Tell us about yourself. Whats your name? Where are you from?
-My name's Young Murph the kidd, I'm from East Oakland, CA. I make player ass feel good music and rep that L7dummy shit.
What does the word "based" mean to you? and if you didn't know what it meant until now what do you think of it?
-I guess when I hear the word "based" it always puts me in the mindset of years ago when I started hearing the pack talk about it. the pack has a really distinct and special kinda ora to their presence and music. I was actually in the lab with the young legend (Young L) last night, and my bro is always hella settled and just really in touch with his shit. I've also put in some work with my guy Stunnaman and we get pretty lifted whenever we link whether it's a show, video shoot, studio, party, club haha... yeah we get pretty high. anyways based is being dummy settled and in tune with ur own shit I'd say.
How did you get your start in the music industry? What or who inspired you?
-haha it's funny, I've been asked this question a lot lately and I think to myself, "am I in music industry yet?" I struggle with that concept a lot because I haven't accomplished as much as I would have liked for myself thus far, but I 1st started getting serious about music when I was going to school at UC Santa Cruz. Doing shows around campus and recording in dorm rooms. My homie's Marc and Tyler of the band 2am Club (RCA) were my biggest inspirations back then, they dropped out of the same school I was going to, moved to Hollywood and got signed and shit ha. Even though I stayed and got my degree in Sociology, seeing cats like them come up and in recent time being around so many young positive up and coming artists like starting six, bobby, (Brackins) the cataracs and dev, and HELLA other talented homies is a constant inspiration to make fresh music and create my own lane.
What upcoming projects are you working on? Any videos or something special coming up in the near future that your excited about?
-Man, I have hella shit I'm about to drop. A bunch of songs I've done over the last like 6 months, mostly produced by my lil bro Nic Nac, aka Diddy Nac 2012, and the dannon man, Trev Case ha. I have a few songs with my big bro Clyde Carson we're about to release, A song with Nio tha Gift, who I think is one of the biggest problems coming out of the Bay Area right now on some rap shit. We got a video for that song, "Shut It Down" dropping soon, directed by L7's own image caputurer Cali King. Some dope cuts with my guy Rell P, my homie GQ from the town, Roice the Choice from Seattle. We've got a lot of tricks up our sleeve this year and I'm excited to put out new music but even more excited to hit the road and do these shows in the spring with Starting Six. Performing my material is like the funnest shit to me and we take it hella seriously. Once you see ymtk live you listen to the music a whole new way I think. The 6 and I really try to capture the party atmosphere in a lot of our records and in our live show, so when people step away they listen to that record remembering how much fun they had when they saw it live. Then they wanna party to that shit all the time haha.
Are there any artists out there you would like to have the chance to work with? If so who?
-Honestly I'd love to be on some West Coast take over shit and get to the point where I could have tracks with all of the cats that I enjoy listening to from the Bay and LA. I feel like so many other areas have talented artists that reach out and collaborate and here on the West we're just now starting to understand the power in #s, "let's all shine" mindset that areas like the South have been on. I love working with all the young up and coming cats like the 6, and Trev Case. It's always hella dope to work with my brother Marc of 2am Club and Clyde Carson is just a legend to me. I'd have ot say Nipsey, the Cataracs, Mickey Shiloh, Frank Ocean, Ty$, Lil B... in addition to the Kanye's, Pharell's, J.Cole's, Wiz, and obvious shit ha.
Who are your favorite artists right now? Who's playing through your speakers in your car?
-I'm listening to everything from Adele to Kanye, Frank Ocean, The Weekend, The Winnans, Ross, Wiz, Big Sean, my nigga Bobby is puttin out some dope records, Starting Six, Campa of the Cataracs is one of my favorite artist honestly, Young L killed shit with "Loud Pockets"... I gotta say the cats in my circle are becoming the only artists I really wanna listen to sometimes haha is that clownin?
What are some things that people might not know about you?
-Iono, I don't really "expect" people to know anything about me honestly haha. On the surface I don't think people know just how much of a stoner/moviehead I am. I like to read but seldomly have the time or attention span, I think it was Kanye West who said, "good movies are like books for stupid people" haha I totally fucked with him for saying that, it's hella true. I live in Hollywood, I'm hella good at hoop, like I'm really good at basketball, I played in college. And the most unknown thing I think is I have a pet rabbit. This big ass bunny named "Bernie" haha, now u know though.
Whats some advice you can give to everyone that you have learned so far in your journey that could come in handy to someone else?
-I think the biggest and most important thing to take with you in be yourself and be confident in that. It almost goes back to being "based". I went through a tough time not really knowing what kind of artist I was, or where I wanted people to place me. When I let go of that pressure and just realized that people would fuck with my music cuz it was a reflection of me, I started focusing on makin dope ass music for me and those people as opposed to trying to win over the niggas I knew would NOT fuck with me haha. When it's all said and done I think shit comes full circle, and if you have enough support from hella people who actually HELLA fuck with your music, those bandwagon cats that would have been hard to grab, just hop on casually like it's nothin.
Where can people find more about you?
-Check out the Official Website or just google or youtube Young Murph, YMTK, yb's favorite rapper/singer/writer/player.
