Interview: Detroit YB Discusses the Visual For "I Get Around", Off His "Beauty In The Struggle" Album
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“I don’t rap unless I’m motivated or at least went out and lived life so I have something authentic to talk about. ”
Salute to you on the release of your new music video for "I Get Around"; of the Beauty In The Struggle's 16 songs, why did you choose this one to create a video for?
I appreciate that. “I Get Around” is one of my favorites, not only that, but it's also one of them joints that you need to focus mainly on the lyrics or you might get carried away with the message. Listen as I narrate my past life in the streets but showing you how to use the streets to your advantage and making something better for yourself.
It also describes how I can't just sit down, my hustle requires me to "Get Around", so I felt that this track needed visuals to stand out a bit more.
With "Beauty In The Struggle" being your debut album, what are you most proud of with this project?
The one thing that makes me proud about this project is that I stepped a little outside my comfort zone and expressed my true feelings on every song to be more relatable to every single person listening to it. It brought me success early because I let a few of my homies hear it before it was released and it changed their lives for the better. Some even broke down because of how transparent the music was to them, so in my mind I already succeeded with this album; just need to get it to the masses.
Being from Detroit and now based in Atlanta, how would you compare/contrast the music scenes for emerging artists?
Well when I was still living in Detroit which was around the beginning of 2015, the music scene wasn't popping out there like it is now. Detroit now is definitely on the map as far as Hip hop.
Atlanta has become the mecca for the music scene but from what I hear and see, Detroit ain’t too far behind and in my opinion, we never was, we just never got the acknowledgement from the industry or the masses. We finally catching our break because in my opinion we got top of the line talent in Detroit, so I would say Atlanta is not much different in the music scene. But Atlanta has more resources and opportunities. I call it Black Hollywood.
When you are developing new music, what do you look for in the beats that you choose to write to?
It's not what I look for, it's what moves me. Back then I used to be able to rap about anything and I would look for certain beats to match what I wanted to rap about but now I do things totally different. I don't rap unless I'm motivated or at least went out and lived life so I have something authentic to talk about.
And as far as beats, the instruments would have to move me. I feel like soul beats are an inspiration to me but in all honesty it really doesn’t matter what kind of beat it is. As long as it's speaking to me I can write a record to it. Everything i put out from here on out has to have substance and meaning, if not then I can’t and won’t write the record.
With "Beauty In The Struggle" now released, what are some of your goals musically for this upcoming spring/summer?
My goal for my first debut album is to slowly push it to the masses. I don't have a time limit for that, I just want the world to gravitate to it when it's time. Of course I'm doing a lot of promotion and marketing for it but as of right now we are shooting videos to like half of the track list, so this upcoming summer you will see more visuals from me as I'm writing my next album also.
There's an idea of a book that I just started writing as well that stems from the album, so I'm in the works with that and in hopes that it can be released this summer as well.
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