“I make art, I break hearts.” This is without a doubt when one would take a first listen at this tri-chromatic bass producer hailing from the windy city of Chicago. It is safe to say that there are very few new producers out there who can take a bigger bite out of bass music than this tuneful fire breather known as YOUNG LIVE.
This genre-hopping gent is all over the musical radar, appearing on all sorts of collaborations with the likes of Heroes & Villains, Fki, Travis Porter, Chance The Rapper, and Yasmin. His ground game is just as impressive, taking the spotlight at Pitchfork, SXSW and even Indie Fest.
Yet, what can easily be said, must also be proven, and with a full arsenal of heart breaking bass gems. YL is half mind-bending fantasy and half… something else. His newly released under PWM, retrofitted with the name “Bad Man”, will have you bouncin’ and swervin’ in a pure state of alternate reality. Listen, dance and learn more about this young talent in this exclusive interview.
SUM: Hi YL! Thanks for giving us a moment of your time! How’s the come up treating you?
Hey! Pretty good, man. Rise and grind. Progress. Really looking forward to the next couple of months and the summer.
SUM: Young… Live. It makes sense to see your name next to a bass track, but how did you happen to come about your moniker?
Well, actually it followed me from my teenage years. I started making music with a homie and we ended up making a lot of beats that made a little bit of noise in hip-hop. I used to rap a bunch back then also. When somebody would ask about tracks, we would say ‘He [I] will do it live [Live]’. The rap name sort of just stuck and I’m bringing it into my electronic production/dj career. I think its bringing something different than the average with the ‘Young’ part being something you would see in a rap alias.
SUM:What’s a typical life for a guy from Chicago? Any do’s and don’ts one should know about before paying a visit?
Typically, hahaha. I guess it would depend on what area you’re from. I tend to get all over. [When in Chicago] If I’m in the trap, a typical day usually consists of some music, good herbal, strong drinks, homies, grinding, and staying out of trouble; I always have to stay away from trouble. The life of a trapper. If I’m on a ‘better’ side of the city, its probably something like music, a special lady, light drinks , and maybe a movie or something. No matter what, my day is run by music and emails.
SUM:We’re big on food talk here at PWM. What are some hidden places in Chicago to go and commit forsaken sins on a plate?
Oh man! There’s just so much good food in Chicago, it is hard to not have an entire interview on just this question [haha]. Personally, I’ll go to this small place I used to live almost right above from in Pilsen called El Mezquite. The chicken tacos there stole me away. Fresh chicken breasts and get 5 tacos for $5 any day, open late. Haha, I’m sounding like a spokesperson. Another great place is Kuma’s Corner. They have amazing burgers. That place is usually PACKED. You usually have to wait an hour just to be seated. A great alternative to that is Lockdown Bar. Both have custom and specialty burgers.
SUM:If you were a street percussionist, and had only a few means to recreate your sound, how would you do it?
Seeing as we have the street performing ‘Bucket Boys’ who hold it down, that would probably be the central point. I would maybe grab some aluminum cans or something similar to get that garage type of industrial sound I tend to bring recently. Once I made a little change, I might get a loop pedal and mic input to rock some vocal melodies. I would definitely encourage ladies who enjoy it to join in and help the art. That might be a way to pick up women [haha].
SUM:What is your idea of what the ideal girl would be?
I like sort of the package deal. As most people say, brains and beauty. I have yet to meet any girl in the industry that it seems to ever be able to fit with. I met a lot of girls who took their shot [haha] but it seems that being a producer/dj and traveling a lot makes a person ‘hard to trust’. With all that being said, cute face, nice ass, pretty eyes, good fashion sense, caring nature, outgoing, both street and book smart; or just Adriana Lima, Miranda Kerr, or Rashida Jones [haha].
SUM:You’ve had some recent support from the mystery man himself, UZ. What are 3 possibilities of his true identity?
Hilarious thing about this, I was just talking to one of my Dj buddies about this. We just need that picture of Miley w/ the UZ and that would blow people’s minds up. 1) Miley Cyrus, 2) Noisia? 3) Troubl? .. the dj forums say Trouble. It definitely has to be somebody close to that whole circle because they are keeping it shut tight. I want to believe UZ is a new talent that nobody wants to expose. We can dream, right? Btw, that’s fucking dope that he supports. I’m recently finding this out. Hope to meet the mystery sometime this year.
SUM:Bring us on a journey through your new EP. Where did songs get their names? Where do you think one might hear each track being played?
