Madd Midnight

"We choose our scars to live with." - Madd Midnight
Richard Joel Graham (September 5, 2003 - June 27, 2021) was an American rapper-singer from Thomasville, North Carolina known professionally as Madd Midnight.
The runt of the Graham Brothers, Midnight was the newest addition to music in the family, and while he never received the same massive acclaim and attention as his three older brothers, he still kept a decent fanbase, although he seemingly lost all known followers by 2022, as his posthumous content gets absolutely no traffic, and his Spotify having been shuttered prior.
He never made it to YGN, but was close with many of the members, and few people outside his brothers' die-hard fans, knew of his existence.
== History ==
=== Childhood (2003 - 2018) ===
Richard "Ricky" Joel Graham was born September 5, 2003, to Bret Joel Graham (1977 - 2021) and Leslie Rhonda Harris-Graham (1976 - 2024), minutes after the birth of his twin-brother, Dennis Clifford Graham. The pregnancy of twins was unexpected, but was accepted fondly. Both brothers were diagnosed with Asperger's Syndrome, which was what hindered their social-skills lifelong.
In his youth, Ricky was especially close to Dennis, who he'd nicknamed "Denny" growing up to mimic his own nickname with a 'Y'. They were eachother's bestfriends growing up, and were known to have done "about everything" together, and would always be by one's side whenever in public. 
Upon joining school, he still maintained his quiet, introverted lifestyle, often enjoying himself by reading books or chatting with Dennis, whenever the two would cross paths in school. Being twins was often a subject of talk by classmates, usually in a neutral fashion, as twins in Thomasville were never heard of until then. He'd often find himself picked on due to his short, runt lifestyle, which was what would inspire him into working out, reportedly to a point he'd nearly break himself with the exercise routines.
Often times, Ricky would hear teachers gossiping about him, and how he'd "never make it" in the world, due to his low grades, social skills and failed interest in school, with his only hobby being reading. At times, he was often coined a "mute", as he almost never was heard speaking, unless he was with Dennis, this would also follow him at home, as he was only known to speak comfortably when around Dennis, their mother, or Brad. He'd often actually skip school, to watch Spongebob.
Throughout his childhood, his father would not shown much interest in him, and would primarily spend long periods bragging about Connor, and both twins never could reach the example of Connor, as they simply lacked the skills Connor did, and could never excel in the same passions, or their own, in competition. Connor himself would often consider them "pesky" and didn't show a strong friendship with the twins, although Brad did.
He was never truly abused growing up, and asserts he always did feel loved by his entire family, and was always provided, but simply did not feel his depression was truly acknowledged, and he was forced to reach high expectations despite his lifelong battle. By the age of 9, he attempted running away for the first time, but rather than be welcomed home lovingly, he was met with a firm lecture, and the first grounding he'd ever received.
Despite his efforts, he was never "buff" in his life. After entering high-school, he'd made excellent feedback from his coaches, all of whom stated he was surprisingly good. Growing up, his primary interest was becoming a professional athlete, however, he was kicked off the high-school football team due to low grades, and this destroyed Ricky, and though as he got older and more frail from his depression spiking up, he began to question his own future, and affirmed his dreams of being in the NFL were simple fairytales, and his body grew more frail from lack of eating, sleeping and exercise in his teen years. 
Ricky had multiple relationships with women throughout 2017 - 2019, none of which were serious, and had barely any affection, and he mostly cited that his interests were just someone to hang out with, and occasionally kiss, hug and nothing more. This was a driving factor in most breakups, as most of the girls wanted something serious out of the relationship such as a future, sexual activity or children, all of which Ricky had absolutely no interests in. 
Despite this, he'd still been hurt by all of the breakups, as he still wanted to build a relationship, but was "young and confused" as to what he wanted, who he wanted to be, and being both cheated on and dumped took a toll on his trust, which hindered his future aspirations to date again. 
Joshua Griener 'Young Vibez' and Dwight Connors 'Papa Brix' were close-friends with Connor during Ricky's childhood, and whenever they'd come around, both would be like uncles to Ricky and Dennis, with Dennis becoming extremely protective of his little twin due to the trauma he'd faced, but both were warm around the two, unlike they were with Connor, and Brix would often give Ricky some Cheez-It crackers whenever visiting the Graham family.
In his later years, he grew fascinated with Lil Peep around 2015. 
=== Involvement in the Graham Triangle (2018 - 2021) ===
Ricky had absolutely no interests in making music growing up, unlike his three brothers. After his sports-star dream was crushed, he sought out new purposes, which obligated him into being a face in the recently developed Graham Triangle band, started in September 2018, but just not an instrumentalist or singer, he would rather be the producer and mixer, along with cameraman behind the music-videos. 
