Photo Credit: Daniel Prakopcyk
It’s crazy to think [yvngxchris](https://www.instagram.com/yvngxchriis/?hl=en) is only 16 years old, and he’s here to take over the rap game one banger at a time. Hailing from Virginia, the rising star creates music for people who want to turn up and have fun. He states, “If you’re feeling down, you can listen to yvngxchris and he’ll boost your mood.”
Inspired directly by the greats in hip-hop, doing his due diligence in studying the game since he can remember, yvngxchris got his start by posting videos of himself rapping on social media before discovering n-Track Studio and recording endless tracks on his phone. In October of last year, he experienced his first viral moment on TikTok with the song “Kyrie Irving!”, and it’s been up ever since.
With over 424 followers on [TikTok](https://www.tiktok.com/@yvngxchris?lang=en) to date, yvngxchris caught the attention of Columbia Records where he ended up signing, just two years after he began recording professionally. Most recently, he unleashed his critically-acclaimed single and visual for [“bitch im joe biden](https://youtu.be/Lg5lrLOD9io),” showcasing his talents spitting endless bars and a crazy spitfire flow. Additionally, fans can't get enough of his unreleasing song “Blood On The Leaves,” that is popping off right now on [TikTok (over 200k videos to it)](https://www.tiktok.com/music/yvngxchris-unrealeased-drill-song-6975964913424435974?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1).
_Flaunt_ caught up with yvngxchris in downtown Los Angeles to discuss his sound, his roots in Virginia, and so much more.
Photo Credit: Daniel Prakopcyk
**How would you describe your sound?**
My sound is an upbeat type of feel. It makes you fantasize about different things, like happiness and putting people in my shoes; from my perspective.
**What was it like growing up in Virginia?**
I’m from the Tidewater area. Growing up from Virginia, my friends weren’t really doing anything. Everyone’s trying to do sports, some of them rap but they haven’t really found their sound. With the history VA has, it’s motivating really.
**Were you playing sports as a kid?**
Yeah, I played a lot of sports. I played basketball, football, and I ran track. Since I was a kid, I’ve always wanted to be in the entertainment industry.
**Who are you listening to or inspired by?**
I was inspired by XXXTentacion a lot, Comethazine too. I liked how XXX would tap into different genres and do it so well. He really opened my mind up to different music outside of hip hop like indie rock. When I was a little kid, I listened to Lil Wayne a little bit. My dad used to play his music around the house.
**How did it affect you when XXX passed? That was tough for everyone.**
Absolutely, I couldn’t believe it at first. I was literally watching a YouTube video and I saw on Instagram and TMZ that he died. I said “bruh, I hope this is not real.”
**At what point did you realize you could do music for a living?**
I realized that back in October of last year when my first song started going crazy on TikTok, “Kyrie Irving!” I’ve always wanted to pursue music for a living, but I really noticed I could do it then. I'll tell you the whole story behind this record. Basically it’s the middle of the night, I’m scrolling on TikTok. I saw somebody post their music, it got 5,000 likes. The music wasn’t the greatest so it made me say to myself “bruh, I can do the same thing.” I put my song on TikTok, then literally did the same thing. I recorded myself singing it, posted it. I thought to myself “Okay if it doesn’t blow up, then it doesn’t blow up. If it does, it does.” I literally woke up the next day to it at 5000 likes, like “yo this is crazy.” That was big at the time for me because I never had much interaction with my music until then.
**Did you have a following on TikTok or it just blew up?**
At first, I was doing comedy on TikTok. I had about 2k followers just off the comedy alone. It grew to 5000 off the “Kyrie Irving” video alone, crazy. After that, I kept posting music and it started going crazier and crazier.
**You got started downloading n-Track Studio, right?**
Yea I actually was recording on the app all the way up until January of this year. It’s a whole difficult process of me getting a beat from YouTube, putting it on the app and recording off my phone. I used to record every song like that. My most popular song right now is recorded off my phone.
