Illuminati 2G

Justin: We’re right here with Yung Fadell! Start this interview off by letting everyone know how you’re doing my man.

 Yung Fadell: Man I’m dong great personally. Right now, we have a lot of things going on. G.R.I.T. Entertainment is in full effect. We’ve got the mixtape coming out, “The Street Report Vol.1.” That will be out in June 9^th, available on ITunes so everybody can go pick it up. We also have a GRIT Gang album coming out which is a bunch of my partners from around here. We’ve been collaborating and thinking about this since day one to do this together.

It’s beautiful. Around the fall, we’re going to finish up everything with my debut album, “The Resume.” That’s coming from yours truly, Yung Fadell. Everything is going pretty good, we’re just working hard and staying at it.

Justin: No doubt. I want to get into all of the projects you just spoke about, but first I want to allow you to give our readers some background information on yourself. You were born in Portland, Oregon. That’s really an overlooked location on the west coast in terms of Hip-Hop. Did that make it that much more difficult to catch a break in the music industry?

Yung Fadell: Actually it has been a little more difficult coming from Portland. I think because the size of the city and the networking ability you have here, it’s not too much Hip-Hop traffic you get around here. We do some semi-big artists who come here and do a lot of shows, and also a lot of underground artists get a lot of love around here like Tech N9ne, Yukmouth and people like that.

As far as the mainstream dream, the Hip-Hop market is kind of shut off here. It just takes a bit more grit and grind to come out from Portland and represent the way it should be done. We have to work hard to get things done the right way. I think a lot of artists who have the talent to get out and do it are just figuring that out right now, the different avenues we have to take because we’re from Portland.

The internet grind has really been a blessing for us. All of the sites have taken us off on the internet. I think that really helps get us that exposure we need; especially on an independent tip.  Definitely being from the city makes it more difficult coming from Portland. I think if you’re talented and you got it, and you know how to get at it and get the business down, its work worth putting your effort towards.

Justin: Wise words spoken. You call yourself “the artist of the people” – tell us about that self-proclamation.

Yung Fadell: (Laughs) I think it came from everybody. People who heard my music and heard some of the things I touched on in my lyrics, some of the topics of my songs, it came from everybody. I think that’s the mind state that I take when I write my music and when we plan on doing a project. Right now, music is so in my opinion, out of touch. I understand artists have came from grit and grind and bad situations and to come up and do big things, it’s good to embrace that and embrace being out here and having a good time with it.

But I think a lot of the topics, especially a lot of mainstream artists, there music doesn’t really relate to the people. I’m trying to take it back to that standpoint where there are artists out here that you may be able to bump in the club or in the streets, either way it goes, whichever kind of track you’re listening to, you can relate to the people. I like to stick to that standpoint. I wanna’ be an artist for the people and kind of speak on topics that everyone can relate to. When people listen to my song, they can nod their head back and forth and say, “Yeah that man has something to say.” That’s just where it comes from – being an artist for the people.

Justin: I like that. Why did you decide to name yourself after Cuban Head of State, Fidel Castro?

Yung Fadell: Once again, that was a title that was brought upon me. I’ve been rapping since I was a little man; I started writing songs at 13. As I said, since I’ve been writing my own songs and the topics I chose to touch upon in some of my songs blew people away – especially for being so young and having the mind state that I had. That led to people titling me Yung Fadell, like Castro - Somebody who could deliver a message with an aggressive tone.

 It’s not so mainstream either; it has the grass roots for the streets and people. It’s trying to liberate the people out of these controlled societies and everything else. I try to bring the facts to people’s faces. I think that the name came from people listening to my music. They titled it that. Being Yung Fadell just stuck. I ran with it.

Justin: That plays well into my next question. You have some pretty controversial lyrics. Tell us our readers about your subject matter of choice and how you think people react to your lyricism when they first hear you?

