ROX-TV takes a moment to remember Half Pint of Project Born, who has unexpectedly passed away.
Welcome to the ROX-TV website. I received a call last night from Polk D of Project Born, who told me about the sad and tragic news that Half Pint had passed away. The phone call left me stunned and out of sorts. To lose a person like Half Pint, who also went by the performing name “Pint Capone” is a major blow to the Flint Town scene but also to the underground music world respectively.
Although details were limited about the exact nature, it doesn’t really matter at the end of the day, only that Project Born lost a brother and a member of the PJB Family. It goes without saying that the group is in a state of mourning for their fallen friend.
I first got to know Half Pint through his music with Project Born. In 1993 Frank Nitty and Half Pint dropped the legendary cassette single called “Losin It” with Detroit artist Esham.
The song was a heavy track, with some serious content, and immediately sent the rap group into “underground status”. During the making of “Forever in the Jects” I interviewed Polk D, Half Pint, and Frank Nitty about those times and the track.
“We got thrust into the underground once we did “Losin It” in 1993, we was underground regardless. We didn’t have a choice at that point. Once we worked with Esham and dropped “Losin It”, people was like…ya’ll underground”.
Frank Nitty of PJB (page 90, Forever in the Jects)
“Like Nitty said, at first people were sleeping on us, but then shit changed, once we started recording in the studio and making records. Nobody liked us because we was the shit! We had the biggest drug dealers and the nicest cars man”.
Half Pint of PJB (pages 90 and 91, Forever in the Jects)
“We was hustling when “Losin It” came out, shit…in 1993, think about it. Just cause the group is putting out a single, we still needed money. Before “Losin It”, I didn’t really know about Esham. Our neighborhood was like our own little city, we didn’t leave much. When the single was completed we liked it. That’s when shit started blowing up more and more. People in the city started to know who we were. The thing about “Losin It”, if you listen to it, Nitty has something like forty bars in the song, its long as hell. I think it runs six or seven minutes long. We were getting better and better, but we were still learning, and we didn’t understand the bar system at that point”.
Polk D of PJB (page 95, Forever in the Jects)
When the “project” of the book first got going, we did a series of meetings and interviews around Flint and beyond to capture the history of the group.
Early on in the process, we met up at Nitty’s crib to talk about ideas for the book. I didn’t really know what to expect so I brought my camera and recorders to capture the moment and the history of it all.
I remember at first, we were all feeling each other out, with small talk about what I hoped to accomplish with the writing. I felt like the story of Project Born needed to be committed to paper and preserved for all time.
As I did the best to explain my position, the guys understood what I was hoping to do, and within twenty minutes we were on a ride back in time…to the early nineties during the “golden age” of underground music in Michigan.
The minutes turned to hours as I listened to Half Pint, Nitty, and Polk D talk about those days. The room was filled with memories and laughter, as the guys recounted some of the crazy times and early days. I knew that we were capturing some great content and to watch those three OG’s of the Flint Town scene reminisce was something that I will never forget.
There is something magical about time and who we share it with on this earth. These three guys had put in some serious years together, and the bonds formed while coming up in the street will last forever. Half Pint was the wild card of the group and could sometimes be a handful, but that was who he was, and I think in a way, drew others into his orbit with his over-the-top project swagger.
He was never afraid to say what was on his mind and could deliver blunt information with a smile that somehow took away some of the heavier aspects of what was being talked about. The way Pint said things was pretty unique, but in a language you could understand on different levels.
“People thought we were rich. My name was in the paper and I was like…shit…I’m famous”
Half Pint (page 143, Forever in the Jects)
From those earlier interviews, I think hearing about Project Born as kids was by far one of the more touching times of the process. To hear about these guys, broke as hell, coming up in the infamous Projects in Flint Michigan, and worrying about winning a talent show at the local elementary school was priceless.
“We did the talent show at school right? You didn’t get no credibility in the projects unless you won that competition. You know what? We won that god damn time”
Half Pint (page 46, Forever in the Jects)
In 1990 when they held the annual competition at the local school, Frank Nitty, Pint, Vic, and June Bug took the stage. “June Bug was on the keyboards” Polk told me. “It was all live music back then” Nitty added. “We had those outfits, from A and J Productions, twenty dollars a piece” Pint laughed.
To think about that time in the gym and then fast forward to 2000, when Project Born was performing at the first Gathering of the Juggalos still blows me away. In the course of a decade, in between selling rocks on Morningside Drive and the set, these guys put their talents to good use and went from performing for some people in the neighborhood and selling dope….to rocking thousands of Juggalos in Novi. That journey still blows we away when I think about it. I said it a lot in the book but it’s worth mentioning again.
These guys had zero money, lived in one of the roughest hoods in Flint, survived the drug game, and managed to elevate themselves using their ingenuity and skills, which they developed on their own. The greatest minds on earth, are the ones that can make something from nothing, and that’s exactly what these guys did. They wrote themselves onto a new path, one that would span the next three decades and take them across the country and back numerous times. Kids who didn’t have running water, eventually made their way to the stage and have been delivering their Flint Town sound ever since.
“That whole little circle man, I’m a tell you there was about four or five dope houses in that little circle man. There was so much money coming through the projects at the time, money, General Motors money…yeah that’s what it was. Before all those shops closed down, all that money was coming through the projects. It was self-contained”
Half Pint (page 46, Forever in the Jects)
The time I spent with Project Born, writing their story and capturing the history for future generations was a dream come true, especially for a lifelong Juggalo. I grew up with Half Pint, Nitty, and Polk D playing out of my boom box. Project Born would go on to sign with Psychopathic Records and release a Juggalo classic EP called “Born Dead” in 1995.
The release was obviously my favorite at the time, because prior to that, all we had was the “Losin It” single to chew on. But when Born Dead came out, it really elevated them and opened up a wider audience to their music. Probably the biggest track on that release, for me anyway was “Graveyard” which featured Insane Clown Posse on the track. It was so good; I remember just listening to the track on repeat for what seemed like forever (maybe it was).
“You know every group we ever signed has come back to resent us…for some reason. Not Project Born though and that’s why I love them so much. We’re family forever, family for life you know”.
Violent J on Project Born (page 124, Forever in the Jects)
Once the boys from Morningside Drive connected with Insane Clown Posse, the adventure began and would continue on until the present day. Today, we honor the life of Half Pint and everything he contributed to the underground music scene, the legacy of his own children, and his time on this planet.
ROX-TV would like to extend our deepest sympathies to the family of Half Pint on this snowy day in Michigan. Half Pint leaves behind six kids: Shawndreka Howell, Markieta Howell, Marshall Howell Jr, Tanquaneka Walker, Shakyla Walker, and Shiniyah Walker.
Signing Off,
Mike Shepard
ROX-TV Head Writer
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