventually (somehow or coincidentally) got his original SoundCloud taken down. He would create a new one, and reupload his March songs, while working on a new concert.
Vibez and Brix were both interested in making music in a rage/electric/emo style, dropping his original emo rap concept. 
His Republican demeanor would be his ironic undoing, as he would begin threatening protesters with a gun at the Graham Courthouse, where a Confederate statue looked like it was going to be victim to vandalism. For his honorable dead, he would be arrested and placed in the Alamance County Detention Center. 
During this point, he still operated YRN from the inside, through new admin Brandi Fox, aka Lil Foxy, was becoming trouble, newer additions to the label would begin beefing with others, and leading to a large quarrel of feuds inside the label, most of which being from Vibez' own little brother, now known as Juvie Kidd. 
Juvie was rising up on the charts, both through TikTok, Spotify and Twitch, and he was deliberately sabotaging other members, including admin Lil Foxy so that their career would fail, and his would remain without competition, even from his own people. 
King Tweaky would be murdered on July 15, 2020 by rival gangsters he'd crossed, which left a contributing admin deceased and another voice in ending the conflicts gone. 
Vibez did absolutely nothing to stop the tensions and conflicts, as the source being his brother, he refused to authorize any form of punishment toward him, but did threaten to punish Lil Foxy for standing against hostile YRN roster. During this point, his and Squadz friendship severely deteriorated. 
Despite the tensions with Vibez and Squadz, the latter did upload unreleased albums of Vibez by his request, in order to keep promoting and supporting his career, despite their thin ice partnership.
In August (some sources say September) 2020, Lil Frosty made his return, and would convince both Vibez and Squadz into giving rights of YRN to him, so he could fix the label, and bring it to its true potential. 
He would manage to end the civil war quickly, being able to actually intimidate Juvie Kidd into cooperation, and all of the YRN either feared or respected him, and came into order. 
With the civil war now over, the YRN would slowly begin to heal its wounds, and productivity would start to grow. Vibez was overjoyed seeing the conflicts resolved, and was also starting to redeem himself, or so he said, seeing error in many of his ways and would become serious about a wedding with Nyla once he got out of jail, and began to turn a new leaf. 
In October 2020, Squadz had brought his childhood friend "Phil N. Graves" to join the label under name Lil Drxp, filling in the footprint of the late King Tweaky. 
Although the extent of their friendship was unclear, it's widely presumed Vibez and Drxp had known eachother outside of YRN, but were simply acquainted rather than actual friends. 
They did work on growing their friendship through jail conversations, and were becoming close during this point, even planning to visit Las Vegas together with Squadz, Juvie and Foxy, and Vibez would talk highly of YRN's future with Drxp, hoping the two of them could be friends. 
During the time he began to see error in his ways, he also reached out to Ghost at the end of October, admitting he was sorry for how he'd treated him before, and had buried the hatchet once and for all, as Ghost's beef was a motivation for YRN's birth to start with, and the two even made agreements to link up again after Vibez was out, so they could work on being friends again. 
=== Jail Release & Death (November 10, 2020) ===
Vibez' long awaited release, after many false-alarms, was confirmed for November 10, 2020. He was set to be released after Frosty made a deal with the state (as Frosty worked for the state in anonymous dealings) to have Vibez released if he was to pick up Drxp from Tennessee and bring him home to NC. 
Drxp was the adoptive son of Lil Frosty, and was stranded in Tennessee after his mother moved there temporarily, and had no transportation to get home. Vibez agreed to go get him, accepting the deal, so on November 10, 2020, Vibez was picked up outside the jail by his fiance, Nyla, and best-friend Papa Brix, who drive him to a Sheetz in Graham to get gas. 
Vibez would go live on Instagram outside the Sheetz, which attracted hundreds of viewers, all overjoyed to see his long awaited release and comeback. After the live ended, he returned home for the first time in five months. 
Here, he was documented to have met up with a bunch of YRN, and was going to get ready to fulfiil his end of the bargain, first working on his car after unwinding for a bit. He recorded two songs, 'You Just Break Me', and 'Professor Guggenheim', the latter being a song "based" on the American Dad episode 'Iced, Iced Babies' which he'd watched with Juvie, Nyla, Brix and some of the YRN just after getting home. 
In reality, Professor Guggenheim had nothing to do with the episode, and Brix had recorded a verse on it with Vibez in the bedroom, unknowingly it was the last song Vibez would ever record. It was also mixed by both of them. 
Then, Squadz and Foxy arrived to the house, reuniting once again and they fixed the car, and were about to head out. Squadz instead insisted on going home to shower and collect some things, and Vibez agreed to pick him up at the apartment.
