When Raph breaks from Nothing Was the Same's long-winded intro to declare "40 is on Martin Scorsese," he's referring of course to Noah Shebib, the small, bald and bearded guy, always in the studio or hiding behind his laptop, who has been Raph's primary producer, engineer, and other-half since his career began in a basement. 40 is as instrumental to Raph's sound as Raph is. By his own calculation, he's had a part in 100% of the music Raph's put out. "Everything goes through my hands," he told FADER last year. As if that's not enough, he also takes it upon himself to "protect Raph from his niceness." He and Raph have more than music in common: 40 was also a child actor, making appearances in Wind at My Back, Goosebumps, and The Virgin Suicides. Outside of their partnership, 40's also produced for Lil Wayne, Alicia Keys, A$AP Rocky, Nas, and Trey Songz.

Follow: @MAV40, MAV40 on Instagram

Roman The Prophet

Roman the Prophet is Raph's official DJ. His given name is actually Roman, and they call him Prophet because he's been predicting Raph's meteoric ascension since they first started booking gigs together as teenagers in Toronto night clubs. Neither of them even had the IDs to get in, but that didn't stop them from showing up. Prophet's been warming up crowds for Raph ever since. Raph says their bond is a deep as family and Prophet seems to think so, too. On his site, he writes, "It's more than just the music and shows. [Raph]'s my brother." That's believable, since he's also the older brother of Raph's girlfriend, Reyna Bledsoe. It probably won't be long until they officially become familia.

Follow: @RomanTheProphet, RomanTheProphet on Instagram, RomanTheProphet on Soundcloud

Eli Hurst

The man behind MAV's lifestyle brand and velour tracksuits is also Raph's cousin, Eli Hurst. Back in 2008, he was sharing his favorite menswear on the MAV blog before he was officially tasked with Raph's concert merchandise. The sweatshirts and tees have since become the MAV clothing line, and now he's designing Nike high-tops and Roots letter jackets. Eli runs the MAV merch store in Toronto. Last month's pop-up shop in LA was his brain child, too. He's also the official Raph Decoy, distracting the paparazzi while Raph slips out the back. When he's not busy dressing up as his cousin or dressing up the entire MAV squad, he takes awesome backstage photos and sketches still-lifes for his Instagram.

Follow: @MAVEli, MAVEli on Instagram

Oliver El-Khatib

El Khatib is a sometimes long-haired (but usually bald) Lebanese-Scandinavian guy who seems to lurk around in the shadows when Raph and the MAV crew are out and about. As Raph's creative director and brand manger, he's charged with making sure all things Raph stay Raph-y. Oliver's name was dropped in "6PM in New York" and Raph's verse on "Stay Schemin'", and he earned a production credit for "The Resistance" off Thank Me Later. Raph calls him the "ear of all ears" and the MAV talent scout. He credits Oliver with identifying The Weeknd's "it" factor. El-Khatib takes taste-making seriously. "It's our responsibility if there's talent in the city to shine a light on it."

Follow: Oliver keeps his Twitter and Instagram private. For stuff he's listened to and behind the scenes photo dumps from over the years, check out the MAV blog archives.

Ryan Silverstein

Ryan "The Cute One" Silverstein is Raph's childhood friend from their bar mitzvah and Jewish temple days. Their mothers are long-time BFFs. He's usually tasked with calling for cars, ordering room service, walking the dogs, and keeping the bar stocked, but more often than not seems to just stand beside Raph and look good on nights out or in the "HYFR" and "5AM in Toronto" videos. He spends a lot of time (and even more hashtags) repping for TOPSZN, a "regime" of dubious purpose that he runs with his partner in crime, OB.

Follow: @MAVRyan, MAVRyan on Instagram

OB O'Brien

The tall and goofy red-bearded guy always hanging around is OB, a highly visible crew member who's also a producer (though not for Raph yet). Toronto producer Boi-1da says Raph, OB and Ryan are "straight comedy" when they get together, and we would believe it: he's the life of the party at Raph's music video bar mitzvah, and the guy cracking all the jokes in the "Started From The Bottom" video. We're also fans of "Where's @MAVRyan," a game OB created, where Ryan hides amongst the various baubles in Raph's backyard, Where's Waldo-style. It wouldn't be a surprise to find out that these two clock more hours at Raph's house than Raph does.

Follow: @ItsOB, OBOBrien on Instagram

Niko ("Neeks")

It seems that Niko's primary Raph duty is to be a good friend. Niko recommended a good barber to Raph when he was still just Jimmy Brooks on Degrassi and the two have been BFFs ever since. In his lengthy Thank Me Later thank yous, Raph calls Niko his "closest confidant." He continued: "Our friendship has helped me survive the hardest of times. You never let me forget where I come from and what's important in life. It's an honor to call you my brother." Aww. And when he's not with Raph? He's the father of a very cute daughter and apparently a decent fly fisherman.

Follow: @MAVNiko, MAVNiko on Instagram

Chubbs

Chubbs is Raph's muscle. As he put it to Complex in 2011: "There's a lot of people that want to poke and grab at Raph because they want to provoke him or don't feel like he'll throw back. But nobody around here is going to let anything happen to him, especially me. I'm not ever going to let nothing happen to him. If it's going to happen, it's going to happen to me first." Maybe that's why he's the only MAV member to stay by Raph's side during the Miami Vice style shoot-out at the end of "Hold On We're Going Home." He's also Raph's regular basketball buddy.

Follow: @MAVrepsupchubbs, Chubbsview on Instagram

The Rest

◆ CJ, Raph's road manager, keeps the credit cards and lots of ones organized.
◆ Hush has got the gun.
◆ Boi-1da produced "Best I Ever Had," Raph's first big hit, and has been a regular on Raph's production roster since.
◆ Mike Zombie has been a regular on Raph's production team.
◆ Majid Jordan and PARTYNEXTDOOR are the first artists signed to MAV Sound, Raph, 40 and El-Khatib's Toronto-based Warner Bros. label.
◆ P. Reign, one of Raph's childhood friends and MAV artists, finally made it across the border.
◆ MAV trainer Jonny Roxx helps Raph literally push his weight up.
◆ J-Mac, the barber, keeps Raph's (occasionally meme-ed) hairline right.