Yung Fadell: I’ve had some pretty interesting responses. The “Mr. Bush” video that was on the internet, if you look at some of the responses I was getting from people, more of the people we’re right there with me; they liked what I said or felt certain things about that song. People who come across artists such as I, they tend to think I don’t know what I’m talking about or think I’m going off of conspiracy theories. I tend to think most people that listen to my music agree with what I’m saying. A lot of people tell me it’s about time that somebody comes back to the essence of where Hip-Hop started from. We came from real situations and real problems. People can relate and understand where I’m coming from.

The main thing that makes me talk about the things I talk about is just the problems that go on in the world. For instance, the young man Oscar Grant who was shot down by the police in the hay area.  A lot of people haven’t been able to grasp that story, to really understand what’s going on down there in the bay, but there is a lot of racial tension and a lot of things are getting brought back up there that America still hasn’t dealt with. If people look into the news media and magazines, newspapers or wherever it may be, they can start to see those things.

That’s just my main ambition behind everything. I wanna’ bring those points to the forefront. I wanna’ talk about some things that some people may not be thinking about. They may graze the topic with some friends, but I wanna’ bring it out in a dope track. I wanna’ bring that through a Hip-Hop track that is passionate and people can understand it when they hear it.

Justin: You’re talking about your lyricism and your subject matter, you’re definitely a Hip-Hop head and that also shows through your love for live performance. Do you think performing live and really putting on a good, energetic show for the people has become a lost art in Hip-Hop?

Yung Fadell: I think it depends on what you’re talking about. I look at people like Busta Rhymes and old school stuff like Public Enemy. They know how to put on a show. It’s more than just getting on stage and grabbing the mic. It’s all about bringing out what you’re talking about in those songs. You have to show the emotion of what you’re talking about. Artists like Busta Rhymes do that when you watch them perform. It’s incredible to watch. Busta has so much presence and character; he interacts with the crowd. Busta puts that emotion behind every song that he performs. I don’t think it’s a lost art. I just think some artists do a better job at performing live than others. Some artists have a better understanding of what it means to perform live. That’s my take on that.

Justin: Tell us about the independent label you’re signed to, G.R.I.T. Entertainment.

 Yung Fadell: G.R.I.T. is an abbreviation for Get Rich in Turmoil. It’s a label that me and my buddy Andy came together to start. I had the idea for the label a couple of years ago. I was finishing up a bunch of local projects around town for other people and decided it was about time for me to step off and do things on my own. Me and Andy came together and got it started. Andy had the business mind on how to get everything done and make everything official. Andy knew how to network and some avenues opened up for us.

I had the production mind as far as doing music and recording. I brought some of the artists together and finding the production. We just came together as far as the music and the business. We made G.R.I.T. Entertainment like that. I’m actually the Co-CEO of the label. I’m also one of the lead artists.

We started about six months ago and got the ball rolling. We do have projects coming out. “The Street Report Vol.1” will be out June 9^th. “Grit Gang” the group album will be out towards the end of the summer, August. We’re just getting it going. It’s an independent label that we put together that we feel can really do some big things. Look out for us in the future.

Justin: A bay area legend, JT Tha Bigga Figga has been helping the label out. He’s a known independent genius. What would you say is the best advice he’s given you?

Yung Fadell: As far as how the game is right now in the present time; using the internet. If you know you have hot music and are a step on everyone else on the underground level, use the internet and get it at and use the avenues it provides. The internet is a golden tool. It’s kind of stepping the game up from hard copy CD’s to being able to download your music off the internet. I definitely think his piece of advice towards that has shown us the different ways on the internet to really grit and grind. We’ve set up web pages, doing interviews, www.myspace.com and other things like that.

You have to use the internet to your advantage to generate the buzz it might take to get those internet sales cracking. That’s how the independent labels survive. We push the product on the underground market, and now that internet market is available worldwide. I think the insight on how to use the internet for this independent grind has been the biggest help above all.

Justin: Throughout the interview, you’ve mentioned “The Street Report Vol. 1” mixtape dropping June 9^th. Is that the first installment in you’re upcoming mixtape series, “The Streets are talking?”

