YBN Cordae Part 2

Beasley Digital

4/17/2025

YBN Cordae Part 2

Transcript

00:00Put hands together for YV and Cordae, a thousand words.

00:06It's almost like when you make a record like that, you got to be feeling yourself a little bit.

00:09Because you said that one line, you were like, okay, I'm doing something.

00:12Yeah, as I was writing it, I was like, oh.

00:14And I don't really do that too much, you know what I'm saying?

00:16But as I was writing, I was like, okay, we on to something.

00:18You know what I'm saying?

00:19So it's like a high almost.

00:22Like your endorphins are released when you're writing something that you know that's going to resonate with people.

00:26That's going to like, people are going to actually feel it.

00:28It may help somebody, you know what I'm saying, to be very relatable.

00:33So it's always a good feeling.

00:34It really feels like you pick your words carefully.

00:38And like I said.

00:39Oh, for sure.

00:39I always go back and I'm like, what's a better word?

00:42Or like, how can I better phrase this versus just rhyming?

00:45You know what I'm saying?

00:45Because the rhyming part is easy.

00:47I'm like, how can I like, I always like will go back and like replace a word and just be like, okay, I can say this instead of that to like more clearly like articulate the message.

00:57You know what I'm saying?

00:58Because a lot of people can rhyme.

01:00Right.

01:00You know what I'm saying?

01:01Cat, hat, bat.

01:02Yeah.

01:02Or just be on some lyrical miracle shit.

01:04Right.

01:04But it got to make sense.

01:06You know what I'm saying?

01:07It got to really touch the people.

01:08So, yeah.

01:09And that's funny because people are, you know, talking about your college life because you're so well read.

01:15Yeah.

01:16And so articulate that they're like, yo, so you left school.

01:18And it's like, when I talk at schools, I make people nervous because I'm like, everybody should go to college.

01:23Not everybody finishes.

01:24Yeah.

01:24Some people go pro.

01:25I went to radio.

01:26Yeah.

01:26Some people go play ball.

01:28Yeah.

01:28You left and became YBN Cordae.

01:30Yeah.

01:31You know what I'm saying?

01:31So talk about the effect of just being a wordsmith.

01:35Somebody who can just find them words and connect them together to put together a masterpiece like this.

01:39Yeah.

01:40I don't really think college helped at all with that.

01:42But I just always been.

01:46But college gave me more to talk about.

01:48You know what I'm saying?

01:48From experience being, you know, a broke ass college student.

01:53You know what I'm saying?

01:55It just gives you more to talk about being in, living in Baltimore.

01:58You know what I'm saying?

01:59While I was in school.

02:00So, but, yeah, just, I've just always been, like, good with words, if that makes sense.

02:09You know what I'm saying?

02:09It's just sort of like a, I hate to say, like, a gift because it sounds, like, very self-omniscient.

02:16You know what I'm saying?

02:17But it's just always something I love to do more.

02:19So I always just love, like, writing music, rapping.

02:21You know what I'm saying?

02:22When we talk about the new wave of artists that come through, you know, there's, you

02:29know, the older emcees who felt put aside, it felt kind of like, you know, like they

02:34was getting just crapped on or whatever.

02:36Yeah.

02:37You know, they started to make a lot of noise.

02:39And so you remixed J. Cole's 1985.

02:42Yeah.

02:42And came out with old ends.

02:44And that's when I first got you on my radar because I'm like, yo, this dude's clapping

02:48back at J. Cole.

02:49Ooh, this is going to be ugly.

02:50And then I watched it and I'm like, yo, this, wow.

02:54Like, it was a different opinion because it wasn't like the rest of the people that

02:59you're getting, you're kind of getting lumped in with.

03:01Yeah.

03:02And then you did the BET Awards with her.

03:04Mm-hmm.

03:05And that was just a moment where everybody knew your name at that point.

03:09Yeah.

03:10And I'm like, yo, I really need to see this dude's stuff.

03:12So in listening to everything you put together, was it a conscious effort to make sure that

03:19this release had a bigger view than just what's out there now?

03:24Like when you listen to the whole project before you hit finalize, were you like, I need to

03:28make a moment that's going to let them know I'm here and I'm real?

03:31Or was it just organically part of you?

03:34It was just organically part of me.

03:35But I definitely like took a lot of time into this.

03:39You know, I've been working on this joint for like a year, eight months to a year, essentially.

03:42I had like some songs, like, but all the songs were like, yeah, essentially I've been working

03:52on this joint for a good, a good six to eight months and some songs is like a year.

03:58But I just was taking my time with the order, you know, it got down to really 13 songs and

04:05two interludes.

04:06But yeah, I really took my time.

04:11I went through like 40 songs to cut down to these that like made the most sense sonically

04:15and just fit the story.

