‘BMF’: How Much of the Show Happened in Real Life?

BMF has exploded on Starz with a bang. From executive producer Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson and creator/showrunner Randy Huggins, the series follows Demetrius “Big Meech” Flenory ( Demetrius “Lil Meech” Flenory Jr.) and Terry “Southwest T” Flenory (Da’Vinchi). The series is set in the 1980s in Detroit as the war on drugs and the crack cocaine epidemic collided against one another.

Though BMF centers around real-life characters, how much of what we’ve seen on-screen actually happened in real life?

Starz’s ‘BMF’ is based on a true story

Not only has BMF been a passion project for 50 Cent for years, but it’s also based on a true story. BMF chronicles the real-life rise and fall of the Flenory brothers. Growing up in a working-class family, Big Meech and Southwest T wanted more for themselves. In high school, they began selling cocaine for $50. However, when the crack cocaine epidemic began to surge around the country they saw a new opportunity.

In the end, they became two of the biggest drug traffickers in the country, eventually branching out toward the music industry with Black Family Mafia Entertainment.

How much of the show actually happened in real life?

It was important to both 50 Cent and Huggins to make sure that the series is authentic as possible. Moreover, for Lil Meech, it’s imperative that his father is represented fully. “I took some liberties, but everything there is based on a story,” Huggins told Urban Hollywood 411. “Obviously, you can’t have people’s names in there. Obviously, some of the places may have changed.”

However, Huggins made sure that the series stayed true to life. “I don’t think there’s a character in there, that I hadn’t heard of,” he said. “I may have to take a creative liberty to make an art pop a little bit more. I may have to take a creative license to make a scene funnier than it may have been, but that’s just part of telling a story. This is not a documentary.”

Demetrius ‘Big Meech’ Flenory and Terry ‘Southwest T’ Flenory no longer speak

Though they built an empire from the ground up and were once worth over $100 million each, the Flenory brothers were estranged long before they were arrested in 2005 for money laundering and drug trafficking. Though they each ran branches of their drug organization, Big Meech and Southwest T had little trust in one another by the time it all fell.

According to Creative Loafing, in July 2004 Southwest T was caught on tape speaking to a federal incarcerated person called Shep. When asked about his brother Big Meech, Southwest T said, “Losing his mind man. We don’t even speak. He lost his mind.”

In another wiretap, Southwest T said of Big Meech, “Shit, that crazy motherf**ker running around over there. He mad at me. He letting them motherf**kers put that shit in his head. He don’t even know why he is mad.”

Things were reportedly so broken down between the brothers that their lawyers attempted to separate their cases.