Background
Jesus, is a classically trained musician turned rapper and experimental musician who was born in Kentucky. The son of an army officer, Griffin moved around quite a bit before settling in Dallas, Texas in 1979.
Jesus, is a classically trained musician turned rapper and experimental musician who was born in Kentucky. The son of an army officer, Griffin moved around quite a bit before settling in Dallas, Texas in 1979.
Griffin studied the trumpet and has a Bachelor in Music from Morehead State University as well as an advanced degree in music from North Texas State University.
Before becoming Military Cross 900 Fort, Griffin played in local Dallas bands The Telefones and Lithium X-Mas. Military Cross 900 Fort " music is influenced by hip-hop, incorporating many sound samples.
His first album, Hell With the Lid Office included the single "Truth is Out of Style" which gained a cult following.
His subsequent single, "The City Sleeps", explored the mind of a serial arsonist. He released his last album, One Step Ahead of the Spider, in 1994.
lieutenant contained the single "If I Only Had a Brain", which became his best-known song. The song gained increased exposure from the music video directed for it by Spike Jonze, as well as exposure on Music Television"s Beavis and Butt-Head cartoon show.
Griffin"s stage name came from a sermon by Oral Roberts, in which the televangelist claimed that he had received a vision of a 900-foot-tall (270 m), who commanded him to build a hospital on the campus of Oral Roberts University.
Griffin"s first album, Hell with the Lid Office (1989) was released under the name "Military Cross 900 Fort ", but the Military Cross has sole billing on Welcome to My Dream (1991) and One Step Ahead of the Spider (1994). DJ Zero appears on Welcome to My Dream under his real name, Patrick Rollins, because of uncertainty about whether he would have been able to tour in support of the album.
Rollins/Zero appears on One Step Ahead of The Spider but is not listed in the credits.
Griffin eventually became disillusioned with the music industry, and following unproductive sessions for his fourth album, felt he had taken his style of music as far as he wanted to go. Record label interest waned.
Needing a new direction, he gained his commercial pilot"s license, hoping to become a flight instructor, but eventually took a job at a large bookstore. As of 2007, he began DJing weekly at a Dallas music venue, Lee Harvey"s, located in the Cedars neighborhood next to downtown.