With this EP, I wanted to bring together a couple of different sounds that relate in some way. I think what brings them together is the type of lead sounds that are used. Most are gritty and hard with big 808’s to hold it up and trap percussion patterns. ‘Badman’ gets it’s name from the build vocal that my homie Ill-Legit supplied for me. The same goes for ‘When I See You’ but it wasn’t by him [haha], as you could probably tell. ‘Don’t Do That’ was a drop I had one of my girl’s from the UK do for me. I had the track finished and told her to make a couple of runs thru it. She came up with a couple and I felt ‘ooOO, don’t do that’ was good for that track. Like, she said ‘don’t’ but like she liked it. If you know what I mean ☺. The track ‘Lone Shot’ was pretty much the only one that I chose out myself. I wanted it to be representative of what this meant from me. Badman the EP is my first length that I released solo and I wanted to take it on a gambit of emotions and feels while staying in the lane of trap/festival. Which brings me to the next part of this; I feel like ‘Don’t Do That’ and ‘Lone Shot’ could play out great at a festival. Well, I feel that they all could. ‘When I See You, Do A Line’ would be great on a bigger sound system. I’m thinking more of a theater concert for that one, as the sounds are mad wide. All 4 of those tracks are for the turn up. I feel like ‘Don’t Do That’ has the melodic value to make people tough and mosh it.
SUM: What was the first thing you did after finally completing your EP?
After completing the tracks, I grabbed some whiskey and listened to them repeatedly throughout to try and find some sort of arrangement. Outside of that, I can’t remember for certain but I’m sure I jumped into some emails and networking for this coming summer because I was mad pleased with it. I’m usually just trying to stay on top of it all. I manage my own affairs mostly at this point.
SUM: Festival trap is here to stay. We all know it, but where do you think the sound can go from here?
Personally, I think the sky is the limit. I don’t really want to say but I have some new projects that I’m working on that has gotten some good reviews from labels so I’m gonna make some more tracks along that line and see who I can go at with it. Trap-House or House-Trap, that’s all I’m going to say but I’m trying to bridge gaps and at this point I feel like I have a good thing going.
SUM: As you progress through your career as a producer and entertainer, what most do you look forward to at the end of that journey?
In all honesty, it’s pretty simple for me. As I look back now and hope to on a more expansive level in the future, I just want to have spread as much positive energy as I can and be able to support myself [and future family] doing what I love. I feel too many people give up on their dreams to early and end up unhappy later on.
SUM: Take us back a notch. Tell us some crazy and unexpected stories that happened to you during some live shows.
Hmmm. Crazy would have to be some of the ‘right place at the right time’ situations where I would just be able to grab a set or drop something on a big stage w/o being booked prior. Another crazy thing is having your computer DIE right in front of you because you’re too turnt up to keep up w/ the battery life [ahah]. 2012 I played in Chicago on my birthday, I was able to crowd surf that one. It was in a club but it was packed to the brim and the crowd was with me. I just went for it. Unexpected would be meeting one of my now ex girls at a show or having an ex [a different one] ‘pleasure’ me in the booth. That wasn’t my birthday but it could have been [haha].
SUM: You do a lot of sketching and photography on your free time. What are some of your inspirations while conjuring up some art?
I take a lot of inspiration just from life in general, the things I see. I might be online and something catches my senses and I delve deeper. From that point, I guess you could say it ends up in my inspiration memory bank. Musically, I tend to just come up w/ some stuff randomly though my day with emotion and such. I have to memo those into my voice recorder so I don’t lose them. I’m into fashion a lot and like to try to defy the norm while satisfying the general likes that most people tend to share. Lots of inspiration comes from the women I interact with; if that makes any sense.
What’s next on your agenda? Any sneak peeks as to what might come to us in 2014?
SUM: What’s next on your agenda? Any sneak peeks as to what might come to us in 2014?
Well, as I said I have that new sound that I am working on sort of crafting. It brings together a couple of different ‘genres’. I will more than likely be previewing them to you. Right now I’m working with ‘Wyze’ from Colorado [not on the before said ‘new sound’]. We have some really big trap tracks that I feel really strong about. I’ll be showing those to you sometime soon. We have a premier of an SD [from Chief Keef’s imprint] official remix that is up on YourEDM.com as of Sunday, Feb 22nd. You can find that for free download on my soundcloud. We’ll be shopping some originals from the both of us for pick up soon. I’ll be doing a lot of traveling for 2014. Between gigs, networking, and this magazine in Florida that I write for, I will be at most of the big EDM festivals and in a lot of cities showing face.
SUM:Our very last question, something that we here at PWM love asking to each artist we get to know. If you were a monster, what sort would you be? What would you look like? What are some of your awesome abilities?
Haha, hmm that’s a tough one. I might be sort of a werewolf. A Teen Wolf sort of deal. Daytime works to the max and then some nights I go really crazy. Yea, think like a wolf man w/ sunglasses and a snapback. I would say with Nikes, a variable Ralph Lauren shirts and Krew jeans also [if a wolf man can wear pants]. I would have my same creative abilities, my same way with the ladies, plus the were wolf attributes. Call me.. The Pussy Monster [hahah].
Thanks guise. It’s been real.
