From the Streets to the BoulevardHow Nire Williams made something from nothing twice
Nire, known by his stage name as Younghood, has had a lot of things against him being born in the hard streets of Detroit, MI. He is one of five siblings where his oldest brother was sentenced to 40 years in prison being a drug dealer and his oldest sister was shot in a drive-by on accident. To him, nothing was more important than to get his family out in what he considered a "no-win" situation, and he took to sports most notably football to get out. I went to visit him at his family home where we got to talk about his life, his mishaps, and what he plans to do now.
CU: "Really it is great to get a chance to talk to you, people know about you and you have been around in the industry for a while but this album "Untold Stories" is what a lot of people consider your breakthrough moment. Can you talk a little bout what it is like to finally get this project out?
YH: "Yeah, this was a passion project of mine that I wanted to do right, I had a lot of time to really get this right and to show what I could do and I hope that everyone listens and enjoys it. It might not be for everyone but I think I created something that most people could enjoy. I wanted to come in and give a little something for everyone cause in my earlier days I was kind of abrasive to people that might not like my style and I had people tell me 'look you are talented but you need to open it up more to people that don't just like gangster music.' I was kind of hard press to take anyone's advice but the more I got out of my comfort zone the more people started listening to what I had to say."
CU: "You started on Star Factory with another talent Kim Lee Wong and together you guys worked on a lot of different things together he was featured on some of your songs you were featured on his album where do you think that friendship stems from?"
YH: " I would say that it was built on we felt like fish out of water. we had to sacrifice so much to get there at that moment and take chances that some people would have thought it was crazy, 'you going to give up football, to be an artist? you going to leave home to follow your passion.' It was a lot of similarity between us that we really just hit it off when we met."
CU: "You talk about how you were more rigged in your ways early in your career and that leads us to Drew and Tisha. The three of you guys brought out a lot of feelings and emotions when all of you are in the same room. There was always this tension and that lead to music. Diss records between you and Drew, and an album from Tisha what was that period like for you?"
YH: "It was...Chaotic, messy, fun in certain ways. I still haven't listened to For Drew, can I haven't really talked to Tisha in a while. It's not like had this falling out but it was just something that we just grew apart at one point after that. I remember being in a headspace where I wanted everything but I didn't want to commit to anything. I just wanted stuff to say I have it. Having this greed to just hold stuff that didn't have any meaning to me but I could say that it belonged to me."
CU: "Well, was this conflict about Tisha, or was it something more than that?"
YH: "This wasn't about anybody, this was more of a personal ego thing of mine more than anything. I wanted to know as the best and Drew wanted to be known as the best and I wanted the same thing he wanted, I think going through that with Drew made me a better person cause I could have had this same ego trip with Payton but I don't. Do I think I am better than Payton, I think I can hold my own with anyone at any time, but it isn't up to me it is up to fans to talk about and debate. I'm just going to live my life and enjoy."
CU: "You and Payton seem to have quite the connection do you think that you could make amends and we could see a Drew and YoungHood collab?"
YH: "I don't know I haven't really talked to him or Tisha, I wish them the best and hope things are well but I'm not the type to forgive and forget so easily that things just wash away. I'm also not some guy that holds on to grudges and giving time and energy to something that isn't for me. We'll just have to wait and see what the future holds."
CU: "Let's talk about your new album and the direction you went with this. You had two features people weren't expecting when this came out Kyle from BYS and Kidd Amaze on second to last track? How did those people get on the album and what was the vibe like."
YH: "I met Kyle while he was with BYS, I don't know if I can say how we got together to talk face to face, but I met him through a friend we chopped it up and he was like me coming out. He was hungry, like he had this chip on his shoulder, this edge to him and it reminded me a lot about me wanted to just prove people wrong and show that I belonged and everything. When I'm in the studio working on the song he just finished putting out his single Tokyo Street Life, he heard the beat and he wanted to hop in on it. it was a smooth transition from there. How I got in touch with Kidd Amaze, I didn't know how to get in touch with him. He is a hard man to get to if you know him or a way to get to him. So I was going to have Big Stacks on it. He and I worked on projects before some of the stuff might get released? but this was during the Kings rapping competition so I don't know. I send him over the work and he comes back to me and says 'this is great but I don't think I meant for this one. I'm going to send it to my guy and he will hook you up.' *Laughs* "So I was thinking 'Man, I don't want you to just send my stuff to just anyone. Like, this is an unreleased track that I'm planning to put on my album so I don't want this to mess up. That is part of the reason why I plugged in Slept on, cause I didn't want this track to be terrible and it is the last song on the album. Now we are finishing up the worst case I just cut the song out and it will be ready to go Tyron sends me the file back and who's on it but Kidd Amaze and he is out there playing basketball, I don't know how he manage to get time to record and everything. Rush to put the single in and text him 'Give him my info so I can thank him. It was a crazy moment right there."
CU: "Well Untold Stories is out right now, what do you want people to take away from it."
YH: "That everyone is a product of their environment and there are things that made them into the person that they are today. How you go by your day-to-day life isn't just you but it is a collection of the people that shaped you."
Edited by user 13 September 2021 05:53:51(UTC)
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