Artist Of The Week – Young Harden

“Grind with the miss next to you.” Everyone who saw Young Harden perform this song instantly fell in the love with both it and the on-stage chemistry he had with R&B artist Rain. Rain didn’t originally do the hook, but with her on it the song seemed destined to be big. Destiny has a funny way of being interrupted at times, though. A bad management situation put delays and dampers on a lot of things in Harden’s life, but those times are over as the bi-coastal MC, who resides in both California and Connecticut, is back to making major moves. Recently Young Harden sat down with me to discuss his trials and tribulations, the art of the live performance, and what really went on between him and his former group.

Adam Bernard: You fly back and forth from Connecticut to California constantly. Why all the travel? What are you working on in each state?
Young Harden: What I’m really working on is getting all the work done that I can, but the work is not hard work it’s more like working smart. There really are 101 ways to do everything, so I’ma get it in every way. Urban Genesis is the name you should say after Young Harden. The Urban Genesis fam is deep, about 20 deep right now, and we’re also working with some other families out in L.A. We hope to come up with a movement that’s worth moving for.

Adam Bernard: "Grind With The Miss" was a song that generated a huge buzz for you in Connecticut. What prevented you from capitalizing on that buzz?
Young Harden: If you ask me I hold the management team, G-Cap Management, responsible. They didn’t want push it, they knew the single was hot but they didn’t want to do it for the people. They tried putting out Cap’s single and that shit flopped. But that’s me blaming someone else for something I should have done. I'll never say that I took a loss with “Grind With The Miss” because 20 years from now it will still be a hit, in fact I just got a nice size budget for the video. The management team wouldn’t help because we had some mixed feelings about each other, I don’t see why cuz they asked me to do them a favor and teach Cap and Roc how to write and perform so I said aiight I got nothing to loose. At the time I was not ready for a solo album because all my time was used to help out the other two artists on the team.

Adam Bernard: As you mentioned, you were in a group (New Era Base), now you're a solo artist again. What are some of the main differences you've seen between being in a group and being solo?
Young Harden: I was a solo artist before I was in the group, so I really know how it feels to have to hold it down by yourself. I feel I tried to help Cap and Roc out a lot, not only did I show them how to count bars, but also I showed them how to form wordplay and just work on being themselves. Since they were both going trough an identity crises, however, I don’t know how much they really learned. One big difference I see in being a solo act is that I have creative freedom and I’m good with that. I remember talking to the boys before it happened, the group break up, that they might have to do solo albums on their own, but they just joked about it. As for me I just got myself ready for it. Tough times don’t last, tough folks do. Going solo is a long road, but the solo artist has ten times more respect.

Adam Bernard: Speaking of being solo, when you perform live you really connect with the audience. How did you go about developing that trait?
Young Harden: To me the best part of being an MC is going out to perform live, to get in touch with the people, and most importantly get them involved and keep them moved. Back in the day I was so surrounded by music I’d never remember my flows, so I would wing it and come up with a whole song just from freestyling it. That’s what really helped me develop that skill. Call me crazy but that’s what the people want nowadays, spontaneous combustion, you dig? I really think being unpredictable is what the people love, when they don’t know what you’re gonna do next.

Adam Bernard: Finally, any advice for young artists in the process of signing deals?
Young Harden: For the ones coming up in the game you have to understand that it’s only entertainment. Work hard at whatever you do and you’re gonna get it. That’s for real.

MySpace: http://myspace.com/youngharden