G-RAFFE

**Jahiem Raffe Williams** (January 2, 1990 – October 11, 2023), better known by his stage name **G-RAFFE** was an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, and designer.

## Information

### Born

January 2, 1990
Compton

### Died

October 11, 2023
Calabasas

### Genre

hip hop, experimental hip hop, progressive rap, trap, low-key trap, R&B, experimental R&B

### Occupation

rapper, singer, record producer, designer

### Associated acts

Red Pill Planet

Born in Compton and raised in Houston, Williams started off producing for Kanye West's album 808s & Heartbreak (2008). In hopes of starting a solo career, he started releasing songs on his own. He released his debut studio album, The Truth Is Now (2012), to generally mixed reviews. Promising to do better, he released his second studio album, Trapstar (2013). The album has received very positive reviews from citics and it paved the way for modern trap music. Following this he released an R&B inspired EP, Free (2014), in which he also came out as bisexual. In his album Invisible Visions (2017), he expanded his music styles and he ventured more into the experimental rap & R&B sector. After a five year hiatus, which was because his husband Charles Albert died, he released his "magnum opus" Therapy (2022). After that Williams released his fifth studio album, Chase A Bag (2023). It was met with mixed to negative reviews by critics. His first posthumous album, G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time (2023) was released two days after his death on October 11, 2023. His discography also includes one collaborative album, RD PLL PLNT (2023) with his band Red Pill Planet.

G-RAFFE was named as the best artist of the 2010s by numerous publications. He has nine Grammy Awards, and was nominated for 26 more. He also received an honrary degree in music from the University of Houston prior to his death. All of his albums were included on the Rolling Stones' 2022 list of the best albums of all time. Time named him as the person of the year in 2017, due to his achievements and the way he worked himself through all the struggles he experienced that year. As a designer, he helped Kanye West with his footwear brand Yeezy.

## Early life

Williams was born on January 2, 1990 in Compton, California. His parents seperated when he was just three weeks old, because of that he moved to his grandparents that lived in Houston with his mother, Mary Tolton.

He grew up in a poor environment and when his grandparents died when he was 12 years old, he had to support him and his mother somehow. He started off by stealing money from people. Later, he discovered rap for himself and he won his first 200$ in a rapping tournament when he was just 14 years old. He started university in 2009 but subsequently dropped out 3 months later to focus on his music career.

## Musical career

### 2008-2011: Early work with Kanye West and Beastface

In February of 2008 he produced the song Non-Existent for his cousin, Beastface. Kanye West listened to the song and was apparently "blown away" by the production. When he found out who produced the song, he arranged a meeting with G-RAFFE the next day. He invited him to come to the studio with him after talking for a few hours. Over night, they made the song Welcome To Heartbreak together. After West released the album "808s & Heartbreak", Williams got "two or three hundred messages a day because they wanted me to produce a song fot them." He also joined West`s label G.O.O.D. Music after the release.

In 2010, Williams helped producing the songs "Dark Fantasy" and "Blame Game" for West's 2010 album, My Beautiful Dark Fantasy. On the latter of which he provided some background vocals. The same year, he reached the charts for the first time. His song "Trip At Night" peaked at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. He continued producing for Beastface and Kanye West all throughout 2011. In March of 2011 he landed two songs on Beastface's Album "Lost Souls". Three months later, he announced that he started working on his debut album, *The Truth Is Now*.

### 2012-2014: The Truth Is Now, Trapstar and Free

*Main articles: The Truth Is Now, Trapstar and Free*

Williams recorded most of his first albums material in Los Angeles during the first half of 2012. Some of the albums material was leaked mere weeks before the release, so he took the opportunity to rework the album a bit. He added some new verses and re-did the drum programming on some of the songs.The album was pushed back one week because of that and the album came out on July 5,2012. It debuted at number 5 on the Billboard 200 and it sold 149.132 copies first week. The album spawned three top sixty singles, with Abused debuting at number 26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Won't Back Down peaked at number 41 and Be There debuted at number 54. The album received mixed reviews post release and it was certified 4x Platinum by the RIAA in 2022. After the release of the album, G-RAFFE won the Grammy Award for best new artists at the 2013 Grammys.

