Spring 2022 Issue

Int ro

Young Promiss, also known as YP, is a San Diego, CA native whose passion runs deep for the artof music. She is best known as a talented lyricist with a captivating West Coast hip-hop style. YP specializes in hip hop music and is definitely one of the best female rap artists on the rise today. She began writing music at the young age of 12 and since then her educated wordplay has become very animated, vivid and intriguing.

Being inspired by artists like Lil Wayne, Nipsey Hussel, Tupac, Lauryn Hill and Jay-Z she has set off to take over the music game. Young Promiss carries herself boldly by being an example of strength, motivation and positive vibes. From 2004 to 2008 she graced many stages in Los Angeles County like the famous, Key Club, and even opened a show for Cypress Hill. Be on the lookout for upcoming shows and events featuring and starring Young Promiss worldwide.

YP has released multiple singles and albums on several different music platforms such as Amazon Music, iHeartRadio, Google Play, Spotify, iTunes, TikTok, Tidal and Apple Music. YP is ready to lead the female hip hop movement in a way it has never been done by being the ultimate icon like no one else has ever been.

Fiercely independent. Brutally Honest. Refreshingly Transparent and ready to

WORK ALL DAY

I found Young Promiss to be a visionary and forward thinker. She understands that the grind is not for the weak or the meek. In our first conversation, I sensed a tad bit of hesitancy in being open. Letting her guard down with me was going to take a minute. That's cool and how it is supposed to be. Taking that time to develop our rapport, has led to an amazingly revealing and inspiring Exclusive Q&A with me for this issue.

Q& A

Young Promiss and Tony Smith with a raw Q&A

Q. Can you t ell us about your childhood?....

A. I was born and raised in San Diego, CA. Our family is from the gang populated & drug filled streets of Southeast, San Diego. My mother and father were both drug addicts and from what I have learned majorly involved when it came to the hustle and flow of street life. My mother is originally from New Orleans, LA and my father from Detroit, MI. In the early 80's around 1988-1989 I was removed from my family's home after a drug bust or major police activity of some sort. I was barely three years of age and my baby brother was a newborn infant who was just born November 1988. We were put into an orphanage at first along with our other brother and 2 older sisters. Praying to see my mama again and crying nightly while experiencing my first sexual assault by a 13 year old boy, we were then separated and put into the system. Luckily, my baby brother and I remained to stay together as we never saw anyone else again. With the world against us now, we hopped from home to home of all ages and races of couples and single people wanting to adopt. The system continued to try to separate us but I held on and stood strong in keeping my brother. At the tender age of four, I took on the full role of his protector and mother. Through years of moving and returning back into the system we were eventually fostered for a year by a family who had one daughter. The day the court sent us home with them began the worst times of my life.

The family lied about how many people lived in their home, their lifestyle, and full intentions on fostering and adopting us.The mother and father had one daughter but there were 6-8 other adults and kids living in the home with us at all times. At 5 years old, I became a slave and a ridiculed target for their entire family and so was my brother. The mother was an evil, bitter, angry beast on a daily basis and she enjoyed our unhappiness. She lied to everyone I knew including church pastors, school teachers, coaches and even the courts.

I made complaints of the abuse in the first year of adoption but somehow I was never taken seriously and the family was able to permanently adopt us. I never got to speak with my caseworker, Grace, again and I knew my life was going to be hell moving forward. I was right and she even exceeded my fears by allowing me to be beaten by anything she could find and on most days for reasons she fabricated to justify beating me or my brother. She allowed me to be molested by her oldest nephew for almost 11 years. She starved us, blindfolded and beat us, made us get undressed and get in the shower to be whipped by electrical cords, and even went as far as melting down and deforming 3 of my brother's fingers. This is so tough to sum up. There was barely any good. There was so much bad and so much ugly. No love and no good memories at all.

