Early Life
Uncle Murda, real name Leonard Grant, is a rapper from Brooklyn, New York, and grew up in Cypress Hills Projects. He was called L.G. (for his initials) and then onto L-Murder by people who knew him. He received his name “Uncle Murda” from Murda & Uncle being added by the kids in his neighborhood projects to whom he would generously give money.[1]
[edit] Musical Career
Murda started to take rap seriously in 2006 and was heavy in the underground circuit of New York City. He was linking up DJ Green Lantern and DJ Cut Master C for mixtapes but it wasn’t until he released his hit single “Bullet Bullet” that he finally gained mainstream attention, followed by another single “Run The City”. Uncle Murda has been known to be “Too hard for hip hop” because of his Hardcore lyrics about his lifestyle as a gangster living in the ghetto. He has his own rap crew named GMG which is an abbreviation for “Getting Money Gangstas”.
In 2007, DJ Green Lantern and DJ Clue introduced Uncle Murda’s music to Jay-Z. The Brooklyn born rapper/CEO signed Uncle Murda to Roc-A-Fella Records soon after. They started to promote him immediately by placing him on a track with popular label-mates Fabolous and Jay-Z for the song “Brooklyn” (Featured on From Nothin’ to Somethin’ album) and everything seemed to be going well for the rapper. However in late 2008 rumors that Uncle Murda left Def Jam came about. In an interview with DJ Vlad, Uncle Murda confirmed the rumors that he has split from Def Jam and Roc-a-fella Records[2] claiming everything went downhill since Jay-Z’s departure. “I’m no longer with Def Jam,” he said. “Things didn’t work out over there once Jay-Z left it was like you know, they didn’t really know what to do with Uncle Murda after that.” Still very optimistic, the rapper goes on to say “I’m still relevant, I’m still that man”. Uncle murder has since been removed as an artist on the def jam roster on the def jam website.
On January 22nd, 2008, Uncle Murda was shot while in a parked car on Linden Blvd in East New York.[3] Ironically, the shooting happened after the rapper released his mixtape entitled “Respect the Shooter”. He discharged himself from the hospital less than 24 hours after he was admitted - with the bullet still embedded in his skull. Uncle Murda called the nationally syndicated Wendy Williams Experience radio show after the shooting and told her he was using “Hennessey and Newports” to cope with the pain”.[4] The crime remains unsolved by police since Uncle Murda refuses to cooperate with investigators.
