Thursday, February 14, 2008

New but Oldy-Yung Texas speaks

No other genre of music is as fixated on an artist’s home as Hip-Hop. Whether it’s the North, South, East or West, it’s up to a rap artist to represent where they’re from and show the world how it goes down in their region. Killeen, Texas emcee, Yung Texxus, clearly understands this notion. And after growing up in Texas and moving to Delaware at 17, he carries the weight of two cities, two groups and two different styles of rap music on his shoulders.



On coast, he’s Yung Texxus, a member of the the Killeen rap group, Green City, who’s being ushered in by the legendary emcee, Scarface. On another coast, he’s Yung Texxus, the CEO of his own Delaware record label, State City Music, and member of the group Stack Cap Gang. Not to mention a burgeoning solo career, with his singles like "Trill Thangz" and "Buss It Open" featuring Yung Joc bubbling and Desert Storm’s DJ Clue in his corner.



He’s probably best known for his verse on Kelly Rowland’s unexpected underground hit “Still In Love With My Ex” but that was just the beginning. Texxus explains his big plans to buss it open for Killeen and Dover in 2008 to AllHipHop, and how he balances two groups and a solo career. Best believe it ain’t easy.



AllHipHop.com: You’re from Killeen, Texas but you have ties to Dover, Delaware too. Can you explain your background?



Yung Texxus: I’m from Killeen, Texas. It’s a small town located in central Texas. I lived there until I was about 17-years-old. And then I moved to the east coast, Delaware, to be reunited with my father after he was released from a 10 year prison sentence.



AllHipHop.com: You’re part of the Killeen, Texas rap group Green City. How did the group hook up?



Yung Texxus: We’re all from Killeen. We grow up together in Killeen, playing sports and just being around each other. We all had love for music and it was something we did, and continued to do as adults. And you know, it is what it is now.



AllHipHop.com: Green City has a cosign from Scarface. What have you been able to learn working with a legend like him?



Yung Texxus: Face taught me a couple different things. Mainly, make sure I got my business on point. Make sure my paperwork is good. I worked with him in the studio. I actually got the chance to do a song with him called “The Dope Game,” which is gonna be on the Green City album when it’s released. You know, I really learn by watching somebody work. Some people learn by reading but I learn visually, so just by watching him he taught me a lot.



AllHipHop.com: You’re apart of another group. Can you explain the situation with the other group that you are apart of?



Yung Texxus: I’m in two groups. Green City, my group in Texas, my childhood friends, and I also have my own label called State City Music and we have a group on the label called SCGs, Stocking Cap Gang. And basically, that’s my other group and that’s my label. And I’m working with DJ Clue real heavy on my solo project, on the Desert Storm South tip. So you know, just trying to keep it funky and just doing me.



AllHipHop.com: So how did you hook up DJ Clue?



Yung Texxus: To make a long story short, I was in Myrtle Beach, [South Carolina], I was on vacation for Black Bike weekend. And my manager Jay Classik hit me up like, “Yeah, you know Clue heard the ‘Buss It Open’.” Clue really liked the single and wanted to shop it to some majors. This is before the remix, when it was bubbling, when it was just my single. So Clue got a hold of the single, got it poppin’, got [Yung] Joc on the remix and it’s been a wrap ever since. We’re looking to lockdown some kind of situation within this year.



AllHipHop.com: Joc is on the remix, so did you get a chance to meet and chop it up with him?



Yung Texxus: Yeah, I met Joc. We had a show at the University of Texas. He’s a real humble, real cool dude. Big shout out to Joc and the whole Block Ent.



AllHipHop.com: You worked with Kelly Rowland on “Still In Love With My Ex.” How did you hook up with her?



Yung Texxus: That was probably one of the biggest songs I was known for before “Buss It Open.” My producers are out of Atlanta, go by the name ClubbaLang. Basically, they work with Sean Garrett every now and then, he writes a lot of hits for pop sensations. Sony hit ClubbaLang up and asked them to do a remix for Kelly Rowland’s track “Still In Love With My Ex.” Being that I’m their artist, they said, “Tex, go ahead and drop a verse on here and we’re gonna send it to the label.” Unfortunately, [the label] didn’t pick it up. But the song was leaked, I think the first mixtape was DJ Scream’s. That put it out to the world. Next thing I know it’s on all types of sites, it’s getting burn on Hot 97 with DJ Envy, it [was] getting play everywhere.



AllHipHop.com: How did it feel to get your first taste of success on an R&B song?



Yung Texxus: I’m an artist, man, so really I enjoy making all types of music. So getting down on a R&B track was great cause it introduced me to a whole different kind of audience and different types of people listening to my music, which was good. I got a lot of good feedback from people saying, “I wish this was the real track.” That just let me know that on the next go round I might be that much more accepted. I already broke some ice with that.



AllHipHop.com: I heard you have a history as a battle rapper, right?