One month before the albums release, G-RAFFE signed a record deal with Def Jam and 300 Entertainment over two albums each.

After the albums release, Williams decided he wanted to create the best album he possibly can, so he teamed up with Kanye West and recorded with him. They recorded the albums *Yeezus* and *Trapstar* together. The album was hugely inspired by West's previous album, *808s & Heartbreak*. The album incorperated the use of 808 drum patterns and the use of auto-tune.

The album released on October 1, 2013 to very positive reviews by critics. It sold 203.544 copies first week and debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 200, making it his second top 5 album. The album spawned the top 5 single Geez Louise featuring André 3000 and Frank Ocean. Despite its success, the album failed to be nominated for any category at the 2015 Grammys. However, he won a MTV Music Award for the song Geez Louise.The album was later certified 5x Platinum by the RIAA.

In October and November 2014 he released the songs TBD and Bi, respectively. In those songs he came out as bisexual. Both of these songs featured on his EP Free which was released on November 25, 2014. The album also featured the top 5 singe How Could You Be featuring Frank Ocean. The EP sold 151.871 copies first week, making it his second top 2 project. In December he also started his first headlining tour, The Free World Tour.

### 2015-2017: Collaborations with other artists and Invisible Visions

*Main article: Invisible Visions*

The year 2015 started off by him finishing his first tour in May. The same month he appeared on A$AP Rocky's Album *At.Long.Last.A$AP*. Over the course of the year he appeared on more albums, such as *DS2* by Future, aswell as on the album *Wildheart* by Miguel. In 2016, he did more collaborations. He appared on Beyonce's album, *Lemonade*, Chance The Rapper's *Coloring Book* and *The Life Of Pablo* by Kanye West. He also released a collaboration with Canadian singer The Weeknd. The song Wonderful Stuff became G-RAFFE's first number one song on the Billboard Hot 100.

In December, he released the first singles for his third album, *Invisble Visions*.Going into 2017, he released more singles, including Better Off Without Ya and Superhero. His album was released on March 5, 2017 to the best reviews yet. The album spawned the number one singles Kamikaze and VIP Area. The album sold 580.238 copies first week and it became G-RAFFE's first number one album. It was later certified 9x Platinum by the RIAA. The album was nominated for the 2018 Grammys in eight categories, but he won neither of them. Two months after the album's release, tragedy struck and he went on a hiatus and subsequently cancelled his second tour, The Visions Tour, which was supposed to run until 2020.

### 2018-2020: Hiatus and subsequent comeback

Williams went on a complete hiatus from 2017 until mid 2018. He then appeared on Travis Scott's album *ASTROWORLD* and Pusha T's album *DAYTONA*. He then released his comeback single Always Staying In My Heart in July of 2020. Before that, he participated in the production of Kanye West's albums *Ye*, *KIDS SEE GHOSTS* and *JESUS IS KING*. He also produced for his cousin's albums Awakening on Easter Sunday and Untitled, for the prior of which he won two Grammy Awards for his participation on the album. He also released a beat collection under the title *Beats by G-RAFFE* in 2019. It sold 143.231 units and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200, making it his second number one album.

### 2021-2023: Therapy, Chase A Bag, RD PLL PLNT and G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time

Main articles: *Therapy, Chase A Bag*, *RD PLL PLNT* and *G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time*

In 2021, G-RAFFE released the singles Hopeful featuring Kesha and Back In Time with frequent collaborator Ant Clemons and André 3000. The prior reached number One on the Billboard Hot 100, while the latter reached number two. The last single for the album *Therapy* was released on February 14, 2022. It is featuring Bruno Mars and Anderson .Paak as *Silk Sonic*. The song debuted at number two on the Billboard Hot 100. That means every single from the album charted inside the top two, which was a new record. The album was announced on April 1, 2022 and it was released on April 22, 2022. It debuted with 916.000 copies sold. It was the biggest hip hop debut since Eminem's *Recovery* album. The album received incredibly positive reviews from critics upon release. *Metacritic* gave it a rating of 97/100, making it the fifth highest rated album of all time on the site.

