There is something about Yung Gravy’s music that makes it timeless. It could be the nostalgic samples, the hard hitting 808’s, or even his lyrics that sit in the gray area between hilarious and genius. Perhaps it’s a combination of all 3. Whatever it is, he’s mastered it. Especially with his latest hit “Betty”, there’s an undeniable quality to Gravy’s music that can’t truly be described.
I’m a recent music school graduate (University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign’s Music Technology program, to be exact), and it always baffles people when I tell them that Yung Gravy was my number one artist on Spotify, not just one year, but two. In the cluster of my music taste which is mainly rock and pop punk, Yung Gravy somehow still comes out on top. I occasionally listen to some Tiny Meat Gang, sure, but for the most part, Yung Gravy is an outlier amongst my other frequently streamed artists.
I first was introduced to Yung Gravy, like many other fans, through TikTok. Back in prehistoric times (2018), before TikTok even had the feature to put text on videos, there was a dance trend to Gravy’s song “Cheryl”. I was immediately enthralled, rhyming “dressing” with “flexing”?! I was sold. Over the next few years, I proceeded to play Gravy’s music for everyone, get my feet stomped on by suburban frat boys at his 2019 Lollapalooza set, and reply to his Instagram stories way too often. I’m serious, I genuinely listened to “1 Thot 2 Thot” every single day when I clocked out of work. I loved that it was fun, upbeat music made by an equally fun and upbeat person. Especially when it seems like “unprecedented times” are never ending, a lighthearted song can really go a long way.
This is an insane time in Yung Gravy’s career: “Betty” is charting on Billboard, he’s gearing up to release an album in September, and he’s also about to hit the road with longtime friend and collaborator bbno$. In the midst of all the chaos, I got the chance to chat on the phone with Yung Gravy about everything he’s working on. He answers the phone, kindly introducing himself as Matt, and we jump into our conversation.
Brigid: So I’ve got some questions for you here, but before we get into it, I just have to let you know that you were my number one artist on Spotify two years in a row! In 2019 and 2020.
Yung Gravy: Really?! Wow, thank you. I’m honored.
Brigid: Yeah, I’ve been to two shows!
Yung Gravy: Really! Which shows?
Brigid: I was at Lollapalooza in 2019, and then I was also at Spring Jam at the University of Illinois. I just graduated from there.
Yung Gravy: Oh sick, sick. Well, congrats on graduating! Those were both really good shows, that’s awesome. That’s a nice little window of time. Early me and like, more recent me… I’ve changed a lot, so it’s cool that you saw both of those.
Brigid: Yeah, totally! Okay, so we can get into the questions here. We obviously have to talk about “Betty”, I feel like it’s taken on a life of its own. It’s huge right now. It’s your first single that’s hit the Billboard charts, which is super exciting. How does it feel to have a song on the charts?
Yung Gravy: Yeah, it is wild! Some of my albums have charted, I think there’s different math that goes into it. Both Gasanova and Sensational debuted at 52 on Billboard, which is interesting. I was like “Oh, maybe I’ll beat last year,” but nah, the exact same one. But I’ve never had a single on the Hot 100, it’s like a whole different ball game. It’s like a bigger deal, so pretty cool for me. It updates once a week, and I’ve been at… 68 and 63 I think? It’s pretty awesome to see that it got on there, and that it’s staying, and still going up. It’s hype for me, man. I’ve been rapping for 5 years and I never thought I’d have a song get that big, it’s cool that it can happen.
Brigid: Yeah, super exciting for sure. Did you think it was going to get this big? Obviously, it was destined to be a hit from the second the first snippet was on TikTok, but did you think that this one would be the one to chart as a single?
Yung Gravy: Nah, I mean I thought it would be big, sure. As an artist, you always know when a song is good, but you never know what’s going to blow up. I would say, other than “1 Thot 2 Thot”, all my other songs that got huge… I knew they were good, I’m never going to drop a song and not like it. Every song that I drop, I’m a fan of. But aside from “1 Thot 2 Thot”, I don’t think I’ve ever called a song blowing up like crazy. I didn’t know “Mr. Clean” or “Oops!” would get to where they’re at. With this one, I knew it had the potential to go off, like from the first second we started making the beat. But, it’s definitely gotten a lot bigger than I’d expected, and it makes me happy.
Brigid: Totally. Can you tell me a bit about the process of working on “Betty”? I’m sure it took a while to get the sample cleared and everything.