**How did you learn how to record?**
Before I used to record off of my phone, I used to record at my friend’s house. I said “bro I want to record a lot more, and I don’t want to have to go to his house to do it.” I figured “I'll learn how to do this on my own,” so I recorded it on my phone. Because I didn’t have money at the time, I’m in 7th or 8th grade. I started recording on my phone and got better and better at it.
**What is the significance in the ‘v’ in yvngxchris?**
Before yvngxchris, my name was King C. I changed it because my friend said it was too basic of a name. yvngxchris is still basic, but I switched up the spelling to it. There’s this dancer on Instagram named [YVNG SWAG](https://www.instagram.com/yvngswag/?hl=en), that’s where I got the inspiration from. I saw him doing dance routines with a basketball.
**“bitch im joe biden" is out now, how are you feeling?**
I recorded this 2 or 3 months ago, I really knew it’d be a hit when I started recording it too. I record at my house in Virginia. I was recording the song and as I listened back I thought “this is going to be fire.” I recorded a video on Snapchat, posted it. People were really into it, so I posted it on Instagram too.
**bitch Is that how you test your music?**
Yeah, I throw it out there to see if my fans like it. If they like it, then I drop it. When they don’t, I don’t even bother. Sometimes they aren’t rocking with a teaser I would drop, it’s always like that. I mainly post it on TikTok to see what works.
**What do you like about Joe Biden?**
Honestly, the sample in the song came from Lil B’s “Bitch I’m Bill Clinton”. I just decided to modernize it.
**What you know about Lil B? I’m from the Bay.**
That man is inspirational! That man’s crazy. He actually texted me about the song too. I sent him the song, he said “much love bro, contact me here.” He sent me his number and his email.
**You might need to get him on the remix...**
I got to!
**What was your creative vision with the visual?**
My boy [Karl](https://www.instagram.com/1karlwithak/?hl=en) hit me up saying he wanted to shoot a video for my song “Pretty Girl,” an older song. I said “yeah we could shoot that, but I want to shoot ‘Joe Biden’ too” because I knew it was a hit. It was going up on SoundCloud too at the time after I released it there. I said “yo let’s get the video going.” I hit up my producer, IlyCrisis like “bro, get in my video”. We shot it at the beach in Virginia Beach. We mainly shot it there on the boardwalk and on the actual beach, it was lit. Definitely a vibe.
**How’s your hometown presence?**
At first, I thought it was small. I’ll walk around, people don’t really notice me because I’m always in the same spot. But when I went out to Virginia Beach, more people noticed me. I took a picture with a basketball team, it was crazy. That was love. They’re like “you’re yvngxchris!” It was crazy.
**Are you ready for all of this attention?**
Absolutely. I’ve already been getting attention when i’m traveling. I met some people at the airport. It’s still weird hearing people yell my name out like “yo Chris!”
**I feel like you’re humble too.**
Yeah, I am. I’m a humble guy.
**How does it feel to be signed so early, so young?**
It’s crazy bruh, I’m really blessed for all my opportunities for sure. Most definitely, I give it up to God for sure. My family, the people that were supporting me and continue to support me. It’s an amazing feeling to be signed.
**Did you think it’d happen so early, just two years in?**
I honestly thought I’d be signed around 18. I’m still young, but I always knew I’d be big with whatever I did. I never knew it’d be this early on though so I surprised myself.
**How’d you find your way to Columbia Records?**
They contacted me back in November of last year. I never hit them back because I wasn’t interested in labels at the time. They stayed persistent and kept hitting me up. I got back in contact with them about two months ago, and it's been solid ever since.