After the success of the album, G-RAFFE went on a break and then featured on Metro Boomin's album *HEROES & VILLAINS.* He then announced that he would feature on more songs the following year, this promise was then kept. Williams announced in late 2022 that he is working on a new album and that it is "something different". In February 2023 he announced the creation of the band *Red Pill Planet,* consisting of fellow rappers and singers. The same month, he won six Grammy Awards at the 2023 Grammys for his album *Therapy*. In April of the same year, his fifth studio album *Chase A Bag* was released. After its release it was critically panned. Metacritic gave it a ratingof just 37/100. It still debuted at number one with 211.000 units sold. Three months later, a few days before the release of the bands first studio album, *RD PLL PLNT,* the album was removed from all streaming services. This garnered huge criticism and media attention. G-RAFFE's reasoning was that "it just isn't good enough, I'll make up for it."

The bands first album was released on July 14, 2023. It sold 217.000 copies first week, making it G-RAFFES fourth and many other band members first number one album. Red Pill Planet then appeared on G-RAFFE's sixth studio album, *G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time*. The album came as a surprise release on October 13, 2023. Two days after his tragic death. This album spawned two number one hits and it debuted atop of the charts with nearly 600.000 copies sold. It was named as the best album of all time by publications such as *The Rolling Stone* and *Billboard*. *Metacritic* gave it a rating of 99/100, making it the second best album on their site.

## Musical style

 File:Bild 2023-02-05 180600123.png
His musical style is often described as "bold but with its own twist". His lyrical content was often simple and direct with not a lot of wordplay, but with a good flow and great delivery. He also had a large vocal range, which he can utilise well. He has pioneered the "low-key trap" prduction style which involves simplistic production with not a lot going on in the background, but still with quite a lot interesting elements involved.

Williams has ventured in many different musical styles in his albums. On his debut album, *The Truth Is Now* (2012), he focused more on wordplay and lyrics, while he focused more on the production and utilising the voice as an instrument on his second album, *Trapstar* (2013). On his third album, *Invisible Visions* (2017), the focus was more on mixing R&B elements and classical rap & trap elements together. On the album *Therapy* (2022) the focus was on R&B and less on rap, even though the album had some rap and trap elements in them. With *Chase A Bag* (2023), he returned back to his roots with more focus on the lyrical content. This album also had more lo-fi production than his other albums had. It also had a lot of short songs, which resulted in a mix of different styles. The album *G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time* (2023) featured a mix of all his previous albums in terms of production.

## Other ventures

### Philantrophy

In 2018 Williams donated 20.000$ to the BLM campaign and then he donated again in 2020 in support of the George Floyd Protests. In total he donated 71.000$ in support of the BLM movement. In January 2020, he donated 17.800$ to the Team Trees Organization by Mr. Beast, which plans on planting one tree for each dollar. In 2022 he supported Greenpeace by donating 80.000$ and another 9.000$ later in the year.

### Politics

G-RAFFE was a devout supporter of the Democratic party, even going out of the way and exposing the lies of Republican politicians. Williams supported democratic candidate Barack Obama in the 2012 presidential election and donated 5.000$ towards his campaign. In the 2016 presidential election he supported democratic candidate Hillary Clinton, even appearing with her at one of her rallies in Texas. When the 2020 presidental elections rolled around, G-RAFFE opted to vote for Joe Biden due to "a lack of competent options". Suggesting that his preferred candidate would have been Bernie Sanders. In 2022 he stated on his Twitter account on multiple occasions that he would have voted for TikToker Brent Peterson in the 2024 election.

## Personal life

G-RAFFE's networth was reported being as high was 200 million dollars after the release of his album Therapy. In 2015 Williams bought one house in Los Angeles for 13 million dollars and one house in Minneapolis for $19 million.

### Relationships and family

#### Charles Albert

Main article: *Charles Albert*

G-RAFFE and Albert met at the 2013 Grammy Awards and they started dating a few months later. They made their relationship public after their marriage in 2015. They got engaged in November 2014 and they married in August of 2015 in a private ceremony in Colorado. They went to Bora Bora for their honeymoon. During this time, Albert was diagnosed with autism. When they returned they moved in together in G-RAFFE's house in Minneapolis. In April of 2017, Charles' house was raided by FBI agents because of the suspicion of selling illegal drugs. This wasn't the case. The drugs he had were for his autism. Police officer Barret Chester Arthur thought Albert was pulling a gun out of his back pocket so he shot him directly into the face, all while Williams wasn't at home. When the officers realised their mistake they called an ambulance, but it was already too late. Chester-Arthurt was convicted of second-degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison without a chance for parole.