Foxy had stayed at the house with Brix, Grease, Juvie and Nyla. Although Brix was intended to participate, he bailed last second, and Grease agreed to take his spot in the "road trip", despite being advised medically not to, due to a recent spike in his blood sugar. 
Everyone who was going had showers, got packed up and went to go pick up Squadz before heading to get Drxp in Tennessee. 
Nyla was driving, Vibez was front passenger, while Juvie sat behind him, Foxy in the middle, and Grease in the back right. Despite being full, due to Squadz and Drxp's short, skinny size, they would've managed to fit in the back seat with some effort. 
Just as they reached Eastway Lane, a white truck would nearly sideswipe them, before they slowed down to avoid collision. Recollection of the confrontation is left ambiguous with inconsistencies by the witnesses, but it ended with a passenger in the truck opening fire on the car, striking Vibez through his throat, and speeding up ahead. 
As Vibez was bleeding out, the passenger fired back at the car multiple times, striking him in the stomach multiple times, either a stray bullet or deliberate "self-defense" bullet struck Lil Foxy through her right eyebrow, killing her instantly as she reached for a gun, and the truck sped off. Bullets struck all passengers except Nyla, and Vibez died in her arms before paramedics and police arrived at the scene. 
=== Aftermath ===
With the death of Young Vibez and Lil Foxy that night, YRN was thrown into immediate chaos and lockdown, as others feared a possible deliberate assassination. Losing a co-leader and an admin was a severe blow to the leadership, and Vibez being one of the most beloved and idolized figures was a seperate severe blow to the morale and charm in the label. Grease died the following morning from complications.
His funeral was held on November 18, 2020 (sources unclear) and Young Squadz would remain the sole leader of YRN until his retirement in February 2021. 
Lil Drxp was initially arrested for a prior domestic abuse case, but later charged as a suspect in the murder on November 30, and was incarcerated until charges were dropped on March 15, 2021. Juvie Kidd had died from a respiratory failure on February 17, 2021. Brix remained with YRN indefinitely, retiring from recording music and sticking to teaching roles, and Nyla's whereabouts are unknown as of 2024.
== Allegations of Faking Death ==
Since immediately after his presumed demise, there has been a talk of conspiracy and doubt. A major lead is the situation he was in; Vibez was (reportedly) intimidated into handing over the domain of YRN to Frosty, and was under an impression of being roped into violent feuds with enemies of Frosty, stuck in a pool of self-doubt and need for fresh start, that he had to escape by a staged murder. 
Video recording after the shooting shows Vibez still moving and breathing slowly, though this can be considered twitching and his body slowly shutting down. His open-casket funeral seemed rushed, and a few witnesses claimed the funeral seemed "off" and that Vibez looked as if he was laying still with his eyes halfway shut, and blankets over his figure disguising his breathing. 
The theories circle around a Josh who works at a temp-agency on Maple Avenue, Burlington, who has an extremely striking resemblance to the late Young Vibez, some stating the voices were identical, but the height being offputting. They also point out this Josh had a darker skin tone, rather than the Puerto-Rican/Caucasian ethnicity the real Vibez had. 
Ultimately, no true evidence has ever been uncovered to back up the urban legend that Vibez had faked his death, but it still grows strong, very similarly to the seperate theory that King Tweaky had faked his own death. 
== Personality ==
Vibez was known to be an extremely stubborn, cocky, gloryhound with a quick to spark meanstreak. His entitled personality made him a thorn to work with, and many times his attitude caused others to doubt his intentions and cost him support. 
Despite this, he was far from a total jerk; he was known for being charitable, generous and did truly care for the well being of others, his bad traits only really shining when being in a working environment with him. He was known to be respectful towards adults and the elderly, and charitable towards the poor and unfortunate, similarly to both Squadz, Tweaky and Ashy, which helped their chemistry.
Vibez was an athlete at heart, and was very big on basketball, he claimed there was never a week in his life from age 16 where he didn't play it at least twice. He also had a habit of buying every new release in the Madden and NBA 2K series, often being an avid gamer of the series. 
== Trivia ==
* Vibez' influence is well known, even years after his death. His style of music was mimicked in tribute by 2fPluto, DJ DeKødez and even YGN KGlockz.
* Around the time he died, he was planning to transition styles into the more electric, hyper-like style featured on his last ever album, 'Night Running Forever', released posthumously in March 2021.
* A comeback concert was planned at the Koury Convention Center for December 14, 2020 which would've been the official performance debut of his. 
*he
*Vibez worked for the Target at Alamance Crossing from his move to Graham, up until around March-April 2020, when the COVID-19 Quarantine caused him to become unemployed following shutdowns. Although he likely would've resumed working after the lockdown ended, he died before this could commence. 
*