YoungBoy Never Broke Again, or NBA Youngboy to some, recently sat down with us for the latest installment of On The Come Up. Over the course of the interview, the rapper speaks about his experience partying with 21 Savage and Amber Rose, scoring co-signs from Kevin Gates & Boosie, and explaining why his recent arrest was "the best thing to happen to [him]."
While being arrested in generally considered to be a negative experience, YoungBoy managed to spin that into something beneficial - at least with regards to his career. "It taught me how to not smile a lot," says YoungBoy, unsmiling. "It taught me how to write fast. Shit, it taught me how to not have feelings. It really taught me how to not want nobody to be there for me at all, cause when you want somebody to be there for you, you gon' end up hurting yourself or mind fucking yourself." And while YoungBoy's outlook is certainly cynical, if operating in that manner ultimately helped progress his career, all the more power to him.
He initially planned on writing a song a day in jail, but that changed to two songs a week, due to sheer boredom. "I was on lockdown twenty-three hours and forty five minutes a day. I only got fifteen minutes out of my cell for about three-four months straight, all because of who I was. I wasn't trippin' though...I tried to do push ups, but I couldn't get no bigger."
The idea of constant isolation sounds pretty brutal, so props to NBA for sticking through that and coming out with a sense of focus. The rapper also teases a few upcoming musical projects, including an album coming out at the beginning of 2018, and several collaborations with Lil Yachty, Famous Dex, Lil Durk, and Yo Gotti respectively. Stay tuned for more from YoungBoy NBA, and be sure to watch the entire episode of On The Come Up.