Young M.A and the $20 NFT

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Music NFTs are all the rage as of late. Entering the mix is Young M.A, who dropped a capsule on April 19. But in true Young M.A fashion, she took a different approach to her first-ever NFT project.

For one, each NFT is only $20, making it widely accessible to her diehard fanbase. That’s a departure from most artists-focused NFTs that are on the pricier side due to their limitedness. In total, Young M.A dropped five NFT collections with 250 editions in each — for a total of 1,250. Each of the five collections represents key moments in Young M.A’s career. From first going viral with her Brooklyn Chiraq freestyle to the smashing success of “OOOUUU” and other highlights.

Moreover, the capsule is exclusive to new NFT marketplace Serenade. The platform prides itself on being eco-friendly in an industry widely criticized for its energy consumption.

The NFT collection is just one way Young M.A is staying connected to her fans these days. She’s also on tour and has continued to invest in non-music products like her adult toy line. Here’s everything we covered in this episode:

[0:00] Seeing where things go

[2:45] Purpose Behind Young M.A’s NFT Drop

[9:29] Surprising Price Point For Young M.A’s NFT Capsule

[10:14] Young M.A Has Hesitations About The Drop (Honest Talk)

[12:32] Prioritizing Long-Term Impact With Business Ventures

[12:55] Young M.A’s Relationship With Fame

[15:37] How Young M.A Approaches Non-Music Business Ventures

[20:10] Partnering With Serenade For The NFT Drop

[23:22] Keeping Up With Web 3.0 & Music Industry

[28:00] Young M.A Understands Her Place In The Industry

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Host: Dan Runcie, @RuncieDan, trapital.co

Guests: Young M.A, @youngma, serenade.co/@youngma

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TRANSCRIPTION

Young M.A  00:00

When it comes to business, you might not always know. You can’t always say you know people. Even if you research them, no matter what the situation is, sometimes things might not work for you. You know what I mean? So you just look more to it. And you see how it goes as it goes. I mean, seeing business situations I handled in the past, some things didn’t go right. Some things went right, you know, and it’s just like with them. I feel good, you know? And it was like, let’s go, let’s see where it goes. Let’s take these events and take risks.

Dan Runcie  00:31

Hey, welcome to the Trapital podcast. I’m your host and the founder of Trapital, Dan Runcie. This podcast is your place to gain insights from executives in music, media, entertainment, and more, who are taking hip hop culture to the next level.  Today’s guest is Young M.A. You may know her for her hits like BROOKLYN (Chiraq), OOOUUU, and plenty others that helped her go six times platinum. I knew this was going to be a good interview because, the moment that I logged on to the chat, Young M.A was already in there. And her first words were “took you long enough.” And that’s what I knew that we’re in for a good one. Young M.A came on the Trapital podcast because she just had an NF T drop for her latest single Aye Day Pay Day. And she did it as a series of stories throughout her career. And she launched her NFTs different than most artists do. As I’ve written and talked about on this podcast, people have looked at NFTs as a way to monetize and make a lot of money from being able to sell high-end products as collectibles. But Young M.A is going about in a different way. She only has 250 drops for each of the five NFTs in this collection. And she’s only selling them for $20. That’s it. So we talked about the decision, how she’s approached this, and why she made the decision that she has. And I think a lot of this ties into her mentality. As an artist, Young M.A is one of the more strong proponents of being an independent artist and what that means. And we talked about how this relates to how she looks at record labels and a lot of the deals that she’s turned down. And we also talked about some of      Young M.A’s investments too. She’s invested in a bunch of different areas. So we talked about that. We also talked about some of the other trends happening in this music industry, how she keeps up with everything, how her team is structured, and a whole lot more. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Here’s my chat with Young M.A. All right, today, we’re joined by the one and only Young M.A, who has a big drop for us today. She is launching an NFT. And I’m excited and I want to hear more. So break it down. Why was now the time for you to make this drop happen?