Yung Gravy: I’d say it’s been about close to a year since we first started even messing with the sample. What we ended up doing… I’ve got a good friend Nick Seeley who does a lot of the samples on my albums. Basically what we do is create original stuff that sounds like an old song, sort of sample it to have that sound but not have to go through a bunch of legal hurdles. This one we recreated the song almost exactly. So on “Betty”, the song that I’m sampling is a remake of the song. We just did a really good job, and it sounds really close. We made that, and then we brought it to the publishing owners… there were only a few more people we had to go through at that point, since we did it ourselves. They just had to give it a thumbs up. I had to change a few lyrics and make it a bit cleaner, and they cleared it. So it’s my first clean release ever, first song without the explicit thing on it.
Brigid: That’s really interesting! It’ll be cool to see where it goes from here, like you said it’s stayed on the charts, so it’ll be exciting to see how big it really gets.
Yung Gravy: Yeah, it just keeps going up! I’m hyped, yeah.
Brigid: Shifting gears a bit to talk about touring, you just wrapped up your tour with Dillon Francis, and you’re about to head out on the road again with bbno$. Is it tiring being on the road so often, and doing that many shows? Or is it something you really enjoy?
Yung Gravy: Yeah, it’s really tiring but it’s hard to not want to always do it. It’s really fun, touring and doing shows… and traveling. Traveling has always been my passion, at one point I wanted to be a pilot, so I could travel more. Now, I literally have a job where I travel and do something I love. It’s nonstop, but I’ve gotten pretty good at surviving without much sleep, and learning how to operate in random places. It’s a lot of fun, and I think in the last 8 months I’ve done more shows than I’ve ever done before. I think I’ve done about a hundred shows since last summer. I did my own tour, I did a tour with Dillon Francis… I do a bunch of college shows every spring and fall, as you know. I love doing it, and luckily there is a lot of work I can do on the road. It takes time and it’s tiring, but I love it. I’m not really slowing down, we’ve got a bunch of colleges coming up this September, got a few festivals in August, and then the Baby Gravy tour in November. It’s gonna be awesome, gonna be insane.
Brigid: Hell yeah. I’m going to one of the dates in Florida.
Yung Gravy: You’re gonna be at one of the Tampa ones?
Brigid: One of the St. Petersburg dates, yeah!
Yung Gravy: Yeah, that’s right by Tampa. That venue is fucking awesome. I did one show there a few years ago and it was amazing.
Brigid: I’ve never been to a show there, so that’ll be really cool. Can you tell me a bit about this upcoming tour with bbno$, has it always been a goal to do a co-headlining tour together?
Yung Gravy: So, we’ve known each other and have been working together for close to six years. When we met I had a hundred followers on Soundcloud, he had 200. I didn’t really want to collab with anybody until I met him. We were really good at flowing together and making music together. We’ve gotten better, and we work perfectly. Anyways, he used to open for me on tour, for a few tours that I did. You were at Lolla, he came out during my set…
Brigid: Yeah, I was so excited!
Yung Gravy: Yeah, he’d come along on a lot of my tours and do an opening set, and I’d bring him back out to do some songs together. He’s had a huge past couple of years, with “lalala” and “edamame”. Finally he’s getting the recognition he deserves! It’ll be awesome to do a co-headline. We haven’t fully mapped out the show yet, but it’s going to be more theatrical than most of the shows I’ve done. We’re going to have a little plan where I do some songs, he does some songs, we do some songs together… skits built into it, visuals that go along with everything. It’s gonna be a big Baby Gravy clusterfuck, and I’m pretty hyped for that.
Brigid: That sounds sick, can’t wait! So you’ve done your own tours, and also tours where you co-headlined. Does the experience differ a lot between your solo shows versus ones where you’re headlining with another artist?
Yung Gravy: In the past, with the co-headlining shows I’ve done, they weren’t vastly different because a lot of those fans that are coming are my hardcore fans. Like, if it’s a solo show, or it’s me and Dillon, the majority of the crowds are going to know all the words and be really involved, and know the deep cuts. But I did tour with Limp Bizkit, I did six shows opening for them. I never thought I’d open for somebody, but when they asked I was like “shit, I have to”.
Brigid: Oh yeah, you gotta!
Yung Gravy: Same thing with Suicide Boys, I did a few shows opening for them because I love their music, I was honored. With opening sets it’s a little different, I’m sticking to the bigger hits. I have to kind of entertain a bit more to get people to fuck with me in most situations. A lot of them are doubting me, like “who the fuck is this Gravy kid”. Those shows all ended up being awesome, Suicide Boys and Limp Bizkit, the fans fucking loved it. But, it took a few of my songs, like 5-10 minutes of me performing, for them to warm up. It was interesting having headlined for 4 years, never having opened for anybody, and then doing it a few times in a year. I honestly really enjoyed it, I’d do it again if it’s an artist I care about as much as those two.
