Hefe Wine

Early life

Maurice Williams was raised on the north side of Houston as the youngest of seven children. At the age of 15, he started stealing cars. Describing his childhood and years of automobile theft, he stated:

"My mama said when I was six months, I was kicked out of a day care. My whole life pretty much, I have just been real bad. Three-years-old fighting kids in grocery stores, all of that. My father was there, but he wasn't there. He was an alcoholic. He would take out all of his frustrations on us, pulling guns on the family. Imagine being like 5 years old and your dad is shooting his gun in the house. It was time to make that paper. I got into auto theft. By the time I turned 15, I ran one of the biggest auto thefts rings in Houston, Texas. In between that period of getting in trouble and going in and out of jail... By the time I turned 18, millions of dollars had already rolled through my hands. I remember at one point, I had like seven cars in one year. I didn't even get my driver's license until I was 17."

Maurice's second close encounter with death came when he was shot in the face at close range. "The guy shot me because he thought that I was looking at him mean," Maurice recalls. "He and some guys were arguing with some cats that I knew. I had just got out of jail so I was walking away from the scene. He thought I was going back to the car to get a gun. So before any guns came out, they started shooting and I got hit. When I walked in the gas station, the man behind the counter was covering his face because blood was skeeting from my face."

In an attempt to stop the blood loss, Maurice quickly took his shirt off and wrapped it around his head. By the time arrived, he was unconscious. "They fired so many rounds that people across the street got shot but nobody died but me," says Maurice. He claims that he "left and came back two times." The bullet went through his face, completely shattered his cheekbone and nose and came out between his eyes: he claims that he still has bullet fragments inside his face. How he was shot is widely debated. Many say he was shot by accident, al WAfter being shot for the second time, he continued committing crimes until he faced a case that could have given him a 45-year prison sentence. After receiving only a lengthy period of probation, he decided to leave violence and robbery behind.

Music career

After being homeless for an extended period, Maurice made the decision to turn his life around at the age of 18. He checked into a homeless shelter and took on odd jobs as a means of supporting himself. One such job was taking on night-time janitorial duties at a local church. The church had recording equipment used to record the pastor's Sunday morning sermons. He bought some tapes at K-Mart, and began recording religious, spiritual, and inspirational rhymes A cappella. By selling these in the streets, he gathered enough money to buy tracks from a local producer, and his reputation began spreading around his area.

In 1996 Maurice's debut album Bloody 5th was released. Over the following years, he has released 17 albums, as well as securing record label deals with EMI and Universal Records.

Beyoncé used his song "Pop My Trunk" during her performance on her Formation tour.