"I was really excited that I could be part of a great event like Floyd's charity event. The fact that I was a part of that and Richard Schaefer was saluting me and thanking me. When I played my song, 'Farewell,' he had his two fingers in the air and he was saying, 'Farewell.' I was like, 'Wow. That's wassup.' And having Floyd around and, you know, just hanging and coolin' out, I look at it as an experience that I'm blessed to be a part of. It doesn't make me comfortable; it just makes me go harder. I want more than that. I want to have more charity events. I want to have more performances. It pushes me and motivates me more," stated talented rapper Young Jinsu, who was recently in Vegas to perform at Floyd Mayweather's charity event prior to the Cinco de Mayo showdown with Miguel Cotto. Check out what he had to say about the experience and much more!
BT: Jinsu, what's poppin' homie?
YJ: Ain't nothin' much; about to hit the studio. What's going on?
BT: Not much, man; just trying to catch up with you. I know you stay busy because you've been on the scene for a minute now. For those that don't know you, give us a little background.
YJ: I've been in this music game since I was like 6 years old. I started performing at age 8 and since age 8, it's just been history. I done wrote for people, I done been in the game, I done turned down a couple deals, I done been on tours, I done performed with P. Diddy when I was 9 years old; I just been through everything. I'm still grinding and working hard. Recent event and current events that's going on are the Floyd charity event; I just did that, you know. I did the Gibson Ampitheater, which that was cool. You know, I just got a lot of things going. I just dropped my mixtape, "It's Been Said", on March 29th. That's doing good. I'm about to drop another one, it's called "The Triumph", probably in like a week and a half; that's why I'm trying to go to the studio so I can knock these records out. So, you know, just grinding, that's all.
BT: Like I said, you've been in the game for a minute. At one point, they were calling you the Teen King of Hip Hop, so how much longer do you think it's going to be before you really take over the scene?
YJ: Yeah, I definitely, definitely been in this for a minute, but you know, when you go through certain aspects of life, whether it's your team from before in the past...sometimes you don't get a lot of recognition you deserve, whether it's problems, you know, with the industry or whether it's just your team. Basically, that was my problem from before. It was just the team I was with and the surrounding wasn't cool, so I wasn't getting the recognition I deserve. Now I'm in a new situation right now, you know what I'm saying? Bigger things is coming. I feel like I'm more seasonsed as an artist, you know? That little saying, "Everything happens for a reason"...I just feel like everything happened for a reason in my past, so now where I'm at now is just proceeding and progressing from now on, you know?
BT: You mentioned having the right team around you. How did you hook up with Marcus and Brandon Watson?
YJ: Actually, I had met Marcus and Brandon out here running around in LA, you know what I mean? It was like through a mutual friend of theirs, his name is Noah. I had a good relationship with him. I was like, "I'm doing this music. I need management, man. I need somebody that can hop on board that I can feel comfortable with; that I can be like, you know, these are the dudes I'm going to take on board, this is my team, and we're going to take the game by storm like this." He was like, "Man, I think I have the perfect situation for you." He introduced me to Brandon and Marcus and I kinda like fell in love with the whole situation of what they was talking about only because they let me do me, you know what I'm saying? They let me be in my comfort zone. They didn't try to take nothing from me. I basically came to them and said, "Listen, this is how I do music. This is what I'm gonna rap about. Just let me have my comfort zone. That's all I'm asking for." They were like, "Nah, that's more than understood." You know what I mean? So like, I rock with them so hard. In the beginning, it was business of getting stuff done. Then it became a personal level of like family, so whether it's a contract or not, I look at them like family so I'ma ride with them forever. Everything that's been going on in my life and just everything; I've just been accomplishing things every day. Like, "Yo, we're going to make this happen. Watch, we're going to do this and that," and everything's been coming true, so I see that they're about their business and I respect them for that. So I'm gonna return the favor and be about my business, grind, and get to that top and then, you know, break bread like the Last Supper. That's all.
BT: Listening to some of the stuff you've put out, it's pretty easy to recognize your talent. How difficult is it to make it in the industry if you don't have the right team even though you've got a ton of talent? How important is having the right team behind you?
YJ: I mean, it's very important only because you can't do it by yourself; of course not. I mean, if you could do it by yourself, then anybody can make it. But at the end of the day, if you have a strong team, that's your step 1. Step 2 is you being seasonsed as an artist. It's not just about going up there and just knowing how to rap or people just going like, "Yo, this kid can rap." You gotta have all the strong points, which is know how to perform, know how to be on the spot and write songs, know how to be in the studio and work well with other artists, know how to vibe with other artists, know how to master your pen game and start writing for other artists to get extra money, you know, like the publishing side, learning the business, building your team and keeping great people around you so you don't have the fakes and the phonies and the yes men. You need people around you to tell you, "Nah man, that's whack. Do something else!" I look at it like this, like my team, I look at it like family and I keep my team short and small only because I just keep a tight circle. That's how I was raised. If you have the team strong, you'll season as a person, as an artist, and just grinding and mastering your craft, I just feel like you'll be alright, you know what I mean? That's when the fans realize when you step in the door in the industry, you coming full force with your team and yourself and your product that you're selling, because I look at myself as a product; like I'ma sell myself to all of these people in the industry and all of these people in the game and all these fans and everybody.