Throughout 2018 - 2020, he made numerous beats, and often times his brothers would attach their instruments to his computer's USB ports, and upload the vocals onto FL Studio, which he'd later mix with and add plugins to make their desired beat. 
This was his goal ultimately, and he would often assist his brothers in 2020, before Connor, now Tha Ghost, made the suggestion Ricky feature in an upcoming song, to boost the publicity.
Ricky had initially refused, but gave in to Ghost's constant badgering, and performed lead vocals in the song 'Traumatic Past', recorded and released October 27, 2020. Despite having absolutely no experience in music, he was able to impress his brothers tremendously, given his experience with FL Studio and working the mix, due to his role as producer for the band. Ricky was previously billed as 'Cyanidal', which was his working name in production, but he would later adopt the stage-name 'Madd Midnight' to mimic Dennis, who was known as Madd Nightmare.
In November, the Graham Triangle was signed to its first label, the Young Rich Nation. Here, Ricky became extremely close with YGN Squadz over time, and despite his previous affirmation he'd never become a full-time, let alone even featured artist in the past, he was once again pressured by Ghost into recording his first-solo, which was recorded and released February 3, 2021, titled 'Fuck Life', both produced and sung solely by him. 
Although Midnight was new to music, he was initially met with extremely positive feedback, and his song 'Fuck Life' was met with high praise. Midnight was so easily manipulated by Ghost into music, because he'd always still looked up to him, despite the past neglect, and simply only did what he felt would bring him and his older brother closer, even if it meant going back on his own interests.
While his first album, 'Forever Waiting' was met with high acclaim, cited to have been the greatest album he'd made later on. His Spotify streams were decent for an amateur singer, with his brothers aggressively promoting him, although he did not sing alongside the Graham Triangle in band-forms at the time, and only stuck to few features with his them. Despite this, he was almost always touring with his brothers as one of their primary sound engineers. 
He would join them onstage only once as a quad, when on March 8, 2021, he did a solo set before them, before later coming onstage with them and sung along, adding backup vocals and operating synthesizers when necessary.
=== Bullet's Death/Joining the Graham Triangle (March 17, 2021 - June 1, 2021) ===
On March 10, 2021, Mr. Bullet (Brad Graham) was critically-injured in a motorcycle crash, which would later lead to his death on the early morning of the 17th. This death devastated the family, and ultimately, Midnight called it quits on the music business. He had asserted once again, he was done with music, despite his growing fanbase and high expectations from YRN, but once again, Ghost interfered and this time, began guilt-tripping Midnight, by implying if he gives up, then Bullet's legacy fails, and that Midnight is the only hope for the band's continued success. 
Nevertheless, this would lead to Midnight returning to music the next day, recording a song dedicated to Bullet titled 'A Broken Place'.
He would also produce and provide lead vocals for the Graham Triangle's new album 'Ornaments of a Broken Soul', being the first album he ever screamed, growled or did metal-like vocals, and provided instrumentals.
By this point, Midnight was now the new third man in the Graham Triangle, standing in the footprint of his late brother. This did not go well over with longtime fans of the G.T, who found Midnight to be a "wannabe" who was now forced in their lives, and others cited his style could never fit in with the hardcore rock and punk his brothers carried talent in, and many fans would stop following alongside the G.T because of this, and other personal fans of Midnight would now stray away from him, and his quality in music dropped catastrophically with the death of his brother, and extremely negative feedback. This would also lead to a rift with Nightmare and Ghost, as Nightmare began to bash Ghost for mistreating Midnight.
He only performed one last time, on April 9, 2021 at Deathmetal World '21 with his brothers, before focusing on his solo career during his last months, and his last concert ever was on May 30, 2021 at an unknown event in Winston-Salem.
=== June 1, 2021 Shooting and Death (June 1 - 27, 2021) ===
Midnight, whose career as a musician was basically over, would be severely injured in a drive-by shooting by rival music collective and Neo-Nazi group PTO, over an attempt to assassinate Ghost for the Laven Wise scandal. Although everyone in the car minus YRN Skipz survived, Midnight took it the worst, as he was met with gunshots, glass-shards, whiplash and blunt-force trauma after the car would overturn, rendering all occupants (minus Brix) unconscious. 
He remained on life-support for several days, before finally awaking around the 7th and being released. He was soon met with immediate "get back to it" vibes from Ghost, their father and many fans and YRN supporters, and felt he'd be a burden to give up on music and his life, and prematurely bit off more than he could chew, recording 'Burned out of It' and 'Sleeping with Tears' on June 14th. He'd return to the hospital later after popping out a stitch and beginning to suffer from deep bleeding after attempting to pick up a box of condiments, having rejected medical-leave from work. 
