When you know deep down that you have the talent for something yet you aren’t fully given the chance to showcase your abilities, it can be a frustrating situation. The moment when our deepest desires come face to face with reality often isn’t a comfortable feeling and only those who truly persevere can overcome the obstacles towards their success.

In speaking with rising young talent Yung L.A. you will find a man who always had great love for music, but not always the platform for which to display that love. Currently riding the wave created by his hit new single ‘Aint I’ featuring Young Dro and T.I., Yung L.A. is finally in the position he had always desired as an artist. With nationwide exposure and positive people around him, Yung L.A. has turned a new leaf as artist, but a closer look reveals that his story is one that has come with much struggle and anguish throughout the years.

Growing up in the East side of Atlanta and later Thomasville, Georgia, Yung L.A. was a self described ‘bad as hell’ kid who was no stranger trouble. After eventually getting kicked out of high school, he was on his own road, and found it to be full of temptation and weariness. While on the outside he may have looked just like another neighborhood kid from the block, deep down Yung L.A.’s passion for music is what kept him breathing and gave him hope for better days down the road.

Amazingly, Yung L.A. was discovered by Grand Hustle artist Young Dro on a normal sunny day in his Thomasville neighborhood and just weeks later he found himself also aligned with the Atlanta based label. From that point forward, his life has changed completely and he finds himself on the threshold of his lyrical aspirations in the music industry.

While these words may serve as a foundation for Yung L.A.’s story, hearing the 22 year old artist open up about his life first hand adds a completely new dimension to his journey in the game. From his early times as a youth to his once in a lifetime opportunity with Grand Hustle Entertainment, his story is one chalked full of uncompromised self belief and gratification. In his own words, this is Yung L.A., Staying Close to the Music…

Growing Up…

“I always had a thing for music growing up. I was always just a musical person and it was in my blood. Coming from Thomasville, the area I was in was definitely the projects. I was introduced to poverty at a young age. I wasn’t homeless but I was definitely less fortunate and that kind of life affected who I was. Early in my life I got into a lot of trouble and I didn’t even make it out of high school because I was kicked out. The one thing that kept me going was my interest in music and I started to pursue that for real after I dropped out. Even before I pursued it I knew that it was one of the things that I was capable of doing in my life. I bullshitted around in the streets in the neighborhood for a while in Thomasville. Just being in the streets I was an average young kid and I had my share of trouble.”

Branching Out…

“My Auntie Joe and my Auntie Shortie had a rap group when I was just a kid. I remember I was like six, seven years old coming up when they were always rapping. They even came up with my first rap line that I always used to recite. I recited this rap song until I just got tired of it. Everywhere I went I just carried that musical side to me and that kind of lead me to write my own words and experiment more. I just wanted to branch out and I was just interested in coming up with my own stuff. That’s what really started my interest to make music.”

Striving for an Opportunity…

“I experimented with music more and more and I could sense that I was getting very good at it. The only problem was that I wasn’t getting any real recognition for my efforts and I was still undiscovered. It was very hard for me. If you are a person with a talent, and you know that you can perform, you just want to show your class and be given that opportunity. There were times when I could tell people weren’t really taking me seriously but it was my passion and it’s what I really wanted to do. I felt that I was ready at any moment even if other people didn’t think so. It’s like people know you, but they don’t really know you, so you will naturally have people doubting you. There were times when I questioned if I was doing enough and other times I thought maybe I wasn’t doing things right but I never gave up. You have those kinds of days and if anything it kind of builds up your work ethic and really makes you want to go harder.”

Dealing with Reality…

“You can get very weary through the process of just trying to make it. There were plenty of times where I had to deal with reality, and the reality is that you have to survive in the real world. I wanted to do rapping but I wasn’t an established artist yet so that wasn’t how I was getting my money. I realized that I still needed to find a way to live everyday and I had to focus on making money somehow. It was all about finding a way to survive and I remember working at Crystal’s just to make a little bit of change and even hustling in the apartments in Thomasville to get by. I did what I had to do just to survive on a day to day basis and sometimes that in itself can throw you off of what you are trying to do. I just thank God that I was always head strong and always knew what I wanted to do.”

Keeping My Head in the Game…

“Throughout everything I have always stayed close to the music. Even if I wasn’t in the studio I was writing a rap, and if I wasn’t writing I was trying to be in the studio. If anything else I was always thinking about music. Through all my adversities that I was going through, I kept my head in the game and music was always close to me. Everything was a process for me. This didn’t happen overnight for me. I had to go through it for years and years but I think my consistency made me stay with it. It helped get me where I am at today.”

Going Through Hard Times…

“That whole experience of getting discovered was crazy for me because I was going through the hardest times. At that time, in 2007, I was going from place to place without a stable home to live at. I was in and out of Thomasville. It was just real hard at that time. I wasn’t working at that time because honestly I didn’t feel like I wanted to work. At this point I my life I was very stubborn because I felt I already was good enough to make it on another level. I was just stuck in my mode and just going through the motions. Even though I was stuck in a bad mode I was still sticking with the music.”

