Artist Of The Week - Young Twinn

At only 20 years old Young Twinn most definitely lives up to the first half of his name, but his demeanor, at times, resembles that of a much more mature MC. Of course, when someone releases their first mixtape at the age of 16 it can speed the maturation process along. Hailing from Houston, Texas, one of Hip-Hop’s latest hotbeds for music, Young Twinn knows most of the assumptions that will be made about him due to his southern heritage, but his goals are a little different than what one might assume. What he really wants to do is inspire. His first single is the infectious “Getcha Cake Up,” a song he wrote in 45 minutes, and with it he’s poised to make the leap from local superstar to nationally known artist. This week I sat down with him to discuss his goals, how he’s looking to inspire people, and what exactly he had to say at 16?

Adam Bernard: You released your first mixtape when you were in high school. What was that process like and what were you rhyming about at that point in your life?
Young Twinn: I felt like if start selling mixtapes around the school for a dollar, there’s three thousand kids in the school, you can do that math, you know what I’m sayin? I was making songs for the school basketball team and stuff. I was rappin for my time and what really made it hot was that if there was a rumor going around school, or anybody people had issues with, I was the dude to address it to. People would come up to me like “ay, I don’t like such and such, put him on blast,” and I’d get in the studio. It was kinda like a Weird Al thing, he goes in there and makes fun of everybody, so it was kinda like a little bit of comedy and at the same time showing that I have the skills to really do something with it. Now that I’m out of school and everything I’m speaking for this hood, man, I’m speaking from where I come from and doing my thing. I’m doing it for the block.

Adam Bernard: One thing people might find interesting about you is that you don’t drink or smoke. When did you make that decision?
Young Twinn: It’s a conscious decision but at the same time just knowing the affects and knowing some of the things that can happen. I would never want to have that dumb feeling like I could say “aw man I was drunk so such and such happened,” or I wake up next to a fat chick or something. I just want to stay in my right mind frame at all times!

Adam Bernard: What do you feel are the most pressing topics you want to cover with your music?
Young Twinn: I’m an inspiration artist. Some people get mad and dis the southern artists because they feel all we talk about is jewelry and diamonds and cars and chicks, like our music has no substance, so the point I’m stressing is every song has a concept. I want to break out of that theme that all we do is talk about the flashy things, but at the same time I want to look at my album as inspiration. If I’m talking about flashy stuff I’m not trying to throw it in your face like “yeah this what I got, ha ha, look at you,” I’m trying to say “I’m 20, if I can get it homey you can get it, too!” It’s not like I’m dissing the next dude because he ain’t on his grind, I’m trying to wake you up so you can get on your grind, and that’s just my whole thing. I don’t like to dis nobody in my rhymes, I hope people take heed to it and better yet learn from it and look at it like hey this dude is 20 and I’ve got crowds of people listening to me that’s ages 25-30 so you’re just getting your money at 25-30 but maybe you can pass that on to your kids when they’re young. Inspiration man, that’s how I look at it.

Adam Bernard: Are there any disadvantages to being young and in the industry?
Young Twinn: Not really. Back then there probably used to be but now that you got so many cats out here that’s young that’s really taking over the game right now, dudes like Chris Brown, Pretty Ricky, Omarion, all of the younger generation dudes, them dudes dropped platinum albums back to back. Even though you have cats like Bow Wow and Jibbs and Lil’ Romeo, they’re still not spitting like me. I’m really coming with it on a hood tip like raw uncut, categorize me with 50 and Jay, I’m spittin on that level. I’m not tryin to spit to get no chicks and just make songs for the ladies, I’m spittin for the streets. If the ladies feel it then so be it but I’m not spittin for no ladies, I’m spittin for the streets. Plus I know a lot of cats don’t write their own rhymes and I write all my own stuff. I think if they wrote a lot of their own stuff then you would hear a lot of different stuff come from them because even though you’re young everybody want to shout out something nowadays and really talk about a crazy issue. I may just want to talk about the chick I hit last night, I could probably make a hot song about it and still not offend nobody.

Adam Bernard: How do you think you’re going to crossover to the east coast, or the west coast, or up north?
Young Twinn: I think I’ma cross over pretty well because I’m gonna really touch bases and move all around. I travel a lot, so a lot of times what we do is we’ll just crash in a city for a week or two. We’ll just go there and set up shop. Aiight, who hustling out here? Who’s that dude out here, who’s that big name out here locally? I’ma go find him, let’s get money. That’s my mentality, if you’re trying to get money then let’s get money. I just want to collaborate and show love. When I go back home I have people shoutin me out and hittin me up from everywhere just from showing love to the people who are just grindin just like me. So I’ma really crossover man, I’m not just trying to stick to the south, I’ve been to the west coast, east coast, Oregon, I’m hustling everywhere.

For more Young Twinn check out youngtwinn.com and myspace.com/artistyoungtwinn.