Young M.A  02:45

I see. You know, I’m the same person. I don’t, I don’t talk all that extra “Aaah.”  I keep it real. The big one since A1.  You know what I mean? I honestly didn’t know too much about it, you know what I mean? I used to see it every now and then. And I didn’t understand what it was because I’m the type of person like, like, if it don’t make sense to me at the moment of me seeing it, I’m just not going to pay attention. I don’t see interest into things that everybody else see interesting, too, you know what I mean? So that was literally the case. But I didn’t see it casually and then once my team brought it to my attention, it was like, oh, okay, I know what you’re talking about, you know what I mean? Like, I’ve seen, so I’m guessing this is like the new way of things, new wave of things, or whatever. So focusing my attention, you know, just basically gave me the intellect of it, the background of it, detail and everything like that. Somehow, Okay, okay, no, still not understanding it too much. But you know, kind of intrigued into it. And they kind of like broke it down. So I was like, Yo, give me a little more like pinpoint, because like, I do want to understand this situation, because it’d be something that’s going to be longevity, and something’s that’s gonna help, you know, long term future-wise. And it’s like, one of the new way that’s coming in, you know, why not, you know, at least, you know, check it out. So we talked more about it, had a meeting, and, and we came up with kind of like I did. So once they broke down the ideas to me of like, what’s, like, the meaning of it. And also like, what I would do if I do it. And then it become a more of understanding that was like, Okay, now I can go, you know what I mean? It’s not just like, like anything we ever did before. Like, it’s not like, it’s, like, we did but like more digital, you know what I mean? It’s like what we did but digital, in a different sense. So I’m like, okay, I get it now. So once I got that understanding, there’s like, I got more intrigued, and I was like, let’s go. You know, I’m the type of person, like, I’d take risks. I don’t believe in like, No, I gotta, I gotta be the see it to believe it type person, like, I got to see. You know, even if I got to take that risk. I had taken risk all my life, so now I was like, I want to take this risk of, a new risk of taking risk. Let’s take this risk. So we got to to it on, whatever the case, got involved with a team or whatever. And we came to a point where it was like, alright, if I’m going to do this, you already know my vibe. Not going to do it on nobody else’s terms and circumstances and shit like that. Like, I know how it moves. So me understanding that this is how it goes about, let’s go into a route where it’s going to make, make sense for me. That’s always been my, my way of grinding since I came up. Anything that I’ve ever done always went in a sense of how I had to do, so on and, you know, still be independent, of course. So we came up with this, all my team came up with this plan of like just creating like a timeline of, like, when I first started. Literally from the ground up, like… I wouldn’t say the ground up because literally I started from the ground like, like, probably like 19 years old. For like far as like when social media and stuff like that really came into play as far as music, we wanted to start from there and we started from like my first freestyling, like, went viral, BROOKLYN (Chiraq Freestyle), you know what I mean?  When Facebook was like one of the hottest things ever, at the time, like Instagram was still hot. Cool. Instagram was hot but like, Facebook was one of the places where you want to go viral before you went viral on Instagram. Before… I came from them. I mean, SoundCloud, before there was SoundCloud rappers, I was on SoundCloud, you know what I mean? So like, we really wanted to bring that world into, like, just my supporters and my fan base. So it’s really not too much about trying to sell this. It’s more so about trying to give back to my supporters. In a way now that I understand that NF T is a way of them making money by just putting one investment into me, after like years of investment you will put into me, this is your way of making money, just like that? Come on, man. You know, I mean, like of course, I’m gonna jump into that. But of course, I still need to know more detail into it or whatever the case. So as time goes on, we come up with the details, we like, let’s pinpoint the biggest times on your career. Chiraq Freestyle go viral. Boom. Years later, everybody knows, a lot of being on all these like big radio stations. Hot 97. after that and we went viral. On this… She started doing shows in Connecticut and Tri-state areas. You know what I mean? Like, I’m starting to do these type of things. Now my come up is coming up. Now OOOUUU come out, boom, because they like we need a club record. Boom, come with them. Exactly. I gotcha, you know what I mean? Like boom, OOOUUU, come out. Now that’s became the biggest break now. Now, I’m crossing other into the industry. Another, you know, milestone in my career. We go from that, boom. And now we go into Petty Wap. It is a lot. So like, that’s basically the timeline. Like there’s so much that I did in between each time that could really count. But it’s like, when you pinpoint, like, literally, like, the bowstones of everything. So like, that’s what the NFT is really about, it was creating and like, like, you know, the longevity and what could create from each individual situation that you might not never know, that might develop as you go, you know what I mean? So that’s what I feel like my NFT should be about. I don’t know what everybody else is doing and shit about. Like, I heard about the research, I heard about, you know, people’s, like, unreleased stuff. Of course, like I do unreleased music, or unreleased merch or unreleased things and shit like that. Of course, you get the exclusive. But to me, like, my NFTs, they have to, like gravitate to something close to me. It made my supporters understand that it’s still me. It’s not about just, yeah, having new stuff that nobody got. No, it’s still connecting with you all. At the end of the day, I look at this. I don’t know, I don’t look at this for money. Like, I don’t know, I don’t know where people mine that or whatever. As humans, whatever the case, and they only be… But like me, as a artists. I always had this mindset. I treat my supporters as my family, for, like, this my way of, like, giving back. It’s like me getting a platinum plaque. And seeing that I went platinum again. Like just, like it just, like I feel so good about just having that platinum plaque as another accomplishment. There’s no one that I’m doing what I’m doing. So like for them to have something valuable, 250 out of millions, billions, and trillions of people in this world. You got that? Like, that’s what matters to me. I don’t know about that money stuff, bro. Okay, so that’s what I’m trying to say.

