Da Grimm One

Theo Royle aka Da Grimm One was born at Walsgrave Hospital on July 28th of the year 1988 to bi-racial mother Donna Royle and black father Keith Bryan. He has one older brother Nathaniel Royle aka DJ Slimm, younger brother Lewis Royle and two younger sisters Kyesha & Kushiah. Growing up around Pridmore a part of the city where money was short and crime was high, although his mother always tried her best to make sure that him and DJ Slimm was always dressed well. As a youth as his dad was more of a come and go dad (not really helping his mum raise the kids) so his Aunt Karen and Nan Sylvia would always help out his mother in raising him and Slimm in the earlier years. Da Grimm One and his family then moved out of Pridmore and went uptown to a neighbourhood called Holbrooks aka Holbronx at the age of 8 when his sister Kyesha was born, Although he still used to go Pridmore to visit his Nan often and his best friend Midge and he would spend the whole summer down there as he was very close to his Nan until the she died on 12th September 1999 which then took a massive change in his life. Music had always been a strong part of his life growing up from listening to Dancehall Artists such as Shabba Ranks, Chaka Demus & Pliers, Beenie Man, Bounty Killer & Mad Cobra to Hip Hop Artists like Biggie Smalls, Puff Daddy, Mase, 2pac, Nas, Snoop Dogg, Busta Rhymes and The Fugees. After being influenced by some many different artists at the age 10 he decided he wanted to learn how to play an instrument and decided to join the school steel band in which he attended practice twice a week and got the chance twice to perform in front of the whole school. After learning all about the steel band he then felt he wanted to learn about different instruments to which then lead him to taking recorder lessons once a week with the school in which he taken for only a month before giving it up to join the school choir in which he practiced twice a week and got the opportunity to perform at the city cathedral. Not all too long after that things took a turn for the worst and he became involved in a gang within the school which lead to him being dropped from the school choir and also due to events of so many gangs being formed at the time forced the school to call the police in to have a strong word with all the gangs in the school hall. By this time his mum had taken a lot from his behaviour over the years and when he was 16 she was forced to kick him out due to the stress that he was causing so in turn he went to go live with his Aunty Karen down Hillfields, for so many reasons that didn’t work out so then he went back to live with his mum. Same time that year he met his older cousin Harley aka Yankeeswafflehouse all the way from Bay Area, CA who was in part a member of the Bloods gang in California who had got deported from USA to the UK. From meeting Harley had a very positive effect on him especially in his music as Harley gave him the inspiration and spirit to start writing again. When he turnt 18 he was diagnosed with very stage 2 hypertension which in turn caused him to stop eating sugary and fattening foods which then consumed mass weight loss and fatigue weakness. Then at the age of 19 just after recover from his illness, he then started selling weed and extorting dealer’s out west of the city. This was something that he was doing well and enjoying it too until he was nearly killed by another drug dealer whilst in mcDonalds drive through car park, who was a friend of a dealer that he was extorting. After that is when he decided to leave the drug scene alone and just went back to street violence. By the age of 20 he got heavy into the street life found himself involved in a lot of street violence all across the area fighting against many other crews while under the influence of booze in which he gained his name “Grimm“. At the age of 22 he then attended a spiritualist and became a weekly regular as he then converted to spiritualism in which calmed him down and gave him a new outlook on life.