BT: You started at such a young age. What kind of artists influenced you back when you were just 6, 7 and 8 years old?
YJ: I mean, I was raised different. I'm originally from Rhode Island. Being from Rhode Island, people are like, "What? Rhode Island? What was he doing out there?" But I was raised listening to Tupac, listening to Biggie, listening to Jay-Z, listening to Nas. My dad was, like, you can say strict, but strict in a good way. He knew I was involved in music and I loved music a lot. I could always recite other people's rhymes at a young age. I was like 4 years old in the projects down in Rhode Island and I'm like rapping Biggie, "I got 7 Mac 11's", and I'm getting paid for it. Like I was a little kid and they were like, "Yo, come here, man. Rap that Biggie verse and I'll give you $20." Me, at the time, that was a lot of money, so I was like, "Oh, okay." I was getting $50, $100, just to rap other people's rhymes, so in my mind, I'm like, "I wonder, if I rap my own rhymes, I can get paid off that too." So I just started studying every artist I was looking into. My dad would make me come home from school and after I was done doing my homework, instead of going outside, I would watch like old and mature movies like Goodfellas, Casino, Heat; I'd just watch all these kinds of movies just to see different characters and take off certain parts of characters in movies and turn them into my rhymes. It made my brain sharp, you know what I mean? So me doing that at a young age and growing with that and mastering that, I would write every day; I would spend like a whole day just doing nothing but hooks. That was like my weak point when I was younger, so as I got older, I got strong with that. You know, I'm only 19, so I still got a lot of growing to do as a whole artist, but I think as I'm growing, I'm going to learn more. Maybe by the time I'm like 25, I'll probably be a problem.
BT: There are some rap and hip hop artists out there who don't really have much substance in their lyrics, but you seem like you're looking to convey a message through your words.
YJ: Yeah, definitely, because I look at it like where I'm coming from growing up, you know, a lot of people, without reading my bio, they won't know that my mother was addicted to drugs and my daddy was a hustla. Like, I was raised on all of that. As you grow older, you don't feel like you're going to have to go through stuff like that, but, you know, you might dip your hands back into some negativity. As I got older, I started doing stuff like that. I started selling drugs, I started doing that. That's stuff that I was trying to keep people away from. My music is based on stuff for people to relate to. All in this world, everybody goes through relationships, so I talk about stuff like that. Everybody goes through problems with girls or males, vice versa, I talk about stuff like that. Everybody goes through problems with their family or their dad walking out, I talk about all that. I look at music like if I'm going to talk about something I'm gonna do in my life, I'm going to keep 100, but I'm going to keep some stuff secluded only because it's personal. I feel like that's the best ever because nobody really wants to hear about Lamborghini's and all this stuff because a lot of people in this world don't have that. They want to hear about you coming up from the Honda and getting to the Lamborghini only because it's good to know that basically you worked hard and discplined yourself, you know what I mean? The fact that I can do that, I can write about that at such a young age, I feel like that's what makes me different from a lot of artists. I look at Jay-Z as a big influence to me only because he was very consistent.
BT: I know you've worked with a few artists in the past, but who's out there now that maybe you'd like to get a chance to work with?
YJ: I worked with Chris Brown and Bow Wow already, just to name a few. I would like to work with Meek Mill. I'm a big fan of Meek Mill. I like Meek Mill a lot. J. Cole. I like J. Cole a lot also. And hopefully Drake. That would be cool. And the big homie of course, Jay-Z. Or maybe on the southern side, I'd have to say T.I. too, because I'm a big fan of T.I.
BT: You performed at the charity event that Floyd Mayweather and Shane Mosley had prior to the big fight. I didn't get a chance to go, but I heard it went really well. You even had Richard Schaefer praising you during the post-fight press conference. What was that experience like?
YJ: It was good, man. I was just happy for the fact that I was in Vegas. I'm a young kid. I'm in Vegas, I'm 19, I can't get into the casino, so I'm like, "You know what? I'm out here to perform." I was really excited that I could be part of a great event like Floyd's charity event. The fact that I was a part of that and Richard Schaefer was saluting me and thanking me. When I played my song, "Farewell," he had his two fingers in the air and he was saying, "Farewell." I was like, "Wow. That's wassup." And having Floyd around and, you know, just hanging and coolin' out, I look at it as an experience that I'm blessed to be a part of. It doesn't make me comfortable; it just makes me go harder. I want more than that. I want to have more charity events. I want to have more performances. It pushes me and motivates me more.
BT: What did you think of the fight itself?
YJ: You know what? To tell you the truth. That fight looked very close, but, you know, you can say whatever you want to say, but the man came out on top, you know what I mean? That's all that matters to me. It was a great fight. They were both going at it, you know what I mean? But, you know, Money Team all the way; that's how I roll.
FOLLOW YOUNG JINSU ON TWITTER AT @SQJINSU
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