04:17I knew what story I wanted to tell.

04:19I knew the concept I wanted to go in, but it was just like, how do I put this?

04:22You know what I'm saying?

04:23Pin the pad and make good music while doing it.

04:26So, yeah.

04:27Now, you mentioned the interludes.

04:29People have been trying to get back into skits and doing kind of creative stuff to piece around

04:35the music.

04:35Uh-huh.

04:36And you had one of them that stood out because anybody who went to church with grandma,

04:41Yeah.

04:42You know, your grandmother represented Usherboard.

04:45Yeah.

04:45For sure.

04:46In a major way.

04:47Yeah.

04:48And how important was it for you to share this light with your grandmother and kind of

04:54put that stamp on there to show that part of your history?

04:57Yeah.

04:58It was, man, it just came about super organic because I went to go visit her.

05:02Whenever I have, my grandmother stays in Rhode Island.

05:05So, whenever I'm in New York, I just fly to Rhode Island to see her.

05:08And I went to go visit her and she started singing that.

05:11And I just recorded her singing it.

05:13And then I took the iPhone recording and put it on Pro Tools and had my boy add like

05:18a piano behind it.

05:19And then my other homie, Sir, to add like background vocals to it.

05:22And I was like, because when I seen the video, I was like, yo, this kid like, I got to put

05:26this shit on the album somehow.

05:28So, we actually made it the musical thing.

05:31Yeah.

05:31I told her afterwards, but she knew she was like, Kade.

05:34When the album came out, she always called me, Kade.

05:36She's like, you know, her girl was born in 1933.

05:38Like her, her parents were sharecroppers.

05:41You know what I'm saying?

05:43She from North Carolina, whatever.

05:45So, she was like, my phone been buzzing all day.

05:48My line hot right now, the OU.

05:50She said, I'm popping.

05:52She said, my phone line hot right now.

05:55You know what I'm saying?

05:56So, it was dope.

05:56It definitely meant a lot.

05:58Tell me about your influences.

06:00When we listen to this, I hear samples used like a Kanye would do for that soul.

06:05Yeah.

06:05I hear even some chants flare with the strings and stuff like that.

06:10Like, it's not like you have influences, but you have a whole picture that's here that's

06:15kind of worth saying out loud.

06:18You know, and give people their roses while they're here.

06:19So, I'm telling you, it's like a complete piece.

06:22But who are the influences who were in your ear when you were waiting tables?

06:28Uh, shit.

06:30I was listening to a bunch of everything.

06:32Travis Scott, Kanye, Kendrick, Jay-Z, Big L.

06:38So, everything on those drives home at night after like two in the morning.

06:44You know what I'm saying?

06:46Uh, a bunch of shit, really.

06:48Who had the biggest impact on you coming in as an artist?

06:52I don't know.

06:53I can't give that credit just to like one artist.

06:56It's a combination.

06:56Hip-hop.

06:57All the hip-hop community.

06:59You know what I'm saying?

06:59Every single, like, hip-hop artist I grew up listening to, I give them their dues.

07:04You know what I'm saying?

07:05I don't want to just attribute it to like, I don't really have a biggest influence.

07:08You know what I'm saying?

07:09I have several.

07:10You know what I'm saying?

07:11So, yeah.

07:12I always show love to the forefathers.

07:14Absolutely.

07:15Well, I mean, when I asked you about your favorite song, it's hard to kind of make an artist pick one of their favorite kids.

07:21Yeah.

07:22But I'll ask it this way.

07:24You've been on stage with these tours and you're in front of these audiences.

07:28Which song on your album hits the hardest with the audience?

07:34Like, that you're like, yo, they really feeling this one.

07:38Man, every fucking one.

07:41For real.

07:42Like, they fuck with a thousand words.

07:44They fuck with Bad Idea Heavy.

07:46These are top four.

07:47Bad Idea, Thousand Words, Broke As Fuck, and R&P, and also Kung Fu as well.

07:53Those are top five.

07:54Kung Fu is classic.

07:55Yeah, that everybody go, like, those five right there, it's nutty.

07:59I can cut the music off and, like, just let them go.

08:02Yeah, and just let them go.

08:03Yeah.

08:03And even though they pay to see you perform, it's kind of nice to stand there and just see 10,000 people just getting it back.

08:08Yeah, for sure.

08:09It's crazy.

08:10It's just super dope to me that somebody spend their hard-earned money to come watch me do what I love to do.

08:17Yeah.

08:17You know, somebody spends their hard-earned money.

08:19Niggas work hard for their money, bro.

08:21You know what I'm saying?

08:21For real.

08:22Niggas work hard for their money.

08:23So, the fact that they spent their hard-earned money that could have went towards bills, kids, whatever, to watch me do what I love, bro, it's fucking insane, bro.