Q. Who w as your m ost pow erful influence as a ch ild?

A. I really wasn't close to anyone or had a chance to be able to be like other children. I had no real mentors because my home life was to be hidden. I sought hard for influence. Influence would find me. I was always a seeker of love, truth and knowledge. I fell in love with music at a very young age of 7 or so. Tupac Shakur was powerful to me. Very real, rough, raw, talented, influential and genuinely for the people. I studied his music and life. As I got older, around the age of 11, I fell in love with the game of basketball and Michael Jordan became a major influential leader type in my life. He lived a life of great talent and pressures and was also a person who had a purpose to make those around him greater. These two basically served the same purpose in my life teaching me very vital characteristics of what I knew in my heart I had a calling for, world leadership and change.

Q. How did you com e t o realize m usic w as t he w ay forw ard?

A. I wasn't allowed to speak much in the foster home so I dived heavily into writing at a very young age. I wrote poems and diary type entries and used to keep several journals. I also was forced to join the church choir where I did find my love of singing and music in general. I eventually started writing over beats like Usher's My Way song. But due to home life, no care or nurture of my gifts my hip hop love was hidden. I still continued to write and create rap songs on the low and tried getting my hands on anything I could to keep me tapped into the hip hop game. I listened faithfully to Tupac, Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Lauryn Hill, Lil Wayne, 50 Cent and many more. Late in high school I began freestyling at school DJ/Music days and knew that I had the hip hop bug. I would rap about anything and my school friends just loved it.

Q. When did t he hip hop bug hit you?

A. It hit me hard in the early 90's. As I mentioned, Tupac was top of the list for me. He brought truth and real human emotion to his music and real life situations of adversity, poverty, drugs and what it takes to balance it all. Truthfully the way Tupac hit my head and heart I almost honored him as the father I never got to meet. Although I desperately hoped, wished and prayed my mother would return, I felt her presence through his music. On some of my worst days with the foster family we would all load up in the car, scars on many parts of my body, tears in my eyes and the radio would be playing "Keep Ya Head Up". Till this day I can barely listen to it without crying a few tears. So many of his truths in his music saved my life and breathed strength into me.

Q. Tell us about get t ing your first m ix t ape done...

A. I got my very first mix tape done finally in 2004. A year after graduating high school and leaving the foster family for good. The Mix tape was called "Show Me Luv". It had over 25 tracks and displayed a mix of mainstream beats and remixes to male and female hip hop artists' songs. I was between homes at the time debating my college run and future. I had a friend we called N.I.L.E. (N* gga Intentionally Livin Easy) who was a hip hop head from the producer side. I would stay at his house on nights he could sneak me in. His father was forcing him to go into the Air Force and he broke me the news so we chilled and talked about our futures. I wanted to rap and he wanted to produce and do sound engineering. We had two weeks until his departure so we went on creating my first mixtape. The experience was so much fun. At age 18, almost the most fun I had experienced in my whole life. We spent many late nights dodging his mom and dad. We ate like starving college kids and we struggled with not being able to be too loud. ( I'm smiling really big while writing this.) We remixed Ciara, Snoop, T.I. and other artists' songs. It was mostly free styled as far as the raps went but he went in on the engineering. We both were pleased with the outcome. a great accomplishment for us both. We made a cheap cover and put it to wax. I made my first 10 sales at my job with LG.

Q. How did you develop your st yle and flow ?

A. My difference has always made a difference in my life and others. Although ridiculed at home for everyone outside the home cherished me for, I was able to search, find, and be confident in the true me early on in my life. I have always been a smart kid, a stand out and a class clown at the same time. I got my swag from my love of fashion and being able to make anything look good on me. Developing my individuality is what really helped me to create my own lane with the way I flow. I lived a diverse life so was able to learn respect for multiple cultures and learn to expand my horizons in life on my own. I'm positive being an open-minded, open hearted person helped me develop the truth I give back to music. It's a big mix of all that I went through. I do everything with heart and I have a very vivid memory which allows me to perform with major passion as well. Basically when I record, I see the video and stage performance in my mind already. That makes for a fire delivery almost every time.

Q. How do you put w ords t o paper?

A. My creative process is so much different now. I left the music game for almost a decade and life handed me a hell of a fight. I returned to the music game in February 2020, with a whole new vision ready to hit my music with much more precision. I had so much more to write about but also had to find my groove in it all again. I had to relearn writing schemes, breathing, self recording and vocal mixing. Had to find my sound all over again. I actually began searching and buying beat packs from particular producers to study and play with. I would then basically aim for clever hooks or just write entirely to one beat without a hook to catch a concept or vibe. I would do that all throughout my work days and off days until I eventually felt comfortable creating again. Once I knew what I was aiming for instrumental and project wise it was game over. With the memory I have, I can hear a beat 5 times in one day and never play it again for weeks. A concept will then come to me down the road and I would think back to that beat that held that feeling and go to work.