Dan Runcie  08:51

Yeah. Was it tough to limit the amount because it’s only 250 people for each of the drops, and you got a lot of…

Young M.A  08:52

Exactly.

Dan Runcie  08:54

…Young M.A fans out there. Was it tough to limit it?

Young M.A  08:59

Yeah, that’s basically the case. Like, I’m still trying to figure it out. Like once it dropped and I see like how things go about, I just want to see the reaction. Like, I’m not even looking into like, like, I know the money aspects of things. And if you want to talk money, but, like, my benefit from it is more so like seeing what they value from it, you know what I mean? Like…

Dan Runcie  09:20

Yeah, let’s talk the money piece of it first, just to get that out of the way. So you got 250 of volume. And of course, the goal is to sell out, how much are they? And are they different prices for each of the five different ones?

Young M.A  09:29

No, they’re $20.

Dan Runcie  09:31

And see that’s important because I think most people that do drops like this, if you only have a limited amount, they think it’s going to be thousands of dollars, right? But you’re like, so essentially it’s like a first come first whoever gets it first, right?

Young M.A  09:42

Yeah, $20, $20. I feel like, you know, like my supporters.  If you could buy merch, I mean my merch is more $20, oh there you go. If my merch is, like, more than $20, or you could buy a ticket to come see me, my whole package, meet and greets, all that, it should be like a bucket of change. If you can spend $20 just have an NFT of me and make money off it, like, I don’t know what to say, you know, like, I’m not a…  I just feel like, you know, like, we take risks, we take risks.

Dan Runcie  10:08

Do you feel like this was a big risk for you though? Because I feel like it’s a slam dunk. I mean, you know that you got the fans that are going to want it.

Young M.A  10:14

Yeah, I mean, I don’t look at it like a slam dunk, though. I don’t know why. And that’s just me being honest. I don’t know why, like, I don’t know, if it’s just not in my heart to like, I don’t really look at money value. I don’t know. There’s just something, I don’t know. It’s just something in my heart that just never been that person. Like, of course, I’m going to make money. Yes, I had to make money to survive. But my intent into going into things be more deeper than people ever think. Like, I really think deeper into things, like I have to understand. Because if I don’t understand something 100%, like, what this NFT, I’m gonna keep it G. I don’t know 100% about it. I do know enough. But I don’t know 100%. And when I don’t know, 100%+, about something. I’m not going to never put my trust into it. 100%. I’m going put my trust into how much I understand. So my trust is how much I understand per say, right? You know what I mean? And I just want to see how my supporters feel and what’s gonna make them happy. If it ain’t making them happy, I want to do it. And that’s real, bro.

