Since his surprise breakout in the last few years with viral sensations “38 Baby” and “So Long,” Youngboy Never Broke Again or NBA Youngboy as he’d once been known, remains a figure of controversial reputation and impressive capabilities. In the rush to greatness, he’s offered a constant outpouring of music across several mixtapes and a debut album that has inspired many to place him at the top of his generation of street rappers. However, Youngboy is a rapper whose tunes feel like moody wallowings, leaving you to sift your way through a sea of tracks with morose content and details. Hits, when they happen, are obvious bangers that captivate and become anthems but in a lot of the murkier material there’s still some real gems.
Here at Hotnewhiphop, we’ve assembled 10 cuts that help give newer listeners a deeper picture, and longtime fans a reminder of the less often cited cuts, as to what made people so invested in this rapper. You have tracks with introspective soul-searching and plenty of menacing boasts, that can range from the bluesy and the soulful to real get buck and get beat-down bangers that simply weren’t in the spotlight when he had it. Take a look and a listen at some of the more raw selections in the career of Youngboy Never Broke Again.
How We Play It (ft. Extendo)
Fight rap is possibly one of the easiest and most satisfying ways to make a debut onto the rap game, and it seems a mandatory requirement to be a fan favorite in the south. “Lay it Down”, “Tear the Club Up”, “24s”, “No Mo Play in GA”, “Knuck If You Buck”, “O Let’s Do It”; the list of classics based around someone getting stomped out trails on and on south of the Mason-Dixon, and it’s no surprise Youngboy was learning how to make those from an early age. Here with fellow rapper Extendo, there isn’t a lot of finesse between the both of them and -- truth be told -- neither one is distinctly ahead of the other in quality of verse. Yet, the surprising amount of nastiness from an even younger Youngboy, relishing the thought of breaking necks of anyone who decides to mess with him, is pretty intimidating all the same, and demonstrates his ability to rap with conviction and a tone of maturity that most of his current peers are only just learning to discover.
My Kind Of Night
As stated earlier, it was inarguably records such as “38 Baby” and “So Long” that successfully helped Youngboy pierce his way out of his local scene and place himself in the national conversation. On the subsequent 38 Baby EP, the still relatively unknown rapper did his best to show off all his potential and provide a number of solid tracks that put him heads and shoulders above rappers who were years older and deeper in the scene. One perfect example was the sleazy “My Kind of Night” produced by Young Lan, then still hot off a number of collabs with Fetty Wap. However, compared to Fetty’s sparkling and skyrocketing pop rap, Youngboy’s pop sensibility was downright rude and didn’t appear to give a damn about making a good impression. All the same, it was with tracks like that in which hundreds of fans started flocking to help make the groundswell start to commence to establish him as "one to watch."
For It
Of all the songs on the 38 Baby EP, “For It” is the one that gives us the best glimpse at what would start to emerge from Youngboy over the next few years. With a minimal, trance-tinged beat, Youngboy demonstrates his harmonizing skills and starts to entertain a sense of depth and deliberation and worldliness far beyond his years. Certainly, his ability to display fury and malice was always going to help him stand out, but it was tracks such as this that really indicated his potential as someone who could display emotional range with street topics in a way that had been de-emphasized in street rap following the wake of a culture obsessed with Instagram infamy. Granted, Youngboy’s real-life actions would contradict his sense of purpose on record, but his success seems put into existence on record based on such a projection of yearning that resonates with fans still.
Who You Supposed To Be
The problem with smaller scenes is that there are often lots of fish in a small pond, and the bigger they are, the more the competition can get pretty intense. Though the situation appears to be suspended now that Youngboy has moved himself out of Louisiana, for a long time his back-and-forth with fellow Baton Rouge rapper Scotty Cain has had tensions that boiled over to worrisome implications. Plenty of that animosity managed to make its way up onto records between both parties, and “Who You Supposed To Be” is a perfect time capsule of Youngboy at his most viscerally ticked off. It barely clocks in over a minute, but it’s a pure salvo of behind the scenes dirt and overwhelming vitriol against a foe that for once we know exactly who’s in mind.