Yung Fadell: Yes that is. “The Street Report Vol.1.” We also are going to put out part two down the road; Let alone my debut album dropping this fall. Basically, we’re looking at doing five volumes. I’m going to spark this first one off and do it on my own; create a buzz for myself. The second installment in the “Streets are Talking” series is going to be “The Street Report Vol.2” and that’s gonna’ have more national underground artists on it. I can’t really say for sure who’s going to be on it right not, but we have been talking to a lot of hot artists from east to west, south and mid-west. Artists are submitting songs right now.

It’s gonna’ be a hot series. I want the people to stay tuned and hear something they like with that.

Justin: And how will the fans be able to get their hands on it? Will it be available for free download or is it being sold?

Yung Fadell: For now, it’ll be available for free download on June 9^th and June 10^th. After that, you can catch it on ITunes, www.amazon.com and all of the major Hip-Hop sites will have links to it. My website will have it, which will be www.gritent.com. You’ll be able to go there and purchase it. There will be a lot of places where you can go and download it, but it will be free on www.goldmic.com/yungfadell. That’s June 9th and June 10^th you can download it for free. After that, the whole thing will be available to be purchased for around $10. It’s pretty much all original songs on there.

It has the mixtape title on it, but we are considering it more like a street album on a real underground tip. The people will be able to catch where we’re coming from right now.

Justin: That covers that project. Tell us about the Grit Gang group album coming soon. Let’s get the lowdown on that.

Yung Fadell: We have my cousins up here from up here in Portland, Soldier D and Black J who is right now rapping with a group called Chef Boyarbangers. I’m waiting on my brother to touch down out of the penitentiary right now, Young T. There will be a Grit Gang album coming out. Definitely all of our producers are going to be apart of it such as Jonny Juliano and we’re getting at Battlecat right now. We have my guy All True West. There will be a lot of dope up and coming producers apart of it. We also have dope up and coming artists that are going to be apart of it.

I definitely think when people catch what’s going on with these mixtapes and hear “The Street Report Vol.1”, they will definitely feel the Grit Gang.

Justin: Ok. You definitely have a lot going on right now. The final project we’re going to cover is the big one; you’re upcoming debut album, “The Resume.” What’s the latest on that?

Yung Fadell: The latest right now is all of the same producers I just mentioned for this debut album. I’m taking my time right now and building this buzz up with these mixtapes and the Grit Gang album. Hopefully by the forth quarter, people will start seeing advertisement for “The Resume.” I’ve been keeping it on the hush to see what kind of buzz we generate, and how many fans we build up behind this mixtape. We already have a good following that has been building up in the last couple weeks. I think it’s on the go. Sometime by fall 09, you should be seeing the debut album from Yung Fadell, “The Resume.”

Justin: Ok. Being an independent artist, what are your goals for the album like?

Yung Fadell: my goal for the album right now is to sell 50,000 would be a huge start. I haven’t had the chance to put out a full official debut album for my self. This is my first go at it. 50,000 is a logical goal for us to reach. Hopefully the sky is the limit (laughs). To be able to reach 200,000 isn’t out of the question if the buzz is right. That goes back to what I was saying about creating a buzz. We don’t want to put out a debut album on an independent level without it being successful for us. We’re taking our steps to make sure that is possible and we can get the biggest buzz possible for this debut album.

Justin: Ok. Thanks a lot for your time Fadell. We’re going to end it on that note. You definitely have a lot going on so will be sure to keep everyone updated. Before I let you go, do you have any final words to close us out?

Yung Fadell: Keep in tune everybody. Keep it real to yourself. Look out for us man. G.R.I.T. Entertainment, 2009. We’re going strong into 2010. We’re trying to do big things. June 9^th you’ll be able to catch that “Street Report Vol.1” out for everybody. It’s for the people, by the people. Get Rich in Turmoil – that’s what it’s all about. Hot me up on MySpace at http://www.myspace.com/yungfadell.