Dan Runcie  11:13

Oh, yeah. And I think the good thing with it, too, you have other exclusive perks lined up. If someone collects all five of them, then you invite them to certain things, and you know fans are always going to appreciate that. And I feel like this also taps into how you run your game in the industry from since you’ve been in this, you know, because you were always more about longevity. You were always more about the money. That is how you approach any deal that came through or you weren’t trying to approach it with a bag. It wasn’t about the bag, it had to be more than that.

Young M.A  11:42

Yeah, I had to always be more. I’ve been sitting in so many record labels… I fell asleep in one, I ain’t going to say which label. I’m not going to say which one. But I literally lay my head on the table because they just said everything everybody else said and I don’t have none of these labels. I don’t. I just felt like it just wasn’t, it wasn’t in my league. You know what I mean? So I didn’t want to tap into, some certain people I didn’t want to sign to. I just felt like independent was my best move, because I just understood me. Like it was just more so, like. the industry wasn’t about money to me. It wasn’t about that. It was more so about understanding me as an artist, and how I express myself, and who I am. You all don’t know me. You all don’t know. You don’t know. So you all can’t tell me, which I can do for me. All you have to tell me what it is I can do for y’all that will do for me. But it won’t do for me.

Dan Runcie  12:31

Right.

Young M.A  12:32

You know what I’m saying? So like, I’d rather move slow-paced than fast-paced. Just to get a quick dollar? No, like, like, I love the position I’m it. Like, I don’t like that fast life. I don’t even like the fame. I don’t. I just love my supporters. I love when I go on stage. I love when I got to handle my business, when I got to handle my business. You know what I mean? And just like, just enjoying life, as long as my family’s taken care of. That’s all I care about, like all that fast-paced stuff and all that stuff like that. Like, I don’t need it. It’s fun when it’s fun, like I can have those moments. I can go on a boat. I’m going on a yacht. I can drive a fast car. I can drive them… And it’s just like, Okay, now like, I’m going to… I go to club, I can go…

Dan Runcie  13:11

Let’s talk about relationship with fame. Because I feel like that’s an interesting point, right? Like you would have the moment after, what is, Chiraq Freestyle or even after OOOUUU when things blew up. Now you’re a few years past that. Do you feel like, the way things are right now, you’re in a pretty good spot where, you know, I feel like the level of fame I have is in line with where I am comfortable, or do you still feel like no, no, I wish I was less famous than this.

Young M.A  13:37

No, actually, I think I’m in a comfortable spot. Because even when sometimes, like now, like I noticed, like, of course, I get bored. You know, sometimes you get bored. You know, that’s just normal human being stuff. But you’ll get bored. So you want to go out. And then sometimes I’ll go out. And they’d be like, like, this is so normal. Like, I just be seeing guys. It’s just everybody just acting… Like, man, been there, done that. And it’s just like, so, it’s just so common. It’s like sometimes, like it’d be certain moments that feel good. It’s like, this is the time to celebrate, like it’s like accomplishment to me now more so than just going out for fun, like random and stuff like that. You know what I mean? Now it was more so like if we go out we have a good time, it’s because we just, we just, you know, dropped the check or something. You know what I mean? Are we just invested in something, you know, we just got this or we got that. Like that celebration to me more is now more of a celebration and more fun to me now. All of just like randomly going out stuff to me is like. it’s cool, but it’s like, it’s not as exciting. And I’m going to say that and that’s just me being honest. Like, I can say it’s me getting older but I can just say it’s really me just probably, it’s just, something that I always had in me. Like, even when I used to, like go out when the phase first happened, with OOOUUU and all that. It was fun, but I still wasn’t like dramatic about it. Like I was never like that, Oh yeah, I’m happy to be in clubs, like, it was just like enjoying the moment I guess. Like, it was like one of the… Cool, cool, but I still wasn’t like extra, like, I never got in trouble. I never went, you know what I mean? I never went crazy. You know, I still kept my composure even when having that much success and fame at the very moment. So like, even now that I’ve been there, done that, it’s like, I’d be looking around at people and I’ll just be like, damn, I understand. But like, to me, like, it’s like, I can leave right now and be okay. You know? And that’s where my mind and like, I’m automatically thinking like, damn, so tomorrow, I need to figure out, like, what next business move… And that’s really when my mind be like, all day running like that. And that’s just really how I be like.