Bet
The discography of Youngboy Never Broke Again is full of a number of solid tapes that document the rapid development of the teen to the competency he currently displays. However, his Mind of a Menace 3 tape feels like a tragically underrated tape due to a lack of big recognizable singles. All any new listener needs to understand how solid the tape is to simply to turn on “Bet.” Over a moody, Zaytoven-esque piano line and wah-wah guitar, Youngboy projects all kinds of surly unease as he snarls threats and seems to breathe tension on the track. It's a slight demonstration of growth, but enough to see that as the years were stacking up, the initial seeds of talent within were starting to manifest and mature. But don’t let all the gravitas talk dissuade you, because “Bet” bangs like nobody’s business.
Stepped On
Though a lot of folks aren’t in the loop when it comes to Baton Rouge, the scene has a particularly interesting sounding rap scene going on at the moment. A lot of the tracks their underground prefers have abandoned the militant grimness or the druggy drift of so much modern ‘trap’ production for a sound that echoes the days of No Limit and Cash Money, or more particularly the more jump-up material of Mouse on the Track. The likes of Maine Muzik, Que Almighty and 70th Street Carlos occasionally switch up their formulas, but all tend to favor this brassy, brash sound that feels like throwbacks to the kind of records you’d hear older legends like Fiend or Mystikal or Juvenile on in their primes. Make no mistake though, for all his sulky and soulful tracks, records like “Stepped On” demonstrate that Youngboy can hold his own in that scene with the best of them, as he comes alive with a deliberate and commanding bark that outstrips his young age.
Dedicated
One of Youngboy's specialties is crafting melodic, heart-on-your-sleeve kind of anthems. The AI Youngboy tape from 2017 was a particularly strong showcase for this, containing numerous records that lined up his youtube channel and became cult hits to demonstrate his incredible growth and potential as an artist, a true “on the edge of greatness” moment. While records such as “Graffiti”, “No Smoke” and “Untouchable” were obvious smashes, somehow a record such as “Dedicated” seemed to fall through the cracks. Produced by Go Grizzly, who’s collaborated with the likes of Kevin Gates and Future, Youngboy swoons over lullaby-like chiming melodies with a wistfulness you rarely hear in rap these days. It’s one of the many numerous examples of a fast-developing songwriting sensibility, and deserves perhaps just as much notice and appreciation as the rest of his growing catalog of classics.
Trap Love (ft. WNC Whop Beezy)
As mentioned once or twice, Youngboy is the latest of a new generation of Baton Rouge rappers to emerge from the Louisiana capital city and break national the way Kevin Gates has only just started to do in recent years and as Boosie and Webbie did before them. The city has a reputation for violence and more often than not local heroes find it difficult to remain in their home for long without some sort of drama potentially costing them their freedom or their lives, and as such Youngboy has recently moved out of the city. However, despite his migration, he’s still managed to work with a few local talents, including rapper WNC Whop Beezy on their song “Trap Love”. A bass-heavy swamp of a record, both the lesser known Beezy and Youngboy turn up with a track that sounds like getting it out the literal mud.
Chosen One (ft. Kodak Black)
Since Youngboy’s debut arrival, one of the rappers he’s found himself frequently compared to again and again is Florida’s Kodak Black. Both surprisingly young to be uttering as weary and experienced lyrics as they do on their raps, and both incredibly prone to being on the wrong end of the legal system, the duo have managed to collaborate to exceptional results. While some would most likely cite their first collaboration “Water” as the exceptional record, that is a record in which Kodak is easily the show stealer. On “Chosen One” however, it is the moment where the younger and less highly regarded Youngboy manages to one-up his rival, both on his bluesy hook and his verse in which the severity of his wail perfectly contrasts with that lush saxophone. If fans are lucky, perhaps both will continue to release music together (perhaps even a collaborative tape!) and even both those songs can potentially be overshadowed by new classics.
Lil Yachty - NBAYOUNGBOAT (ft. Youngboy Never Broke Again)
As stated prior, one of Youngboy’s most underrated aspects is his singularity of presence when on tracks with other rappers. Put the teen spitter next to people such as Future, Moneybagg Yo, Peewee Longway or whomever and he’s a vivid contrast due to his particular approach. But possibly the most unlikely collaboration was this year’s surprise album feature beside none other than the King of Teens, Mr. Lil’ Boat himself. Although Yachty and “Youngboat” don’t exactly seem like the dream pair, this track off of Lil Boat 2 was a surprising banger featuring the duo abandoning their more melodic and mood driven moments for straight-ahead spitting, trading off bars back and forth as if they’d done this for years. It’s an interesting show not only at the contrasts that Youngboy pulls off, but also for just how unlikely some of his successes can be.