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. Theo has one older brother Nathaniel Royle aka DJ Slimm, younger brother Lewis Royle and two younger sisters Kyesha Royle and Kushiah Royle aka Lil Shiah. Da Grimm One grew up round Pridmore a part of the city where money was short for all although his mother always tried her best to make sure that him and DJ Slimm was always dressed well. As a...

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. Theo has one older brother Nathaniel Royle aka DJ Slimm, younger brother Lewis Royle and two younger sisters Kyesha Royle and Kushiah Royle aka Lil Shiah. Da Grimm One grew up round Pridmore a part of the city where money was short for all 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 not around all too much his mum sister Karen and Nan Sylvia would always help out his mother in raising Da Grimm One and DJ Slimm. Da Grimm One and his family then moved out of Pridmore and went uptown to a neighbourhood called Holbrooks 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 Jamie Griffiths 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 Da Grimm One's life.    As a child he was far from shy as he’d talk to anyone who would talk to him but was also extremely violent due to his very high interest in wrestling he used to think he was Hulk Hogan. On a Sunday him & Slimm would visit their other Nan Cynthia Bryan for Sunday dinner which would consist of chicken, rice and peas, coleslaw, roast potatoes & potato salad. Whilst down there is where he would watch all his favourite cartoons such as X-Men, Spiderman, Justice League, Dragonball Z and Samurai Jack. Occasionally on a Saturday Da Grimm One, Slimm and their uncles George Bryan aka DJ Gee & Chris Bryan aka Big Zimm would go to the cinema to watch a film and also go to the arcade’s too in neighbouring city of Birmingham. He had many cousins in his life from both sides, mother’s more so although he loved them all he felt closest to Anthony Bryan, Farrah Belgrave, Shannon Belgrave & Earl Belgrave as he used to baby sit his little cousin Earl when his parents went out or when Earl felt bored due to not having any siblings, whilst he was there they would play computer games and eat sweets all night and the next day too. Growing up he had a high interest on hood films such as Boyz N The Hood, Juice, Higher Learning & Menace 2 Society but also films with a comedy side to them films such as Friday, House Party, Boomerang & Don’t Be A Menace South Central While Drinking Juice In The Hood.    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. When he attended his secondary school President Kennedy in 1999 he decided to try and change his ways from all the gangs and violence which he had occurred and pay a lot more attention in class although that only lasted for the 1st 3 years of secondary school as once again he found himself involved in gang like activity, although this time around it was different as it was due to turf war and him and his friends all came from either Holbrooks or Radford his Asian rivals all came from Foleshill. Due to the all the turf rivalry he was involved in meant that he was not allowed to participate in after school activities such as the football team as he was due to get suspended from school many times but to avoid that happening he would give false telephone numbers. During his lunch hour he would spend it smoking weed with his friends and playing football although at times nobody brought in a football so he with a friend of his would go up to the science department and rob football’s in which the teachers had confiscated. It was during school when music took a bigger part of his life in which he wrote his first two songs at the age of 13 “Too Hot Too Handle” and “Too Cold Too Hold” although he never got around to recording them songs he then proceeded to continue writing songs as he felt a passion for this. Although he tried many times to leave the bad side it just kept calling him back and at the age of 15 is the first time in which he found himself in cuffs due to him and friend Adam Bentick got caught robbing HMV and was found to have over £500 worth of Games, CD’s and DVD’s, not only that but they were both found with offensive weapons on them, Theo had a crowbar and Adam had a knife. Due to their age and it being their first offence ever caught by the police they both received a caution and a ban from the store. 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 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 Theo the inspiration and spirit to start writing again. At the age of 17 is when he started to drink alcohol and go out to the clubs although under age he used to use his older brother’s I.D. although the club knew that wasn’t his I.D. as Slimm used to go to the same club with him the bouncers on the door would still let him in the club. When he turnt 18 he stopped going out to the clubs due to falling pretty ill with very high blood pressure 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 linked back up with Adam and another friend Chris 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 after making a deal on the Westside of the city in the Allesley neighbourhood pulled into a Macdonald’s drive thru, he was nearly killed by another drug dealer 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 linked up with Corey. J and the two of them alongside others such as Jay. A, Anthony. S, Rosie. C and Slimm were involved in a lot of street violence all across their area fighting against many other crews while under the influence of booze in which he gained his name “Grimm“. Within his life Theo had also got involved in legal work to from being a door to door canvasser for Amber Windows, Anglian Home Improvements and also Safestyle UK, although he weren’t too bad at the job he just felt like selling double glazing windows and doors just weren’t his forte and left them jobs in which he went into being a Better ware Distributor. At the age of 21 music then crept back into his life as he was writing songs yet again but now was uploaded them onto the internet especially social network Facebook in which caught many people’s eyes and likes but one in particular, a former friend in which grew up in the same neighbourhood Lloyd “Bergy” Jackson. The two of them then would write bars together over Facebook and then Bergy then linked him to music producer “Scratch Rama”  and sound engineer “Ken CPU”. After hearing a freestyle of his in the studio Scratch then decided he wanted Theo to join his group The EQ’z alongside himself, Ken CPU, Mikey “The Messenger”, Aguy, Jess S & Gracia. The EQ’z were an afro based group in which combined Hip Hop and RnB with Congolese native music. After several months working together they received an invitation to perform at Club Palms for Congolese Independence in June 2010. Just after the performance a physical altercation broke out at a party between Scratch & Ken in which then forced the group to break up and lead to physical confrontation between Da Grimm One and Scratch and also Da Grimm One and The Messenger too. It was then decided to leave The EQ’z and go alone as he didn’t wanna go the way that The EQ’z were going. After going alone Theo then was forced to learn to create his own beats as then he went to college to study music. Whilst at college is where he met Sheldon “Snubz” Wellington, Sam “Shiver” German and Stuart “Lil Lyrical” Brosnahan and the four of the made a group by the name of “4th Element” the group didn’t last too long due to Shiver dropping out of college then Grimm and Snubz came into financial issues which forced them to take 3 months off college. After the 3 months they both returned back to college and Theo then went on to graduate from college. After college graduation he then decided to create his own team “DA LT’s” (Don Ass Lethal Team) which members consisted of himself, Snubz, Snubz's cousin Rueshelle “Jimmy Zee“ Ferguson, Louis “Smooth L“ Idris, Luigi "Mimic" Spencer & Ken CPU. Later on he recruited “Deborah Liana, Steffy Pharadae & Lindsey “Girlie Girl” McTigue, Jaya "J. Sweet" Nayyar, Wayne "Young Cutti" Thompson & Dubstep Producer Steve "Dubsaduba" Worrall. Liana, Mimic, Steffy & Smooth L all decided to go there own way for many different reasons. At the age of 22 Da Grimm One 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. With his views on life changed so did his lyrics and then went to record his 1st Mixtape round with Ken CPU and Smooth L in April 2012 called “Mind, Body & Soul” in which had Smooth L and rapper from Ghana on colabs, in which he completed that Mixtape in September 2012. Theo is now in working process of this second Mixtape “Promote Ya Truth” in which he has colabz with Paul Legend from Ghana, “J-Script“ college friend and former 4th element partner “Shiver” and also artist from across seas former collaborator Paul Legend from Ghana, Dee-Lusional from North Carolina and Anthony “Krazyflow” Ruiz from Virginia.