Dan Runcie  15:37

Let’s take a quick break to hear a word from this week’s sponsor. Yeah, I feel like with you especially, you mentioned the investment piece. What does that piece of your business look like? What are some of the investment opportunities you’ve looked at? And how do you evaluate them?

Young M.A  15:38

Well, I can’t tell you too much. So I’m going to shhh on that. But what I am, into I’m not going to tell you what I’m…

Dan Runcie  15:55

You’re going to give us something public though?

Young M.A  15:57

So right now I got the, of course, the NFT and then I got the sex toy line that a lot of people, I mean, they aware of it but like, you know, just to get more aware in, you know, when we have these interviews. I have a sex toy line being that people want to talk about my strap, like I use things to my advantage. That just makes sense. Like, you got to talk about me, you’re going to walk about me, you know what I mean? So like, I got the sex toy line that I originally created in collab with Doc Johnson, which is a big sex company located, like, based in LA, or whatever the case and, like, they just known, like, everywhere, like, they’re literally like a big ass company. And we had like a meeting, went probably like three years ago. And we locked out with them and I came up with this own, my own sex toy line called Play Nyce, called Play Nyce. N-Y-C, so N-Y-C-E, so that’s Play Nyce with a Y. That’s why… With a Y. I just placed everything in one and NYC. I always do that. Like, even with my chains like this is Young M.A but it looked like the Loki symbol. You know, I always put anything when it comes to, like, where I’m from, what I’m based on, everything, just as long as it what makes sense. But like, yeah, we came up with that. So like, it’s like a whole starter kit of sex toys and like, you know, strap-ons, and stuff like that. And even cleaning your strap-ons or whatever. So when they can’t, you know, get pleased by whoever they want to get pleased by, they please they self. And then I also got the vibrators as well, because a lot of women are using vibrators now, and that’s also by Play Nyce but it’s called Power Play. Because there’s a lot of power and it plays with that… And that’s just, you know what I’m saying? And you know, I got a lot of, like, lot of positive comments back from that Power Play right there. And a lot of women use vibrators. And it’s, like, so many different styles, they’ve been telling me about. So I’ve been doing my research and trying to get to it. So like, I just started off with that. So I’m gonna get more in tune with that, because that’s literally like, a way for women, and I love women. So that’s always going to work for me. So I’m definitely locking in with that, like, continuously. So that’s just been in the works on that. So my website is shopyoungma. Everything is on shopyoungma.com. And then I got the PSD collaboration as well with my boxers. So we got like different, like, styles of boxers. like women’s booty short-type boxers, and they got the men’s boxers. Well, briefs, boxer briefs, like locked and tight. And then they got the women’s sports bras. We actually got like all my designs and stuff like that. So we’ve been locked in with PTSD so make sure you all check that out as well. So it’s basically underwear. And also Nyak. Nyak is my liquor brand that I’ve been associated with. They also had their own company, but they brought me a part of it with my own VSOP bottle. So I get my benefits from my actual own bottle which is all red. This is brown, is a brown label, is called Nyak, N-Y-A-K, you know what I mean? And mine’s an all-red bottle, same thing, Nyak. But my actual, like, logo was on the bottle so you know it’s mine, it’s all red. And so I’ve been like, you know what I mean, doing little entrepreneur stuff, and then we got more stuff too, but you know, I’m just going keep quiet and not tell you.

Dan Runcie  19:02

No, I hear that. Well, I appreciate you sharing those though. And the sex toys and the adult toys in general. I feel like that lines up with some of the stuff you’ve done before. I know you’ve directed adult films before so I feel like you’ve been in this space.