Because of this, G-RAFFE fell into a deep depression, which he described as "the worst thing that could have possibly happened." He reportedly attempted suicide once in 2018 but was apparently too scared to pull through with it.

#### Other relationships

During 2018 he started an on-off relationship with american actress Elizabeth Debicki. During this time, Debicki gave birth to Williams' only child, Derec Williams (born November 21, 2018). The couple broke up in January 2020. After the breakup, Debicki stated that G-RAFFE was "a great boyfriend and an even better father, I hope that we will be great parents to our child and that we will stay friends for a long time".

### Legal problems

In 2014, american rapper J. Cole sued him for copyright infringement over Willliams' song "Magic". Cole said that this song "blatently stole" the song "Chaining Day" from his *Born Sinner* album. Cole planned to take the case to court, but they came to an agreement outside of court, and they have since retained a friendly relationship.

In 2019, Williams had an altercation with a papparazzo who filmed him on his way to the cinema. Williams attacked the papparazzo by giving him a slap on the forehead. He was sentenced to eight months of probation and 14 hours worth of anger management sessions. The same papparazzo came out later saying that "it actually didn't hurt at all, I just wanted the money". This was picked up by his employer and he has since been fired by the firm.

## Death

Main article: *Death of G-RAFFE*

At roughly 5:07 p.m. PST an emergency call was set up at G-RAFFE's house in Los Angeles. The caller said that Williams "was unresponsive and had no pulse". When paramedics arrived, they tried to regain a pulse for about 1 hour while bringing him to a hospital, They performed an emergency Coronary artery bypass graft in hopes to save his life. While in surgery, the doctors pronounced him dead. Several hours later, the Time Square went blank and every billboard showed a photo of him with "1990-2023" underneath it. After these news broke, a makeshift memorial was set up at Williams' house in Minnesota, the place where he spent most of his time. After the news broke, the websites of many news outlets stopped responding due to the enormous traffic that occured.

The NFL ordered a minute of silence before every game due to his passing. All of his albums entered the top 5 on Apple Music, mere minutes after the announcement of his passing. His album *G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time* came out as a surprise release two days later, which has always been the planned release date. The album broke Spotify streaming records by amassing nearly one billion streams in its first three days. He left behind a journal in which he documented what he did that day, his last entry read the following: "today I had a weird feeling in my chest, but it's gone now. The album is also finished, so maybe I get to rest now after working nearly non-stop! Hope the people will enjoy it this time .\_.". This entry was made the same day that he passed away.

He also left behind a letter to frequent collaborator Kanye West. Before his passing they had a few disagreements and thus decided to not work with each other. This letter said: "To: YE, Thank you for everything! Love, Jahiem". This caught the eyes of many news outlets since he never used his government name for anything. And it was also deemed as "weird" since he seemingly knew that he was going to die, but it turned out that he wrote the letter "just in case something happens". He apperently did this all the time beacause "you never know". Kanye West has not directly responded to this letter, but he held a long speech at his funeral in which he reportedly got very emotional and apologized "for everything he did wrong".

The cause of death was later deemed as "heart attack in association with overexhaustion / fatigue". This was seemingly beacause he spent most of his day working on his album and reportedly "not taking any breaks inbetween, it was just work, work and work". It was later reported that there is no evidence of foul play in his death and that his personal assistant who was present in the house at the time of his death had nothing to do with it.

## Discography

*Main articles: G-RAFFE albums discography and G-RAFFE singles discography*

**Studio albums**

* The Truth Is Now (2012)
* Trapstar (2013)
* Invisible Visions (2017)
* Therapy (2022)
* Chase A Bag (2023)
* G-RAFFE & The Everlasting Essence Of Time (2023)

**Collaborative albums**

* RD PLL PLNT (with Red Pill Planet) (2023)