After returning from the hospital to restore stitches, his downfall slowly made its move. He'd become frequently dizzy, unable to swallow, suffer horrifying headaches, and puked blood on multiple instances, his mental-state began crumbling to the bottom, and leaving him more unhinged. After multiple returns to the hospital in Thomasville, he was reassured he had been simply suffering from post-surgery complications, and would simply began to smoke marijuana and vape as usual, in order to cope with the pain. Later, he'd began abusing illegally obtained Vicodin to make the traumatic pain stop, and would collapse while picking flowers for his parents wedding anniversary on the 17th.
He would now be diagnosed with Toxic Shock Syndrome (TSS), upon the family taking him to a different hospital, and it was revealed the illness was in an advanced stage, and it was asserted he was in grave condition, with a fever of 107 degrees. It was believed he received the infection from the hospital in Thomasville performing surgery on him with dirty equipment, but was never fully established.
On June 18, 2021, his family were called to visit him in the hospital, and both parents were told "they [doctors] don't think he's gonna make it", and urged them to give Midnight his last moments with love, and to make sure all of his last rites and will's are in check. Being told he was living his final moments left the family with an extremely painful mark, but miraculously, Midnight survived. 
While his left kidney was completely shut-down, his right failing, and liver deteriorated, and lungs strained, Midnight survived the infection, and was told the TSS was mostly gone from his body, and that while he recovered at home, to use a dialysis machine, along with oxygen tanks until his organs recovered enough. 
At this point, Midnight was in no condition to be a part of the YRN, let alone music, and the idea to quit, which was now encouraged by both Nightmare, Squadz, Brix and many YRN - YGN who wanted Midnight to let his music go, retire and focus on recovery. Midnight refused to let everyone down, and told Ghost he was still functioning, and made plans to create an album dedicated to his comeback. Ghost persisted that if Midnight felt he was game, to go for it, and continue bringing the family honor, despite his music receiving extremely negative reviews since April.
On June 20, 2021, he recorded his last song ever, titled 'Recovery'.
Midnight's mental-health, which did not heal despite his work-of-God survival, plummeted, and he was frustrated with his condition, especially being unable to return to the music industry with the same energy he once possessed, and on June 27, 2021, killed himself in YGN Squadz' bedroom, with Squadz' own pistol in the AM's.
==== Legacy ====
Midnight's death was the catalyst behind the G.T's disbanding, as it shuttered from his death until December 17, 2021 when it revived as a duo project. Nightmare disowned Ghost, and the YRN would overthrow Ghost as leader of the YRN due to both his mistreatment and influence on Midnight's suicide, along with the war with PTO he indirectly caused and neglected to defuse properly. Although this happened shortly before his death, both men behind the shooting the lead to Midnight's downfall were killed in retaliation at various points, but this did not end the war with PTO nor lead to more support rallying Ghost who presumably ordered the hunt for the two assailants. 
Posthumous content of Midnight has been released at a rare frequency, and receives absolutely no feedback, as Midnight is considered a memory of the past, and the Graham Triangle continued to make music after reviving in December of that year, up until Nightmare too met his own end in August 2022 from a fatal drug-overdose. Up until then, Nightmare had continued the remainder of his return to music as a tribute to his late twin.
== Personality ==
Midnight's personality was best described as a shy, reclusive and self-conscious loner. He never really engaged in serious conflict personally, and was easily pushed around and manipulated by his exes, some of his friends, and especially his father, and older brother Connor. 
He was known to have been very kind and timid towards social interactions, being very awkward but usually polite when not overwhelmed. He best got along with Nightmare and Bullet, both who tried to shield him from the negative environment while preparing him to stand his ground if necessary, hoping he would be able to stand his own ground one day and become assertive towards those who took advantage of his generosity or pushover demeanor.
For the most part, he was a very frequent cannabis smoker and vaper, and frequently listened to Lil Peep, NF and Brennan Savage to escape his mental declines, and was known for being laidback, yet quiet and obedient towards his close affiliates or true friends. 
== Trivia ==
* Midnight is the only one of the Graham Brothers to have no known tattoos.
* He was behind the relationship of YGN Squadz and YGN Knucklz.
** Although both knew eachother for about 13 years prior, he was the one who asserted they could be more than friends, and inspired them to make the move to take their relationship to the next level, on June 15, 2021, considered the last major move done by Midnight, who wanted two people he considered family to be happy together, seeing the potential. They broke up in September 2022.
*Midnight is also the only member of the Graham Brothers to have never been inducted into the Hall of Fame, never received any awards, certificates of excellence, or anything rewarding his music career whatsoever. 
**In December 2022, he was nominated for the upcoming music festival by his brother Tha Ghost, in hopes his music will receive high enough feedback to have him put in the Hall of Fame posthumously.
Category:Alignment: Good
Category:Rappers
Category:Deceased
Category:Producers