Young M.A  19:16

Yeah, yeah. Exactly. And that’s why it was perfect to actually release that because it wasn’t coming from left field, you know what I mean, when that first came out. It was like a lot of people was like oh… Like, Young M.A on porn? So that literally became like a token discussion or whatever, so then it was like perfect timing because it’s like, so now you’re all talking about this, I see you’re always talking about my strap, I was like, let’s bridge the gap. There you go. So now I’m making money from you all. Hello. From not even from just y’all, from the people that… You know what I mean, like girl, or a man, I don’t even care. It don’t matter.

Dan Runcie  19:51

Yeah, so I feel like that lines up, too, and even back to the first piece. I know you’ve got the partnership here with Serenade for the NFT drop itself and… what does that relationship like? And I guess, first, what was it that made you want to partner with them on this? And then what does the relationship look like with them moving forward?

Young M.A  20:10

I ain’t going to lie… I believe they didn’t know too much about, you know what I mean? Like, I just know, once, you know, I really got the confirmation that they was, you know, more so equal, friendly, equal, friendly more than anything, and that’s a big plus, in itself. Why do we want to establish more of a relationship with them? You know what I mean, after this NFT drop, and that’s what kind of what we’ve been planning. You know what I mean? Like, I’m more so like an observant person, like, once I meet you, I understand. He was like, okay, cool. So once I met them, and it’s like, okay, you know what I mean, we can move forward. If things don’t go right then things don’t go, right. That’s just in the business. And so you know, what I mean, I’m not giving nobody the highest benefits of anything, you know, I’m not saying this person is so, so good. No, but they definitely good people to work with. And it’s different discussions, different people. And I decided, you known what I mean, just to see where it go. Like we said, we’ll take risks in life, see where it goes, I don’t think they bad people. We’re going to see where it goes. I’m still learning about this NFT more and more, and I just want to see where it goes. And that’s was just pretty much that, you know what I mean? Too much to go into detail but I appreciate them for even giving me the opportunity. You know what I mean? They definitely looked out a lot, you know what I mean? a lot. And I could tell they have a lot of hustle and motivation to put forward into my NFT. So that’s one of the reasons to as to why we work with them. Because I really feel like intuition with certain people and just having to understand, like, when it comes to business, you might not always know. You can’t always say you know people. Even if you research them, no matter what the situation is, sometimes things might not work for you. You know what I mean? So you just look more to it. And you see how it go as it goes. I mean, seeing business situations I handled in the past, some things didn’t go right. Some things went right, you know, and it’s just like with them. I feel good, you know? And it was like, let’s go, let’s see where it goes. Let’s take these events and take risks.

Dan Runcie  21:52

Yeah, it makes me think of two things. One, with Serenade, their eco-friendly pitch stuck out to me, too, just because a lot of people don’t talk about how much energy is burned when people are either making NFTs or doing things related to gas fees, or any of this stuff like, it’s a lot. Well, I’m glad that they’re pushing that piece of it. And then, two, what I like about this for you, as well, is I’ve seen a lot of these times where new platforms or newer platforms will pitch themselves to a popular artist that has a fan base and then if they’re able to grow with it, then that obviously attracts more and more artists, and then the artist gets a bit of that influence sort of help push this and they become, in many ways, one of the faces to push that brand through, especially if things continue to grow.

Young M.A  22:36

Right. Exactly. So like it’s just understandable. Like, some, some, some people, you know, you got to get it like, that’s why I said, like, I’m learning more about this, this, this, this whole company, this whole NFT thing, this whole new dispersion of just this new, new elevation of life, you know, and the evolution of life. And that’s what I’m getting at. And I just want people to just… I want people to put the same kind of risk into and just had that understanding and learn more because like it’s going… no matter what we do. We know we want to be so old school as much as possible. We’re like, you know, you can still hold on to that like, Oh, no to the… But like, you still got to make sure you had…

Dan Runcie  23:15

Right. How do you keep up with all of it? I mean, every week, I feel like there’s something new happening with Web 3.0 or that Metaverse.