Yung Texxus: Yeah, me being from the South, I was always open-minded. I never closed myself off and listened to only one type of music. I grew up in Texas, I listened to Swishahouse, DJ Screw, Chamillionaire and Paul Wall. I listened to Wu Tang, Jay-Z, Nas, Rakim. I listened to all that. So when I came to the east coast at 17, a lot of people didn’t really embrace my style. I love the east coast, but a lot of people stereotype southern rappers. So when I came out here, I had to prove myself and that got me into a lot of battles, which I pretty much came out on top of all of them. I even battled Jin from 106 & Park. Me and Jin battled in the mall, nobody would step up to him. I got an illustrious career as a battle rapper but I’m retired right now. I just wanna make hits and make songs.



AllHipHop.com: With you being in two groups and pursuing a solo career, how do you balance being solo to being in groups?



Yung Texxus: It’s easy for me cause I’ve always been a team player, so it’s easy for me to bounce back from a solo thing to the group thing. And I’ve always been an independent person. I’ve always been on my own. I’m the oldest child, so I always had to take care of the family. I think that’s why I can do the things I do within a group, which is running my label State City Music. I’m the CEO of State City Music, and I’m responsible for setting other artists and their careers, as well as my own. So it’s easy for me to bounce back from a solo to the group thing.



AllHipHop.com: You go by the name Yung Texxus. I’d say that outside of Scarface and UGK, and compared to what Mike Jones, Paul Wall and Chamillionaire did a few years ago, Texas has kind of struggled this past year. You being a young new rapper from Texas, how are you going to bring Texas back, especially with you carrying the name Yung Texxus?



Yung Texxus: That’s a good question. A lot of the cats you named are from Houston. Mike Jones, Paul Wall, they’re from Houston. I’m not from Houston. Houston got their own culture, their own swag, their own thing, their own movement going on in Houston. I’m from Killeen, Texas, I’m from central Texas. And where myself and Green City are somewhat fore founders of that region of Texas, cause no one has really accomplished what we’ve accomplished. We have our own style. We’re more lyrical and we wanna rap on the track more so than the slowed down stuff. So I wouldn’t compare myself to them. And I’m bringing something totally different to the table for Texas. It’s a whole crop of young artists coming up in Texas, like myself that’s bringing something totally different than the Houston artists. No disrespect to the Houston people, cause we came up on them, and they were first. But we’re just bringing something different to the table and giving our side of things. You got my homie Sparkdawg, my cousin, who’s also a part of Green City, he’s doing his thing major on the underground tip. You got my people out in Dallas, and they got their whole movement that’s different from Houston. Like Tum Tum, Big Tuck and the whole DSR movement. So everything is different when you go to different parts of Texas.



AllHipHop.com: So are you in Texas or Delaware right now?



Yung Texas: I’m in Delaware. My mom and my father are from Delaware. Me being a product of the Air Force, me and my sisters were born in Texas.



AllHipHop.com: What is the music scene like in Delaware?



Yung Texxus: On the real, to keep it 100% funky, I feel like I’m carrying the flag for two different small towns who never got a break. Killeen, Texas, I’m doing it big for them and representing that to the fullest. And in Delaware, it’s the same thing. There’s not too many artists in Dover coming out, representing and putting it down. My whole crew is from Dover, State City, and basically, we’re crafting the scene out here. Nobody has done in Delaware what we have done, which is get national exposure in magazines, radio play in New York and other areas. So there’s a music scene here, shout out to the peoples that’s doing it, but we’re pretty much the tastemakers for Delaware and Killeen.



AllHipHop.com: Do you ever feel torn between the two cities? Like do you have to have two different styles two appease two different markets?



Yung Texxus: Yeah, it’s definitely been tough. But anyone that knows me from Green City, knows that I’ve always been the lyrical one. They be like, “man, you got that east coast swag.” But I just feel like I’m doing me. It’s always been in me to be intelligence, spit what’s on my brain, and spit it from an intellectual point of view. Or I might give you the old Texas style, the flow you hear from the average Texas artist. But I always switch it up and keep it versatile. And I find myself torn sometimes, but I feel like that’s a part of me being a person, cause I don’t always feel that same way everyday I wake up. It might come up lyrical one day and straight to the point the next.



AllHipHop.com: What project are you working on right now?



Yung Texxus: Right now I’m working on a three part mixtape series called Throwaways. I haven’t release a mixtape since 2005. I was in The Source Unsigned Hype in 2005, they were comparing me to Jay-Z, saying I got a street flow like Jay-Z and this and that. It was an honor to be compared to him. But I haven’t released a mixtape since the Unsigned Hype. Basically, what this mixtape series is, is to catch up the listeners. The Yung Joc single, people are checking for it, I wanna put together a mixtape where they can catch up and hear all the songs I’ve been doing and all the collaborations I’ve been doing over the last three years.



AllHipHop.com: Are you signed with Desert Storm?



Yung Texxus: That’s something to be decided. I’m working with Clue real heavy. We don’t have any paperwork as far as me signing directly to Desert Storm. But we’re in the mixing of some big deals together. Clue is also a free agent now too. A lot of people may not know Desert Storm is not being distributed through Def Jam. So he’s searching for a new home to sell to as well. But only time’s gonna tell. But that’s my nigga and we’re rockin’, with or without the paperwork.

Yung Texxas' Myspace Page is www.myspace.com/yungtexxusakamistagreen

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