Music / Black Gryph0n

"Are we there yet?"

Black Gryph0n (real name Gabriel Christian Brown) is a YouTube musician and voice actor who first got his start writing fan songs for the My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic fandom. His first few songs "Proud to Be a Brony" and "Crusader (Are We There Yet?)", as well as his appearances in ACRacebest's series "Bronies React" made him a household name in the brony fandom. He's also done work as a male background vocalist for MLP, and is close friends with several of the show's cast members.

In 2014, he began producing and releasing his own music, often in collaboration with his brother Nathanael (a.k.a Baasik) or Michelle Creber, the voice of Apple Bloom.

Around late 2016 and early 2017 he started to grow in popularity outside the brony fandom by doing impressions of various singers and characters, the most popular of which is his "One Guy 54 Voices" video, which has amassed over 120 million views.

As of November 2022, he is married to Claire Corlett, who is better known for voicing Sweetie Belle.

His Twitter can be found here and his YouTube channel can be found here.

Not related in any way to 1970s band Gryphon

Discography

Albums and EPs

• IMmortal (2014)
• Getting Stronger (2016)
• Diamond (2019)
• Dopameme, Vol. 1 (2023)

Singles

• "Faster Than You Know" (2013)
• "Fighting Back" (2015)
• "Promise" (2017)
• "Who You Are" (2017)
• "Magic" (2018)
• "I Don't Need Your Love" (2020)
• "I Think I Like It" (2021)
• "Insane" (2021)^note A tie-in song with Hazbin Hotel
• "Sad Creeper" (2021) ^note As you guessed it, a Minecraft song
• "Heaven 2 Hell" (2021)^note Another tie-in song with Hazbin Hotel, featuring Elsie Lovelock
• "Less Plastic"
• "You Will Be Found" (2022)
• "Flat 6" (2023)
• "Stuck Inside" (2023)^note A Five Nights at Freddy's fan song, featuring The Living Tombstone & Kevin Foster
• "Jester (Pomni's Song)" (2024)^note An The Amazing Digital Circus fan song, featuring Lizzie Freeman
• "Thank You And Goodnight" (2024)^note A tie-in song with Hazbin Hotel, featuring several voice cast members of the pilot episode: himself, Michael Kovach, Elsie Lovelock, Krystal LaPorte, and Michelle Marie: Lyrics, voice of Alastor and Husk

Filmography

• Geronimo Stilton: Johnny, Mike
• Hazbin Hotel pilot episode (2019): Alastor (singing voice)
• Ninjago short "Sweatin’ to the Goldies": Zane (singing voice)
• Billie Bust Up!: Barnaby

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Black Gryph0n and his music exhibit examples of these tropes:

• Autotune: Averted in his covers and singer impressions.
• Band of Relatives: Played straight, as Gabe and Nate actually had a band when they were kids named "Just Passing Through". Taken even further with their whole family releasing music under the name "Family Plan".
• Be Yourself: "Say" has this as its underlying message.
• Coming of Age Story: "Here We Are" is centered around the pivotal moment where the Cutie Mark Crusaders finally got their cutie marks, fulfilling their destinies and achieving their long fought for dreams.
  • "Faster Than You Know" could also be considered.
• Crossdresser: Happens when he copies female singers.
• Cover Version: Naturally, as a singer on Youtube.
• Friendship Song: "Friend to Me".
• Glamorous Wartime Singer: Inverted for obvious reasons. He was the lead singer for the Orient Express in the 7th Fleet Band.
• Gosh Dangit To Heck: Does not swear in his videos or in real life and he tries to censor any profanity he comes across or anything that even references sex or substances.
• Helium Speech: Barnaby from Billie Bust Up!.
• Incredibly Long Note: When Gabe reaches the climax or final chorus in a song, expect to hear him belt out the high note in this manner. If not, "Academy", "Fighting Back", and "Better" are good examples.
• Instant Costume Change: His gimmick when he does singing impressions, complete with props.
• Insult Backfire: In "Heaven 2 Hell", Charlie angrily tells Alastor to "go to Hell" when he passive aggressively insults her, and Alastor points out that he's already there.
• In the Style of: "Voyage" and "Timberpond" parodies the style of Journey and Justin Timberlake respectively.
• Large Ham: On and off screen, he can go really wacky with mannerisms and facial expressions on par with the likes of Jim Carrey.
• Man of a Thousand Voices: His most popular content is his voice impressions and he does all kinds of them.
• Mood Dissonance: "Jester" has Pomni curling up in despair on the floor while the others dance around her, colorful spotlights spin around the floor, and dance music plays.
• Performance Anxiety: The protagonists of "Nervous" spend most of the song detailing their respective stage fright and fears of messing up, only to rally by the end and realize that they still love performing, even if it is nerve-wracking.
  I could run away right now and leave it all
  Yet I choose to stay and suddenly recall
  That I love the lights, the crowd, the stage tonight
  If I just calm down I know I'll be alright
  Though I hear my name called and I'm terrified
  When the countdown ends that's when I feel alive!
• Pep-Talk Song: "Better" is one, in which the singer encourages the listener and tells them that no matter how bad things might get, there's always a chance for a better tomorrow.
• Renaissance Man: voice actor, musician, Navy veteran, animator, PPG pilot, builder of rockets, sky diver, SCUBA diver, photographer, editor, sings in over 10 languages. You want it, he's got it.
• Sampling: On himself with the final track of Diamond, "IMmortalized" where every song from IMmortal is sampled.
• Soundtrack Dissonance: "Jester" has Pomni curling up in despair on the floor while peppy, bouncy music plays.
• Subdued Section: "Jester" has two quieter sections close to each other where most of the instrumentation drops out, reflecting Pomni's more subdued mood in the moment.
• Tenor Boy: Despite admitting being more of a baritone, he can hit high notes very effectively especially in "Here We Are", "Promise", and this cover of Livin' On A Prayer.
• Those Two Guys: Him and his brother Nate or Baasik as well as Michelle Creber. Could also apply with RoomieOfficial as many do compare them with each other.
• Title Track: "IMmortal", "Diamond" and "Getting Stronger".
• Troubled Fetal Position: In "Jester", Pomni curls up on the floor in despair, trembling and staring off into space.
• Villain Song:
  • "Getting Stronger" is one for King Sombra, Queen Chrysalis, and Lord Tirek. The song features the malevolent trio warning the heroes that they'll be back for revenge sooner than expected, and not to enjoy their freedom for too long.
  • "Insane" is one for Alastor, detailing his arrival in Hell and the start of his reign of terror.
  • "A Million Gruesome Ways To Die" is his for Barnaby. The ghostly owl sings it as he's chasing Billie through his mansion and suggesting all the ways he can potentially kill her; but oddly, it's less out of malice and more out of a misguided desire to help her attend a party he's hosting that requires its attendees to be dead.
• Wanderlust Song: "Wander", naturally.
• You Are Not Alone: A lot of Gabe's songs have this message, most notably "Say", "So Far Away", and "Better".

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