Young M.A  23:22

Right, me too. I feel like… I feel like damn, wait, what’s this right here? Like, I ain’t going to lie, like, I ain’t going to lie. It is hard to keep up with. I mean, I’m getting it, you know. I feel like I don’t got to force it, too? You know, I don’t always feel like I have to force it. Like, I’m the type of person, I will catch up with yo ass. I’m not running around, laps around, you know what I mean? Like, if you’re already ahead, I’m like, alright, alright. I’m observing. I’m like that turtle, you know what I mean? Chasing the rabbit?

Dan Runcie  23:50

Yep. Yep.

Young M.A  23:51

You know, I mean, yeah, so…

Dan Runcie  23:53

Yeah, that’s the thing. We’re still in the early days with this, too. I think that’s what people forget, I get it. Everyone wants to jump at the newest thing of the opportunity that’s there. But we’re still figuring a lot out about how so much of this is gonna shake out. And I feel like the way you’re doing it is right. It’s not like you’re saying, No, I don’t fully understand. But alright, if I get this enough to at least test this out, no different than a startup, just put it at initial product. Let’s see how this works. All right. And we learned and then we continue to tweak.

Young M.A  24:22

Exactly, you know what I mean? You just learn as you go. That’s how I look at life, you learn as you go. I mean, some things may not work for you, something will. You never know. Like, even if it don’t, it may be something that makes you do something that changed something. You know what I mean? You might retreat something. You don’t know where this is going to lead you. Everybody could be entrepreneurs. Anybody could just be what they could be, you know what I mean?  And that’s just way of…

Dan Runcie  24:44

Yeah, for sure.

Young M.A  24:45

Yeah.

Dan Runcie  24:45

If anything, now, there’s probably getting even more, with people reaching out about different opportunities. It’s like you’re picking your spots, right? And kind of with how you structured your career, I bet that you say no a lot, even if it’s outside of the record labels or anyone else, just because there’s only so much that you want to focus on. And there’s only so much that you can do. So if you’re saying yes to something that means it’s definitely crossed at some level where it’s like, no, this is worth our time. And we think that this is worth the potential benefit of what it could do for our fans and for us.

Young M.A  25:17

Yeah, me and my team, we family. You know what I mean? They consider me like a boss, but I don’t consider that. I just consider us all, you know, just everybody working in this spots, in place, of course, I’m the yay or the nay… I mean, if I want to do it, I won’t do it. If I want to do it, I’m going to do it. And there’s that. But other than that, like that’s what I said, I don’t, I don’t need a hundred people… As long as I got the right people and the right positions. That’s all. That’s all about relationships, man. It’s all about relationships, whatever relationship you decide to, you know, what I mean, you keep or whatever you feel like is right for you, go about that. Other than that, like, I always know, like, I will avoid certain things. People look at something like glamor… and think that’s just it all the time because they want to keep a certain relationship. But like, I don’t think nothing’s wrong with it. Don’t get me wrong, but like, I don’t have the kiss nobody else. Like, it ain’t that I don’t want to I’m not just a mean person, just like, I still always stand like firm to my ground. Like, I always stand firm to like, certain things, I believe in certain things on this day. When I see through somebody and I see bullshit, I will literally like just leave you alone, like there’s no talking about that. And I don’t have to go against you. I don’t have to be mad, or will be angry. I got to be aggressive? No, Just like… And we go about our business. And it’s just about that, you know what I mean? Like, I see when one person act towards this person this certain way and this person acts towards this person a certain way. I see those type of vibes. And when I see those type of vibes, I just don’t look at you genuinely. You know what I mean? So, I know when somebody… And that’s how I move with you, I move with you the same way you’re probably moving. And that’s just that, you know I mean? That’s how I just, you know what I mean, like, I just understand this game and all that that’s why I don’t really play too much part into things like, I got a lot of people associated with in this industry that a lot of friends and then they got people that… but that’s just a game. And I understood that a long time ago.