**How did you meet your managers Dre The Mayor & Pusha T?**
My A&R Mont and I were looking for managers for a while. We’re bouncing back and forth with a couple different people. One day while I was at a friend’s house, Mont hit me up. He asked “How do you feel about Pusha T as your manager?” I thought that’s insane. A couple weeks went by, and I actually got to meet Pusha T and Dre. We were chopping it up, they were telling me their whole plan for me. They’re from the DMV so it was an even better feeling getting hometown love. We actually got on a call with them before I actually met them in person. When we finally met, that’s when everything was solidified like we gotta work.
**What were the conversations like?**
They were telling me about their game plan, strategizing about new music and things like that. They had everything figured out.
**Do you listen to Pusha T like that?**
Yeah, I was listening to “Mercy.”
**What’s #staingang?**
That’s something I made up in my head. It just sounded cool so I put it in my bio. \[laughs\] Long game, I want to make it a collective with rappers where I’m helping them in different ways. Not only hopping on their songs, but I’m molding them into artists. It’s like a label but not really, more like a collective like Odd Future or TDE.
**You have an unreleased song called “Blood On The Leaves” that’s poppin’ off on** [**TikTok (over 200k videos to it)**](https://www.tiktok.com/music/yvngxchris-unrealeased-drill-song-6975964913424435974?is_copy_url=1&is_from_webapp=v1)**. You’re waiting to get clearance right?**
Yeah, gotta get clearance from a couple people. At first, it’s blowing up like crazy. I put it on Tiktok like one time, it got 2K likes in one day then I deleted it. It wasn’t going as crazy as I thought it would in my head so I deleted it. A week later, I said “alright, I’ma post it again.” When I did it went crazy. The first week I dropped it had some normal growth. The following week, this dude started doing this posing challenge on TikTok. He did five of them, all of them went viral. It was crazy to watch it grow so fast. He was posing as athletes and it was going viral. Everyone started following the trend which was interesting to watch play out.
**Do you have a strategy when you post on Tiktok? Any hashtags?**
Nah that’s the crazy thing right there, I don’t use any hashtags. I take the caption and make it one word, like “crazy” or something like that. Really sometimes, I don’t even know what to name my captions.
**3 things you need in the studio?**
In the studio, I need something to eat. Some candy probably, gotta have a Red Bull. That’s probably my favorite soda right now, a Red Bull. I also need a visual of what I want to do.
**What inspires you the most?**
Seeing other people succeed makes me want to go crazy, fuels my motivation to strive for more. You’re doing that, but what am I doing? I gotta go crazy too!
**How’s balancing school with the rap career?**
Online school was really hard because sometimes in class, I’d be making songs. It was really hard to focus on just school. I start my junior year in September, which should be interesting. I’m on a break right now, so I’m chillin’ and enjoying the time while I have it.
**Being only 16, what do you like to do for fun?**
I used to play a lot of video games. I don’t really do that anymore because I work so much. I hang out with my friends a lot. I started to hang with them more recently due to COVID and being stuck i
**How do your friends feel about all of this?**
They’re proud of me, but they still treat me like I’m Christian before yvngxchris. That’s what I like the most for sure.
**Goals yourself as an artist at this point of your career?**
Tons! I want to be on a billboard, I want a Grammy. I want everything. The sky's the limit for real, I want everything.
**Can we expect any collabs?**
I want to collab with tons of people, a lot of underground artists specifically. Artists like Evils, Smoke Serving and Comethazine. I definitely want to collab with Comethazine big time.
**Is that in the works?**
Not yet, we gotta get bigger for that. Those are most definitely my top three right now.
**What can we expect next music wise?**
“Blood On The Leaves” for sure. I’m looking to drop a project too, a 5-song tape. Probably _Everybody Hates Chris 2,_ because everyone told me to name it that. It makes sense since my name is Chris.
**What’re you most excited for as the world opens back up?**
Shows! I’ve never performed live at a show before. I want to feel the energy of the crowd.
**Anything else you’d like to let the people know?**
If you believe you can do it, you can do It. Follow your dreams. If I can make it, so can you. Just grind and have dedication to the craft. Go crazy, you got it.
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