On the latest episode of “Drink Champs,” N.O.R.E. and DJ EFN were joined by platinum-selling rapper Young MC.
A son to Jamaican immigrants, Marvin Young was born in the United Kingdom but raised in Queens, New York. Upon his high school graduation, he swapped coasts and moved to Cali to study economics at the University of Southern California. During that time, he crossed paths with the co-founders of the independent record label Delicious Vinyl. And from there, Young MC’s rap career came to life.
In the late 1980s, Young MC dropped fire tracks like “Bust A Move” and more. That song cracked the Top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 list, was certified platinum, and earned the rapper his first-ever Grammy award for Best Rap Performance. With plenty of momentum, Young went on to release his debut album, Stone Cold Rhymin’, in 1989, followed by other internationally received efforts like Brainstorm and Ain’t Goin’ Out Like That. Throughout his continuous stints on the microphone and even on the big screen, Young MC remained a legend to anyone who appreciated rap and the genre’s evolution.
He talked about how he was able to shape his career in this interview. Nine takeaways from the conversation are listed below and the full episode can be watched here.
1. On being accepted by the West Coast
Though Young MC was born in the United Kingdom and grew up in Queens, New York, he found his footing as an adult and artist in California, a state that welcomed him with open arms. Well, how and why was that? Young MC explained, “Eazy [E] played a big part in me being accepted on the West Coast because I shared stages with them… I would often open for [N.W.A]. And they were always cool with me, always great. And Eazy accepted me, and Delicious [Vinyl] and Ruthless [Records] were kind of parallel, at least for a minute. They had to acknowledge what we were doing on the pop side, and they had to acknowledge what we were doing on the gangsta side. But it was all LA.”
On that same note, he went on to praise his collaborator Dr. Dre. He added, “Dre has changed the music business. Everything from his production to Death Row, to the stuff with Interscope, to economics, to Beats By Dre.”
2. On his contributions to “We're All in the Same Gang”
The 1990 ultra cut “We're All in the Same Gang” was put together by Mike Concepcion and featured a number of high-level rappers from the West Coast, with the exception of Young MC. On the note of how the New York City-raised rhymer was able to hop on the track, he rationalized, “When I came on, they wanted to see my perspective and how I would do it. And that I wasn’t just mailing it in.”
He continued by comparing the ethos of the track to the moment Kendrick Lamar created during his “Pop Out” event on Juneteenth this year, stating, “What Kendrick did on stage — and this is me just seeing it and viscerally reacting — is the culmination of what we were trying to do in ‘We're All in the Same Gang.’ Because he had made a big deal of saying, ‘Oh, it’s more than records now. It’s bigger than me.’ That was the goal.”
3. On utilizing artificial intelligence
Depending on who gets asked, the opinions on artificial intelligence are very much split. Even though he hails from a time period when the technology was not yet advanced, Young MC has embraced AI via Disco Theresa after being inspired by Rick Ross’ Maybach Music Group tagline. “I thought it was a voice program like Siri. So, I'm like, ‘Ok, if you took that and you fully animated it, where it was literally an element in the track that could answer you, what would that be like?’” he thought to himself before finding a way to implement the advancement.
He added, “I use the technology in my mind to make the music better… I don't want it to imitate anybody. I don't want it to be anybody. I want it to be an element in my music. That's all I want it to be.”
4. On being the first “young” in Hip Hop
From Young Jeezy to Young Thug, there are plenty of rappers who have had “young” in their stage names. When N.O.R.E. asked Young MC if he was the first person to coin the approach, the guest responded, "Yes, absolutely. And it's my last name,” referring to his government name, Marvin Young. On why he opted for the moniker, he explained,” I'm the 12-year-old hanging around the 18-year-olds at the block party. But I can rhyme as good or better than them. And [they’re] not happy about [it]. But I was the first ‘young.’”
5. On having his last alcoholic drink with Tupac and Shock G
Growing up, Young MC was diagnosed with a liver disorder that made him stray away from drinking. Once he entered his 20s, he didn’t like the feeling that alcohol provided mentally and physically, so he continued to stay away. However, he vividly remembers the last time he caved.
“Normally, if I was in a situation and I was offered a drink, I just wouldn’t take it. Then one time, I was in a circle [where] I just couldn’t turn it down… A gentleman passed the bottle to me and said, ‘We’re going to toast to this person,’” he divulged. “The person who passed me the bottle was Shock G. The person that I was toasting was Tupac. That was probably 20 years ago and that’s the last drink that I’ve taken.”
6. On what made DMX special
Though Young MC never met DMX, he praised the fallen legend for being an inspiration and having a style that remains peerless in his opinion. “Of every MC that has ever picked up a microphone, nobody improves the quality of a beat like DMX. DMX could rhyme over a finger snap and it slaps. That's DMX. Never met 'em. [But] that's what I try to do,” he said. “DMX could take any track to the highest level. From an MC, hearing that, his style, his approach is unparalleled. No one else could do it.”
7. On “Bust A Move” being inspired by “It Takes Two”
The platinum-selling, Grammy award-winning track “Bust A Move” is Young MC’s biggest hit on a commercial level. As he broke down the song, he confirmed that the record was inspired by another smash by Rob Base & DJ E-Z Rock. “There wasn't a lady singing on a hook until ‘It Takes Two’ and that came out before ‘Bust A Move.’ Now, I know the difference. It's a different style. But in terms of: Single rapper, rapping over a break beat, semi-melodic, female singer, over 110 beats a minute... it wasn't that much of that then... So, there was definitely some influence,” he revealed.
8. On a missed opportunity to work with Michael Jackson
Legends always link up at some point. With that in mind, Young MC talked about the moment he was one step away from securing a feature with Michael Jackson around the same time that Heavy D was featured on “Jam.” On the note of why it didn’t happen, Young MC explained, “My manager at the time was trying to get money out of him, out of Michael Jackson's camp. Because I was getting paid for everything. And I never was able to get into it, where I could say, ‘Yo, I'll do it for free, just for the look or whatever.’ That was one of our biggest regrets. Because I'm not big on guesting, but there's certain things that where, if you're going to guest, you just do it.”
He concluded, “That's part of the reason I rep myself now.”
9. On Hip Hop’s evolution
Considering how much the genre of Hip Hop has changed over the last few decades, N.O.R.E. asked Young MC if he has ever fallen out of love with it. The “Wild Thing” songwriter responded, “No because Hip Hop has never been one thing. No one could ever change Hip Hop for me.” He went on, “By the time I stopped having hit records, Hip Hop was established. So, if someone else is out there f**king up, it's not on me. I still got mine. I'm still performing. Still doing all that. It's like, 'Oh, man, I really hate what they did to what I love.' No, it's too much of a dynamic entity to say that someone has changed it to the point where I'm gonna hate it.”