Dan Runcie  27:02

Right. And I feel like with how you’ve built this, what it ties back to you for me is you have a very clear understanding of who you are and what you want out of this game. And because of that, it helps you make better decisions and helps you not have that fear of missing out that other people do and you can be like No, like we’re focused on what we’re doing. And I think that’s what hurts so many artists because so many artists get frustrated that they’re not doing what that 1% of people are doing, they’re not doing that thing and I think that mentality can all always just set you up for not feeling fulfilled or not feeling like you’re doing enough. But you were able to have a pretty even perspective with that. Do you feel like you always had that? Or do you feel like that’s something that you just became better with navigating over your career?

Young M.A  27:48

No, I always had that. Because if I didn’t, I would have been so.

Dan Runcie  27:51

Yeah, yeah. Well, the thing is, though, you did say that there were times where you did go back and forth and you at least considered whether you should or not, right?

Young M.A  28:00

No, I had meeting yes, I have meetings of course. I had meetings. I wasn’t, it wasn’t that I wasn’t I never going to give nobody a chance. I wasn’t like… that’s what I’m trying to say. I’m not against it. I’m not against it. I’m never against nothing. I’ve never against nothing. It’s just like, I give things the actual opportunity. I’m a type of person, like, if I know for sure, for sure that it is not right, then, of course, it’s clear. I already know. Because I know, because I know. But other than that, if I don’t know, and I’m like, alright, let me just, at least, even if I have an intuition, I’m going to still go try. And if I’m right, then I’m right. If I’m wrong then damn, you know what I mean? Change my mind, you know, and I go from there. Like, that’s just how I look at it. You know what I mean? Like, I’m not against nothing. I’m never against nothing. It’s just more so like, I want nobody to feel like I’m like, against, like, what people will do or how they do it, or… Anybody can do how they want to do what they want to do when they want to do. Me, I’m just the type of person where I observe, you know what I mean? I go about it how I go about it. I want nobody to feel like I’m like, this person where I’m just happy-go-lucky, then. You know what I mean? You feel like, oh, yeah, we got to have it. Because that’s how people come into it. Like these little young boys, young kids. They’re so happy to have opportunity but they don’t read between the lines, you know what I mean? And that’s what it means. And I mean, always you have a lawyer and always you had somebody, a guardian beside you, you know, always you have somebody to understand, or you might have been people, enough people might just be really just trying to take advantage of you the whole time. You know what I mean? So like, I just don’t trust nothing. Even if next to me, you won’t don’t got to be across the table. You could be next to me and I still don’t… So like, that’s just how I’ve always have moved, like, I always move like make sure I’ll protect me. You know what I mean? Like, you can say you’re for me. I will hear that. But I mean, I got to believe, right?

Dan Runcie  29:46

No, that’s real. That’s not real. And I mean, I appreciate you for sharing the insights here. I feel like a lot of people have looked up to you and appreciated how you run your career and I feel like this drop, this NFT job specifically, it’s just that next evolution that ties back to everything you’ve been doing, so before we let you go, is there anything else you want to plug or you want to let the Trapital audience to know about?

Young M.A  30:06

Yeah, just know we’re going on tour, man. April 23. We’re in VA, Portsmouth, VA. . Portsmouth Virginia. It’s at the 420ish, it’s called the 420ish Festival. Make sure you have… that’s where you start. And then I think we’re in Cincinnati after that. 26 and then 27, I think the tour will be in Mesa, so we’ll be able to on tour for a month. Off The Yak tour. Yeah, so that’s pretty much, NFT about to drop. New music be here soon, I can’t, I don’t really know if we should. I’m going throw that in the air real quick…

Dan Runcie  30:37

Yeah. Because I was gonna say I thought you got a song lined up with the NFT drop, right?

Young M.A  30:39

Oh, yeah. Aye Day Pay Day.

Dan Runcie  30:40

Yeah.

Young M.A  30:40

Aye Day Pay Day. That’s right, Aye Day Pay Day, y’all. Aye Day Pay Day.

Dan Runcie  30:46

I know, I was gonna say we can’t let the interview cut if you don’t mention the song. But Young M.A, this is great. I appreciate you coming on.

Young M.A  30:52

Thank you both. I appreciate it you guys.

Dan Runcie  30:56

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