Young Dro Pulls Up…

“That summer I had a mixtape out and Young Dro ended up getting a hold of the mixtape that we had been pushing. When he got a hold of the mix tape he really liked it and he felt convinced to get a hold of me. I remember the day when Dro came to my hood. I was sitting near a Thomasville Heights sign that I always was at. I guess somehow through listening to the CD, Dro found my whereabouts and he pulled up on me. One day during the summer there were about 30 of us kids outside on the hill and I was just hanging out in the projects with my shirt off and my Mohawk up. I was just kicking it like it was any other day and Dro pulled up and I ended up getting into his truck. I rapped for him a bit and we talked about my music.”

When My Life Changed…

“Dro and I listened to the mix tape and he told me that he was going to help me. You know, I’ve been grinding so long and heard so many niggas tell that to me that I didn’t really believe it. I was like ‘whatever, bro’. But he kept his word and some kind of way he got that shit up to Grand Hustle’s corporate people. When the corporate people heard it they started really fucking with it. They kept asking where I was at and they wanted to get in touch with me. Dro called me and two weeks later he came up to Thomasville and had me jump in his ride and we went up to Grand Hustle. I met a lot of the executive people at Grand Hustle and from that day that is when my life changed.”

The Story Behind ‘Aint I’…

“That song is a self esteem song right there. ‘Aint I’ is like a braggadocios song. I first got the idea for that song when I was in the apartments in Thomasville. If you listen to the song you can hear me saying ‘Aint I in the Ville, Aint I in the hill?’. At the time we were all outside just kicking it. I just started trying to put a melody together for the song and I wanted it to be something that everybody could sing to, because everybody has a little ‘Aint I’ in them. When people hear that song people can respond to it because it is down to earth and something people can sing to. People can say ‘Aint I’ to whatever they are doing, like ‘Aint we in the club,”. It just kinda gets you going and I feel that it was a great record for me.”

On the Set…

“Making the video for ‘Aint I’ was great for me because you have to realize that you are dealing with a new artist in me. Even though my persona is different with my poise and confidence, you wouldn’t think that I am a new artist but it was a new experience for me. The video shoot was great because I was working with the king, T.I and Dro, and just being around such great talent was mind blowing. I grew up listening to T.I. and I never imagined that I would be doing a video shoot with him. To actually be on the set with him and watch him work served as a learning process for me. It was a blast and it was just a crazy time. We had a great director, Kai Crawford, who shot the video and he was very attentive to everything. He was a great guy and he answered any questions I had. I loved it and I was just soaking up the moment.”

Knowing T.I. ….

“Working with T.I. is all about hard work, dedication, and consistency. You’re going to learn about adversity, controversy, and you will see first hand how he overcomes everything. It’s just a pleasure being around T.I.P. and it’s just great. He’s a very down to earth guy in person and he doesn’t have an ego problem. It’s always great to be around a person like that.”

Outside of the Box…

“I feel like great music is all about timing. You have to be willing to step outside of the box of something that you would usually do. Music is entertainment and you have to find a way to entertain musically. You have to find a way to adjust with the times because music is always changing day to day. If you can’t adjust and be versatile then you won’t stand the test of time. If you look at great artists like Jay-Z, Wayne, Busta, and others who have been around so long, you will realize there is a reason they have always stayed hot. When music changes the artists have to change as well.”

A Solid Foundation…

“Right now my mind is focused just on music because I still am a new artist and I am still building my foundation. I’m not all over the place with it because I know what I am doing and I am going to go hard with that. Life is a process and I feel that right now I am in the early stages and I’m just trying to make sure that my foundation is solid. I feel that if I lay a solid foundation I can eventually expand out and do anything I want to do.”

No Room for Play…

“It’s the constant wear and tear of traveling and everything else that can take it’s toll as an artist. There are just so many things you have to pay attention to. Once you are hot and once you have a song that is known nationwide then there is no room for play. There are times where you won’t get any sleep and you will have to get ready for a performance at a club and you won’t get out until 3 or 4 in the morning, only to catch a flight out of town at six in the morning. You have time to live your life but once you get in the zone you might be grinding for two or three months straight at a time. You have to be mentally tough and you have to be physically tough. You have to get ready for going all over the place because when you are traveling it is easier to get sick and you have to make sure you are eating right and just doing everything the right way. It’s not just being musically ready, you have to be physically ready and mentally ready as well.”

All Things are Possible…

“My goal is to position myself to be a help to other people out there. I want to be an asset to my family and put them in the position to go out and better themselves too. Once I better myself I can better a lot of things around me. I’m looking towards the future and I just want to be the best man I can and watch myself grow. I’m not trying to move too fast because I want to watch all of the steps happen and see myself grow as a man. I know through God that all things are possible and if just keep this attitude and keep this energy going then my future is as bright as it can be.”

For more on Yung L.A., please check out his exclusive video ‘Aint I’ below and also pay him a visit at

www.myspace.com/yunglamusic 

If you liked the article please visit Chris at

www.Myspace.com/BoxingHarmony or email him at Trimond@aol.com