Brigid: Definitely, it’s cool to get those different live show experiences. Shifting gears again, let’s talk a bit about the upcoming album! I was lurking on your TikTok live last night where you were playing some snippets, everything sounds great. Could you tell me a bit about the writing and the creative process for this upcoming record?
Yung Gravy: Yeah, so I’d say my first album Sensational, I was on tour that whole time, I was coming up as a rapper, everything was just changing really fast, and I was recording on the go. I was putting songs together and forcing them on an album. It worked out really well, I mean that was me at the time. It’s a lot different than Gasanova which I dropped, like, a year and a half later. I wrote and recorded all of it [Gasanova] in the same location during COVID: it was at my mom’s crib in Minnesota, or at my condo in Minnesota. I was just stationary the whole time, there were less things changing, I could focus more on particular stuff. But I had less differentiation in my day, less inspiration. They both came out very dope, very Gravy, but this most recent project that I’m about to drop in September is sort of in between. But, it’s a lot more professionally made, and I had more control over it. I got better at actual music making, besides rapping, and I’ve been working with producers that have all the tools at their disposal, rather than having an idea and having to send it to somebody else. I was in the room a lot more controlling every facet of the production process. It’s a lot more “me”, I was there for the whole project. Pure Gravy in the best form possible. I think it’s my best work so far, and it’s my longest album so far. I’m really hyped on it, I think people are going to love it. If you’re an OG fan, or someone who just discovered “Betty”, it’s got something for everybody.
Brigid: That sounds really awesome. I think you said on your live that this record has less features than Gasanova, right?
Yung Gravy: That’s right, there’s only a few features. I don’t want to give everything away, but it’s more solo shit. My music that does the best tends to be my solo stuff, I think people are hardcore cult fans that just want Gravy. I thought I’d try that out, do more solo stuff. If there’s a certain song where I wanted to try something different, I’d just try a new style myself. For example, there’s a chant on “Betty”. That was a part that I wrote, but normally if I had an open area I’d put a feature on it. I decided no, I’m gonna write this chant, and get in the room with some of these ladies and do this chant. So instead of filling the space with other people, I filled the space with me trying new things. All the features that are on the album, they really fit, they’re perfect where they’re at. I’m really picky with features, and I’m really happy with how it came out. Everything slaps.
Brigid: Totally. I have to ask about one of the snippets you played on live, the one with the “c’est la vie” chorus. I know bbno$ was on it, was there someone else featured?
Yung Gravy: Yeah, it’s Rich Brian. I think I can reveal that.
Brigid: That’s what I thought! That’s so exciting, I’ve been waiting for you guys to collab. I love Rich Brian, I’m super hyped for that one.
Yung Gravy: Really! Yeah, so there was a day that the three of us hit the studio and we made all this stuff in the same day. It was really good, everyone was in their element. We had a couple of hours at the studio and we made “edamame”, “C’est La Vie” and another song all at the same time. It was hype to finally work with him because I’ve always been a big fan of him and Joji. It was great to finally meet him and do that song.
Brigid: Yeah, that’s sick. You’ve collaborated with a ton of other great rappers, do you have anyone left on your list of dream collabs?
Yung Gravy: That’s a good question, I sort of had a list of dream collabs and I got them. My dream collabs were Ski Mask, Lil Wayne and Juicy J, and I ended up getting all of those. I’ve thought more about that, and I think I’d want to branch out a little bit. Tyler, the Creator has always been one for me, I think that could work out pretty cool. Mac Demarco could be a cool collab if he’d be down. I think at this point I’ve got my favorite rappers, so now just getting into other genres. Like, Michael Buble on a hook or something.
Brigid: I could see it!
Yung Gravy: Yeah, that’s the direction I’d go in now.
Brigid: To wrap up, what’s the next thing for fans to look forward to? Is there another single on the way, or should we just start getting ready for tour?
Yung Gravy: So the album is coming in September, definitely another single or two before that. Tour in the fall, and then me and bbno$ have an album dropping, Baby Gravy 3. That’ll come out right after we both drop our own projects, so hopefully within the year you’ll get two albums from me. More international touring coming early next year, and some pretty dope features I’ve done for other artists that will be dropping. Lots of Gravy in the next couple of months.
Brigid: That’s all I’ve got for you today, thank you so much for taking the time to chat with me!
Yung Gravy: Absolutely, thank you for your time, and for being a fan! I appreciate it. It was cool to talk to you.
Brigid: I’ll catch you in St. Petersburg in a few months, take care until then!
Yung Gravy: Thank you, it’s been a pleasure.
Listen to “Betty” here!