Q. If you had t o sacrifice one skill, it w ould be?

A. Sacrificing a skill is not something I would want to do. So if I absolutely had to, my skill of time management would be the last to go. I have become a master of this and like the world knows "time is money". Being able to manage time the way I do has been so helpful while managing to build my Work All Day Records Empire. It has also been so handy in allowing me to be able to balance out my committed relationship and raising a 10 year old boy while working several jobs in crazy America today

Q. Where is your career heading?

A. I'm shooting for the stars planning to land and settle on the moon. That is a daily goal and mindset for me which means I aim to work hard and reach heights I can't see. I was delayed for so long in my life and finally cleared up the toxic messes of people, places and things. My dreams and passion for leadership, humanity, and being a world famous rapper have been in full effect every single day. If I am able to keep the dedication and momentum I've maintained for the past 17 months I see me landing a huge record or television deal. I am born to create so now that I have more accessibility to do so I see me becoming prominent and known all over the world for music, fashion, and even motivational speaking. As long as purpose keeps calling I'm going to keep answering the call.

Q. How do you see your sound, and your brand?

A. I write and record music sometimes 3 times a week and still impress myself with the growth. I have worked with many artists who don't even play their own music or study it to perfect their craft. This is mandatory for my process. That said, I see me developing a sound like no one else that completely sets me apart from any dead or alive hip hop recording artist. As far as my brand, I see it being the cause effect in many cities, states and countries. Once people get to know the full me and my brand they will see that it is shaped and designed to give others a free demonstrated playbook to make it in life. Work All Day Records " Where Dreams Get Caught". It's mostly mental. I created WAD Squad Clothing for the inspired. People have purchased my merch and said wearing it gave them extra motivation to go harder. I'm addicted to rising and I believe my story and brand will hit the right hearts and minds and will get those people addicted to the same.

Q. If or w hen you w rit e a novel about your life, w ho w ould you dedicat e it t o?

A. The novel will absolutely be written and has been started a few times throughout my life without completion. The dedication will be to my mother, Debra Ann Singleton simply because she gave me life. I know she loved me to death. I was taken from her and her life was taken from her before we could meet again. Finding out by a stranger at the age of 19 that she was murdered when I was 14 was heartbreaking and life altering. I vowed to be what she had me to be. I completely know I am walking in her shoes and living a life that she would be so proud of. I released a song in May 2021 for her dedication around Mother's Day called "Before I Die". It has over 35,000 streams on Spotify. I will keep her alive in every way.

Q. How did your life change w it h t he onslaught of Covid 19?

A. With all of Covid's damage and destruction it actually was a major blessing to my entire life. I returned to the music game one month before the president called a state of emergency in the US. Honestly, due to my horrors of trusting systems I was quickly yet briefly in panic mode. I was working a good job with good benefits and was an essential worker so I was able to keep my job. Things slowed down for almost everyone and everything everywhere. That there was my sign and confirmation that it was time to put into play my mental athleticism and go for my passion at a time most were falling down equally to ground zero. I lived in Northern California at that time and it was an unstructured mess. We were locked down and I was so happy to be able to just methodically plan, save money and focus on the comeback of my rap career. I adjusted by going to the store once a week only if necessary and other than that it was to and from work only. Every free minute at work and home I was able to put things to paper and study writing and recording techniques, bringing my artistic side back to life. In about 5 months I was in the lead of the indie industry and making big waves.

YOUNG PROM ISS (YP) CEO & ARTIST WORK ALL DAY RECORDS.

@killuhyp_ondabeat Twitter.com/@killuhyp youtube.com/c/YOUNGPROMISS open.spotify.com/artist/7MgmfCXko9w8ALHIgHfxbo?si=lNBs6lY9S1CkowylVJJhgw music.apple.com/us/artist/young-promiss/1508612495