Today we are analysing the story of YNW Melly; crimes, mental disorders and great music: you can find these topics and much more in this articol.
YNW Melly, whose real name was Jamell Maurice Demons, was born on the 1st of May 1999, in Gifford, Florida,into a family which was financially backward.
Jamell’s neighborhood is considered to be one of the most dangerous in America, and growing up in such a difficult condition: drugs, violence, and low standards of life, did not help him.
When he was young Demons acted like a good boy but in reality he had a tormented personality.
When he was 9, Demons found a weapon in his uncle’s house.
Since then he brought that pistol to school every day and started his love for weapons, one of the principal themes of his songs.
He grew up listening to singers such as Chris Brown and Michael Jackson and when he was attending eighth grade he went to a friend’s house and recorded his first rap song which was a success.
From that moment Jamell started uploading his music on social-media , particularly on SoundCloud.
He was 16 when he was involved in a shooting and sent to prison; there he wrote some of his best songs.
His younger brother, known as “YNW B Slime,” has also undertake a career as a rapper and Melly once said that he was extremely happy for his younger brother and would do anything to help him.
In June 2018 he was arrested again for possession of drugs and firearms.
While in prison, he started writing lyrics most of which were based on his experiences of growing up in a dirty, shady neighborhood.
‘Murder on My Mind’ was one of his first and best known singles which, however, also brought him troubles. The second verse of the single describes his fantasies of murder.
In August 2018, he released his debut mixtape, “I Am You” which consisted of 15 songs and was a success of critic and audiences.
On the 13th February 2019 YNW Melly was arrested for the murder of two of his best friends: the 21-year-old Anthony “YNW Sakchaser” Williams and the 19-year-old Christopher “YNW Juvy” Thomas Jr, which took place on the 26th October 2018.
According to the Miramar police YNW Melly and another friend of his, YNW Bortlen (20-year-old Cortlen Henry), committed the murders and staged them to look like a drive-by shooting before the latter drove them to a nearby hospital.
The exact location of the shooting is unknown, but both victims had multiple gunshot wounds.
The reason why Demons might have killed his friends is a financial gain even if at present it’s impossible to know something more
Analyzing the wounds, the police concluded that probably YNW Melly himself shoot his friends.
At the moment Demons is in jail and if he would be declaired guilty he could risk the death penalty.
Demons, as most of the rappers, seems to be affiliate to a gang, in particular to the blood gang to which he refers in a lot of his songs.
Demons, in his gory and explicit lyrics, often speaks about his multiple personalities problems; in particular in the song “mixed personalities” and in his album “Melly vs Melvin”.
Demons says in him there are six personalities the most important of which are Melly and Melvin.
Melly is the good part of Demons, he loves music, he just wants to have fun and Demons compares this part of him to Michael Jackson.
Melvin is the bad part of Demons, able to make crazy acts for which Demons, in his moments of lucidity, hasn’t an explaination.
Also when he was young, Demons showed signs of mental disorders: for example he said that one time he burnt a tree without a reason just for fun; pyromania in young age is often symptom of mental disorders and criminal attitude.
Another strange episode of his childhood is that since the age of nine, as already mentioned, he went to school with a pistol in his backpack.
This internal strive comes up in Demons’ music; in fact the melody is often cheerful while the lyric is gory.
Personally I believe Demons really has those mental disorders he speaks about, however I think Demons sometimes exaggerates his problems because they are now part of his character and, even if it might seem absurd, without this feature, his character wouldn’t have had this success with the public.
Coming back to the double homicide he is accused of, there is an interesting piece of his song “Murder on my mind” in which he says:
Yellow tape around his body, it’s a f****g homicide
His face is on a T-Shirt and his family traumatized
| Melly is referring to the shirts made in communites in memory of people killed. |
I didn’t even mean to shoot ’em, he just caught me by surprise
I reloaded my pistol, cocked it back, and shot him twice
His body dropped down to the floor and he had teardrops in his eyes
He grabbed me by my hands and said he was afraid to die
I told ’em it’s too late my friend, it’s time to say “Goodbye”
And he died inside my arms, blood all on my shirt
In this verse Melly imagines him killing involuntary a friend of his.
After YNW Juvy and YNW Sakchaser died, this part of the song created scandal because lots of people said it was the prove Demons killed his two friends and premeditated to do that.
I don’t think so because the song was written an year before this episode and, even if he has mental disorders, I don’t think Demons could have premeditated for an year a murder or would be so stupid to declare it in a song
Furthermore they were friends since they were kids and, in particular in poor nighborhoods and in gangs, friendship among people is very strong and killing a friend is maybe the worst of the crimes you can do.
However I can know him only by his interviews and so I can’t be sure of his innocence, so I think it is right to investigate on this crime and to punish him if he is guilty even if I hope with all my might he is found innocent because he’s one of my favourites.
There are rumors that the police is thinking to use some of his songs (such as “Murder on my mind”) in which Demons speaks of homicides as proofs of the murders.
This is absurd in my opinion because a singer must be free to write what he fells without being scared it will be taken as reality and used against him even if I’m the first who thinks that often the message of rapper’s and trapper’s songs is a bad and wrong message.
Further stir was made by two video’s in which Demons made two strange and suspicious faces after saing the words: “b***h I’m a murder”, while singing “Murder on my mind”.
Someone says that these faces are another proof that he was the murderer but what a proof is a strange face during a live performance? I think that Demons did it for increasing his popularity in a moment in which anyone was speaking of his involvement in the two murders and this was crazy.
Demons was also accused of being in the group of people who killed a policeman; personally I think that this is a more probable fact partially knowing how life goes in that town.
But this accident happened in 2017 and I think that if the police hadn’t arrested anyone for this crime it was because they hadn’t any idea or proof, so this episode should not greatly effect his present situation.
Interview to a friend
What do you think about Melly’s music?
I think that Melly’s music is great because the melody is catchy and we can understand from his lyrics that he really experienced what he says and this is what captures the listeners.
I also think he has a really good voice
Do you think Demons really killed his two friends?
Yes, I think so, but I’m not sure he premeditated to do it.
Do you believe Demons has multiple personalities or do you think he does it for getting visibility?
Yes, I do
IN SINGERS' MIND 