MY BIGGEST AND MOST COMPELLING INSPIRATION IN THE WORLD IS MUSIC!!!
Born and raised in the outskirts of Detroit as well as in the actual city, Papa Graz was born in 1977 to a middle class family. With his mother being a teacher, failure in school as well as life, was never an option. Graz, raised with a younger sister, divided his time between his parents home in Trenton, Michigan and his grandmother and uncles houses in Detroit Michigan.
For some reason, Graz has felt like an outsider looking in all of his life. From the start of grade school, he never seemed to be accepted by the "popular kids". "I admit I was just a really weird kid. I'd blurt stupid shit out all the time, not to be the focus of attention or whatever, but just because I was dying to belong to SOMETHING". Of course Graz had his friends throughout elementary and middle school, but he still felt alone. "Of course I had friends, but I was never Zack Morris, more like Screech. Most of my friends were considered 'dorks' and the only reason I survived is because I actually did keep 'popular kids' as friends now and then".
He first latched on to rap music in the 80's with The Fat Boys. "I don't know if I used to watch their videos all the time or how my mom knew to buy me that tape... but one day she came home and gave me the tape. Honestly, I didn't even know who these guys were until I listened to the music. For some reason when I heard the music, I knew it... but before that, with just the faces... I had no clue who they were". From the Fat Boys it was on to acts like Run DMC, Fresh Prince and MC Hammer. Graz says he was a huge fan of The Fresh Prince TV show. "Man... that show was the absolute shit. I even remember my sister and I memorized the lyrics and then did a little dance routine to it at my grandma's once".
When Graz's parents moved from Trenton to Monroe when he was 15, he thought maybe things would change in school. "Nope... not at all. I don't know what it was about me in school, but people just treated me like shit from day one before even knowing anything about me." Fortunately for him, he happened to make best friends the first day of school with one of the most popular kids on the football team. "We met in typing class... we had assigned seats and somehow I got the luck of the draw. I started talking to the guy that would become like my brother until 2004. Honestly, if it weren't for Dave's popularity, I probably woulda gotten my ass beaten a lot." Graz's new friend introduced him to Dr. Dre's "The Chronic" in July of 1991. "I knew who Dre was, obviously... I just wasn't ever into the hardcore rap. I was more into the pop shit like Hammer, Fresh Prince and Run DMC. Honestly... I can't front... I was never an NWA fan until Dre's solo shit dropped."
As time passed on, Graz changed from a pop rap fan to a "gangsta" rap fan, a term he despises to this day. "What the fuck is 'gangsta' rap? If it were rock and roll they'd call it metal or heavy metal or thrash metal." Eventually a rapper would hit the scene that would change Graz's life forever. "Man.. the first time I popped on a 2pac song... it was O-V-E-R. That dude just became the epitome of smart, cool and everything else that was positive to a 16 year old. Pac was ALWAYS like the only rapper that could talk about bitches, guns, apartheid, politics and oppression in ONE song and have it all make sense. I mean... honestly, how many other rappers can constantly talk about God, oppression, genocide or whatever and not only make you LISTEN, but make you WANT TO CARE?"
Fast forward to 2004. After being fed up with not finding a path in life... Graz felt that at least pursuing his passions was better than pursuing nothing. "Of course I had visions of grandeur at first. Anyone that gets into the enterainment industry and claims to NOT have those thoughts at first, is a fucking liar." But Graz quickly realized that rap is not a game, it's not to be taken lightly, and the level of skill good emcees must possess is way underrated. "Even more now than before, when people say there's no talent to rapping, it pisses me off. Oh yeah? Then pick Johnny Everybody off the street, put him in a booth for 3 hours and let's see him make a song like 50 Cent's 'In Da Club' or like Ice Cube's 'Today Was A Good Day'. If it takes no talent, then why isn't everyone from Jerome in the getto to Wally on Wall Street rapping?"
Also, Graz says don't get things twisted. Just because he is white and happens to hail from Detroit does NOT mean he's "trying to be Eminem". "On the contrary, when he first came out I despised him. Took him for a joke... I hated that guy. It wasnt' until he put out the Marshall Mathers LP that I started liking him." While that is the case, Graz admits that Eminem and Kid Rock did have affects on his decision. "They look like me... they're from the same area generally, and by 2004, I was a huge fan of both. But I didn't look at them and be like 'I wanna rap'... truth is... I wanted to do that for a long fucking time... but never saw anyone of my color make it other than Vanilla Ice, and... well, nuff said there."
After a lot of slow progression, in 2007, Graz got his first decent break when Killa Kaunn, who is signed to Iron Fist Records (Proof of D12's label) agreed to do a collaboration with Graz. "He was cool as fuck about it... if a lotta people knew how that song came about... they might think Killz was on crack for doing it. But, I prefer to believe that Killz inherited Proof's willingess to help out the unknowns. I mean... hell... they were in the Purple Gang together for a couple years... they were bound to wear off on each other.
Detroit Stand Up has gotten local club play in Detroit and since then, he hasn't recorded much, but not due to lack of motivation. "Shit, I got songs piled up at home... problem is I've basically been in the same fiscal position for almost 3 years now. But once I get a decent sum of money... this shit's going full force."
As for artists that inspire Graz nowadays... "Mainstream wise, and I'm not just talking rap... it's Eminem, Trick Trick, Godsmack, Christina Aguilera, Elton John, Young Buck... I just look for a variety of shit. Alicia Keys too. Man... Christina and Alicia... there are not 2 other voices in the world as good as those two. Locally it's Killa Kaunn, my boy RABS, Marv Won, Lazarus, Pony Boy, Elle, Nina Salas... and the hardest working promoter the city got, Uncle P. One person I know very well personally is Pony Boy and he isn't only one of the illest we got... but he has ZERO ego... and Uncle P... that dude helps out anyone... if you shit on him, you shit on Detroit."
