High-Hanger

High-Hanger is a fictional character in End of the Blade and its main antagonist. He was a music executive who founded Cold-Blooded Studios and was a central figure in the events that tore apart the rap group Death Sentence and turned best friends and rappers Cashel Mitchell and Tyler Young against each other. He was a vicious gangster who ran his business like the mafia, and he had criminal ties with the street gang Ghetto Thugz.

Early Life
Jamel King was born in Peckham, South London in which he received a rough childhood and he joined the neighboring street gang Ghetto Thugz. He climbed the ranks of the gang to the point of becoming a high-level member of the crew and was well respected and known as "High-Hanger". However, at some point, he left the Ghetto Thugz to pursue a career in football but this was met with failure after an incident which involved Jamel "accidentally" breaking another player's leg.

As an adult, Jamel formed his own record label, Cold-Blooded Records, and his first profit in the new business world came when Corey "Doggy Don" Woods agreed to sign over royalties from his smash hit "Bad Bitches", because the song included material allegedly written by one of High-Hanger's clients. High-Hanger and his henchmen paid a visit to Corey's apartment, where they dangled him by his ankles off the balcony and threatene to kill him and his family. From that point forward, Corey signed up to Cold-Blooded Studios and would be utterly terrified of High-Hanger, doing anything the thug commands. For the next three years, High-Hanger's business was performing great and he managed to sign many famous rappers to his label, with his most prominent and success remaining to be Corey.

Flashbacks
Three years later, a new rap group "Death Sentence" arrives onto the scene and they outshine Corey and High-Hanger's other famous rappers, resulting in his business plummeting and High-Hanger losing out on profit. He lost patience over the situation and planned to get back into business with a dastardly plot to both eliminate the competition and have Cold-Blooded Studios grow. Through his rappers Jonah "Ice Cold" Knight and Mickey "The M.A.N." Shanko, High-Hanger managed to privately arrange a meeting with Death Sentence's most popular member Cashel "Roadboy" Mitchell at a nightclub in an attempt to persuade him into signing up to his record label by promising him grand amounts of riches, success and fame, as well as being backed by "London's most powerful family". However, Cashel refused his offer and stated that he always stuck by his boys with loyalty. High-Hanger pretended to accept Cashel's decision and shook his hand before letting him go, treating him with kindness and respect, even wishing him apparent good luck on his future health. However, when Cashel left the nightclub, High-Hanger planned to play dirty and called up the Ghetto Thugz to assist him.

High-Hanger sends a group of Ghetto Thugz members led by his right-hand man and enforcer Stev-O "Mass" Kirby to kidnap DS manager Philip R. Hall and hold him hostage in a van while he managed to manipulate Tyler "Baby Thug", Cashel's best friend and DS co-manager and rapper, to meet him in his music studio apparently to meet Cashel regarding a record deal. When Tyler came into the studio, he was ambushed by GT members and they locked him in the room. High-Hanger mockingly greeted Tyler and armed himself with a baseball bat to intimidate him, demanding he release Cashel from his DS contract. Tyler stubbornly refused to and even fearlessly spat in High-Hanger's face, causing a henchman to retaliate on his behalf by punching him in the face and sending him to the floor. This enraged Tyler so he attacked the henchman and managed to knock him out, but was beat up and pinned to the ground by the other GT members to allow High-Hanger to get in a few blows with his baseball bat. After beating up Tyler and dislocating his arm, High-Hanger revealed footage of Philip being held captive by the GT and threatened his life if chose not to cooperate, causing a bloodied and hurt Tyler to apparently fall in line which made High-Hanger satisfyingly grin and he provided him with a pen to sign the contract with glee. However, it was revealed that Tyler tried to trick High-Hanger by giving him a fake signature to try to slip out of the situation and not destroy DS. High-Hanger initially believed Tyler was complying, but realized at the last moment that Tyler was deceiving him. High-Hanger backhanded Tyler in the face in anger and he pulled out his gun on him, threatening to shoot him for insulting him. High-Hanger then pulled out his phone and ordered the thugs to kill Philip. When the henchmen were about to murder Philip, Tyler desperately begged High-Hanger to spare Philip and he finally agreed to sign the contract this time, thus saving Philip's life at the cost of tearing apart DS. High-Hanger ordered the GT members to release Philip from captivity and when Tyler was about to leave the studio, High-Hanger suddenly stopped him to mention that he knows where he family lives, as well as his girlfriend Tegan Whitmore's, threatening to compromise their safety should Tyler interfere with his business or seek revenge on him. Tyler said he'd kill High-Hanger should he touch them, with High-Hanger only responding by laughing. High-Hanger then decided to celebrate by hosting a dinner at his warmly home for a "family meeting", inviting Cashel to the dinner party. High-Hanger also instructed Corey to ensure that Cashel felt comfortable in his "new family", and to keep an eye on him and make sure he doesn't do anything "tragic".

