Aahana Swrup
‘BMF,’ the crime show, brings a real-life story to the screen as it dramatizes the lives of The Flenory Brothers, Demetrius “Big Meech” and Terry “Southwest T,” the men behind the infamous Black Mafia Family. The show charts their rise in the drug dealing world as the brothers go from selling cocaine for 50 dollars in the streets of Michigan’s Ecorse and Detroit before making it big across the country as one of the most prominent crime families. With a number of characters helming the narrative in supporting roles — from other rival gangsters like Lamar Silas and Kato to law enforcement’s Detective Bryant — the show manages to depict thrilling adventures with differing levels of realism behind them.
B-Mickie, one of the original members of Meech and Terry’s gang dubbed 50 Boyz in the earlier days, remains one of the most instrumental characters within the narrative. Therefore, as B-Mickie’s journey unfolds on the screen, viewers must speculate about the off-screen counterpart behind the character and their current whereabouts. SPOILERS AHEAD!
B-Mickie and His Real-Life Inspiration, Derick “D” Meeks
B-Mickie from ‘BMF’ is based on Derick Meeks, better known as D Meeks, a former drug dealer who worked with the real-life Flenory Brothers — Big Meech and Southwest T — during their early days in the drug dealing business. D Meeks grew up in Detroit, down the street from the Flenorys, maintaining an early friendship with them. However, unlike his on-screen counterpart’s fictionalized storyline, D Meeks’ involvement with drug dealing began even before he joined Big Meech and Southwest T.
D Meeks became intrigued by the drug dealing business when he was only 15 years old. Although the man grew up in a financially stable two-family household, he noticed some of his uncles — eight to nine years older than himself — were making a different kind of money. Consequently, he decided to try his own luck at the game and started selling heroin at 15 during the late 1970s to early 1980s. Nevertheless, due to the high-danger aspect of life as a heroin dealer, paired with his own teenage naivety, D Meeks gave up on the same.
Eventually, Big Meech and Southwest T started dabbling in cocaine dealing, and D Meeks ended up joining them in the business. Thus, D Meeks was one of the original members of the crew 50 Boyz, which went on to be known as the Black Mafia Family as the Flenory brothers expanded their business horizons. Consequently, his professional entanglement within the gang and his close friendship with Meech and Southwest T from an early age establish him as the evident inspiration behind B-Mickie’s character.
Nevertheless, a few key differences between D Meeks and B-Mickie create a distance between the two individuals, allowing a touch of fictionalization to the latter. For instance, B-Mickie’s storyline with Kato, including his relationship with the woman and eventual involvement in her murder, doesn’t possess any basis in reality. D Meeks discussed the same in-depth in a conversation with Vlad TV and said, “[The show is] 55% accurate, 45% fake, you know what I mean. A lot of the stuff is real.”
However, despite the reality behind the show, the man also pointed out the notable creative liberty at play, born from people’s probable reluctance to disclose the entire truth. “[But] You know we were in the streets, river deep, but we not gonna tell you everything what we did in the streets. We don’t know you,” D Meeks added. “It’s stuff that we did—people will take to our graves.” Consequently, we can conclude that even though D Meeks is the real-life inspiration behind B-Mickie, the latter still retains a level of fictionality to him.
D Meeks Has Left The Drug Dealing Business and Leads a Regular Life Today
In real life, D Meeks’ fate diverges from his on-screen counterpart’s in noticeable ways. Around the time when Big Meech and Southwest T made the decision to expand their business as the Black Mafia Family to Atlanta, D Meeks decided to take his departure from the crew. By then, the man had found his own plug, which compelled him to face the business alone and amass his own new crew. According to his account, D Meeks went on to make 1.2 million dollars from his work after parting ways with the Flenory Brothers.
However, while D Meeks continued to deal drugs, the man got arrested three to four times. Even though he beat the charges each time with the help of a skilled lawyer, one instance in 1992 landed him in prison for two years and nine months. Soon afterward, reportedly in 1995, the man decided to exit the drug dealing business. As a result, when the authorities closed in on the Black Mafia Family in the mid to late 2000s, D Meeks managed to evade any legal trouble.
These days, D Meeks continues to live in Detroit, where he makes an honest living and has a wife and kids. Furthermore, he’s also still in touch with Southwest T, who got out of prison in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic on early discharge under supervision. Likewise, he looks forward to Big Meech’s eventual release, planning on meeting up with his old friends for a get-together. However, while D Meeks still only has positive things to say about his friends and old business partners, the same cannot be said about his feelings toward ‘BMF.’
Since D Meeks claims the show makes a profit off of his life story through B-Mickie’s character, he thinks it’s only fitting that he — and others from BMF’s early days — be adequately compensated. Nevertheless, the project never reached out to him for consultation or compensation. Still, the man continues to share his story, highlighting the significance of his exit from the game. Although the man is present on a few social channels like Instagram, with the username the_real_bmickie, he rarely updates the public on his current life.
Read More: BMF: Is Veronica Jin Inspired by an Actual Detective?
