Michigan rapper YN Jay knew his time was coming. Since he was 10 years old, Jay has been rapping, drawing inspiration from his older brother Gabe. A much younger Jay was performing at rap shows and freestyling in cars all over his hometown of Beecher, Mich. He then recorded eight to 10 songs a day once he hit his teenage years. After Gabe's passing, Jay decided he had to make rapping a career in honor of his brother. He dropped the seven-track project MVP in November of 2019, and ultimately delivered on his promise in 2020, when the hilarious, catchy song "Coochie" blew up on YouTube and social media.
Released in April, the track has that very specific Detroit production, but rather than delivering grimy street rap, "Coochie" is a more humorous recollection of YN Jay and fellow rapper Louie Ray's experiences with women. The song caught fire—it currently sits at over 3 million Spotify streams—and the video has been viewed more than 18 million times to date.
After the success of "Coochie," which was made in 10 minutes and the product of YN Jay and Louie Ray quarantining together earlier this year, Jay started to release a flurry of music. His projects Coochie Land and Watch This, released in August and September, respectively, only fed into his buzz, as did his other songs with the word "Coochie" in them: "Coochie Land," "Coochie Scout" and "Coochie Man."
In his own words, Jay set out to create a "Coochie" spiderweb, songs that all promote each other because of their similar style and topics. On top of that, he has a reputation as a local ladies' man, so he welcomes the direction things are going in, even referring to himself as the "Coochie Man." Things only got crazier once Lil Uzi Vert went on Instagram Live with YN Jay in tow, revealing his verse on a "Coochie Scout (Remix)," which hasn't been released yet.
In this week's edition of The Break, YN Jay explains how he got here, and his vision for the future.
Age: 21
Hometown: Beecher, Mich.
I grew up listening to: "I grew up listening to Lil Boosie. I grew up listening to Tupac, Lil Snupe, Future, Lil Wayne, YFN Lucci."
My style’s been compared to: "People really compare me to the greatest. I wouldn't really be able to tell you a person that people compare me to, but people compare me to the greats. I'm the full package. I feel like people that really listen, that really tap all the way in, them type of people really notice that I got every different lane. And notice that I've got so many different styles that it's really uncomparable. But if anything, a name that I hear a lot is Uncle Luke."
I’m going to blow up because: "It's something that I always knew. I'm destined for greatness. If you knew my daddy, Q, and you knew my mother, Dorothea, you would really understand where I come from, you know what I mean? If you knew my parents, it was like I was raised to be great. I was raised to be who I am. I was raised to be the best I can be."
What’s your most slept-on song, and why?: "I would say my most slept-on song right now, at this exact second is 'Coochie World.' I feel like that song should be on the charts right now as a single. 'Gotta Get Rich,' too. That's another song I feel like, that's one of my most slept-on songs. I feel like I created an image to where most people want to hear me talk funny or they want to hear me rap funny. They want to really hear me make them laugh. But I feel like it's way deeper than that.
"I feel like even with 'Coochie,' I feel like that song is real. Even though it's funny it's real. Everything we were saying in the song was really real facts. I feel like that's the thing, because I feel like most of my fans really want to hear me rap about coochie and rap about funny things. But 'Gotta Get Rich' is a song that's different."
My standout records to date have been: "I feel like 'Coochie' [is] my biggest song right now. 'Coochie,' obviously. 'Coochie Scout.' I feel like 'Coochie Scout' is my biggest … It is my biggest solo song, you know what I mean? And it's my biggest song that I officially dropped on all platforms. It got like 10 million streams on my platform. It's like a big accomplishment to me. It's my first song, my first solo song to hit a million views on YouTube. So, I feel like that's my biggest song.
"And the 'Hold on!' That catch phrase [on 'Coochie Scout'] is really one of the biggest songs in the world right now. That's the first song that I said, 'Hold on,' on. Another thing about the 'Coochie Scout' … 'Coochie Scout' is my favorite song that I ever made, but one thing about that 'Coochie Scout' song is that dance. The bop, that one dance. It's the Coochie dance. It's a viral dance that everybody be doing. It's the Coochie dance. It's crazy, man. It's like you got be doing it … It got to be two people."
My standout moments to date have been: "A big moment that did happen was me and my brother Louie Ray at the top, just doing good in music. Just hearing me and my brother Louie Ray grow. Seeing us hitting our first million views. I appreciate it. I appreciate life. I appreciate the fact that I'm at the spot that I'm at. I appreciate the fact that I grind, that all that time that I spent in the studios and grinding, I can really see it pay off. I can really see a million views. I can really see money coming from platforms. I'm really getting money off it. I'm really getting money off features and stuff like that."
Most people don’t know: "In my hood, people used to call me Four One. It was a lot of different reasons. Four One, I used to wear four braids. It was a lot of different reasons why, but really my brother Gabe started calling me that. And after he passed away, everybody just kept calling me it. And everybody started calling me it. It was a thing that he used to do, so people just continued to do it."
I’m going to be the next: "Great."
Follow YN Jay on SoundCloud and Instagram.
Standouts:
YN Jay and Louie Ray's "Coochie"
"Coochie Scout"
"Coochie Land"
YN Jay and Louie Ray's "Reflection"
Coochie Land
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