High-Hanger ordered Mass to inform Cashel of the news and that he has invited him to the dinner party in his home where everything that Cashel needed to know would be revealed during the meeting. Before the dinner party, High-Hanger was informed by Ice Cold about Cashel and Tyler's plan to frame him by planting cocaine in his home and then anonymously contacting the police. During the family dinner, High-Hanger welcomed Cashel into his home and even made a toast to him joining his label. High-Hanger made Cashel aware of the scheme to frame him and stated the drugs have been disposed him, much to Cashel's horror and the shock of the others present, but he did not reveal who tried to frame him and instead decided to play mind games with Cashel. The police then storm in to the house and proceed to search the place but came up with nothing and High-Hanger was clean. After the police officers departed, High-Hanger adjourned the meeting between his rappers with the exception of Cashel, who was stopped at the door by Mass and a few henchmen. High-Hanger explained to Cashel that he owns him and that Cashel needs to forget about his old life, especially DS, and think about the future because what happens to him is now determined by High-Hanger. Cashel made an attempt to stand up to High-Hanger, with High-Hanger laughing and recalling on what happened when Tyler tried to do the same thing. The henchmen then grab Cashel and hold him down, with High-Hanger pulling out a meat cleaver pretending that he's going to amputate one of his hands. However, High-Hanger instead plants it next to Cashel's left hand and mentally breaks him down piece by piece, as well as coupling this with a threat towards his family and his friends. High-Hanger told Cashel of a story of when a rapper tried to be brave and a hero to stand up to High-Hanger, claiming that he killed his family in a horrible way and then locked him in a room to psychologically destroy his mind into complying. Cashel was pushed to begging High-Hanger to stop and that he was broken into falling in line, pleasing the sadistic thug who forces Cashel to repeat compliant words after him but Cashel does not initially listen due to being in shock, so High-Hanger backhands and shouts at him to speak when he is spoken to. After this lesson, High-Hanger says he's going to get a drink and asks Cashel if he wants one. Cashel does not speak however and obediently remains silent, so High-Hanger laughs it off and tells his henchmen to "keep him busy". On High-Hanger's orders, the thugs beat up Cashel and burn him with a hot iron until he passed out and they then dropped him off near his house.

From that point on, Cashel becomes High-Hanger's "bitch" and he worked for Cold-Blooded Studios as well as collaborated with other rappers to his label such as Corey. Despite Cashel being forced to work for High-Hanger and having to leave DS (leading to its downfall), Cashel came to enjoy his new life of success and wealth from High-Hanger's label as well as even gaining power and criminal connections to protect him. High-Hanger though strictly controlled Cashel's songs to his approval and liking and made him stray away from exposing the gang life to the public. High-Hanger's heinous and greedy actions resulted in DS drifting apart and effectively stomping out the rap group that was threatening High-Hanger's business, which led to Tyler coming to falsely believe that Cashel was a "snake" who actually worked with High-Hanger from the beginning in secret to selfishly become a more successful rapper while simultaneously eliminating the competition. This drastically worsened the relationship between Tyler and Cashel, to the point that the two rappers were putting out diss-tracks against each other, which included Tyler publicly insulting High-Hanger and his record label as well as exposing them on the shady reality of their business. In revenge, Cashel and his friend Brandon "OG Juicy" Reynolds Jr. vandalized Tyler's car. However in retaliation, Tyler set fire to High-Hanger's music studio after getting angry and high. High-Hanger, not a man to let an insult go, ordered Cashel to meet him in his music studio where he addressed that Tyler is becoming a problem, to which Cashel agreed with but he was confident that his career will fall soon. However, High-Hanger tells Cashel that it's time to "man up" and hands him a silenced pistol, ordering him to teach Tyler a lesson physically and that he will continue to take care of him. Cashel makes an attempt to back out of the murder plot, believing this is going too far but High-Hanger added that if they allow Tyler to get away with his actions this will damage their reputation which is something he cannot allow. Despite Cashel trying to negotiate, High-Hanger attacked Cashel aggressively and threatened him if he carried on defying his will. Out of options if he wanted to protect his family and career, Cashel accepted High-Hanger's orders and took the gun home with the haunting thoughts that he may have to take someone's life who was once his best friend and like a brother to him.

Discovering that Cashel did not follow his direct orders, High-Hanger arranged for Mass to abduct Cashel's sister, Whitney, and hold her prisoner in a secret location. High-Hanger then sent a photo of the tied up and gagged Whitney to Cashel's phone, giving him twenty four hours to kill Tyler or his sister will die. A greatly terrified and concerned Cashel gave in to High-Hanger's demands to protect his sister. Learning the following night that Tyler will be at a boat party to celebrate that his girlfriend Tegen is pregnant, Cashel reluctantly sneaked onto the ship with the gun determined to save his sister but finds it incredibly hard to kill someone, especially Tyler. Cashel managed to confront Tyler alone on the boat roof, who was overjoyed at the thought of being a father and that he plans to propose to her too, though Cashel surprised him at gunpoint. The two rappers fought which resulted in accidentally knocking out the boat captain, resulting in the boat crashing and tragically caused Whitney's death. Hearing of what happened, High-Hanger decided that this hurt Tyler enough so he called off Cashel and released his sister from captivity.

Shortly afterwards however, Tyler goes on the warpath against both Cashel and High-Hanger and he had realized he lost everything so he re-joined his old street gang Deptford Shank Crew (DSC), rivals of the Ghetto Thugz. The gang war between the two former friends began because of High-Hanger's influences and actions. High-Hanger though has Cashel protected by the GT on his behalf and was met by Mass in his office who questioned High-Hanger's decision to spare Tyler, with High-Hanger revealing that he can make a ton of profit from their warfare legally and illegally.