a fromchicagototheworld interview - by Reina Danzy - October 28, 2022
With Yash Flee it's not just the raps. It's not just the production either. The cover art? Made by him. The creative direction? All from the incredible mind of Yash Flee. There's an undeniable sense of style and vision bleeds through anything Yash Flee touches, which makes it hard to put a label on what he is. So to use his own words, Yash Flee is a lot of things. The most recent example is his latest project: THE STREET LIGHTS COMING ON. The 11-song offering paints a vivid picture of Yash Flee's maturation as an artist. He leans on different sounds, touching on everything from Jersey Club to R&B to Drill, to tell the story of his coming to age. It's a project that is an amazing listen that also successfully expresses everything Yash Flee has grown to be as an artist.
Who is Yash Flee?
I'm Yash Flee. I make music. I'm a rapper. I make beats. I'm also an artist. I do like graphic design. Man. Yash Flee is a lot of things. It's hard to even sum it up. Like every time I get to telling people I'll be like, "Yeah, I do this and then I'm like nah I do this too. Then I do that too." You feel me. But right now I'm an artist. I'm a rapper, make beats, I produce, I used to have a studio. I do a little bit of everything.
And what is this project we're talking about today?
This project that we're talking about is Street Lights Coming On. So Street Lights Coming On. The title: The Street Lights Coming On. That title came from adolescence and coming of age. Street lights coming on, you know it's time to go in the crib when you a kid. For me, this is me hitting the age where the street lights come on. We outside. It's things that are happening, whether good or bad, and dealing with those things. (...) The title took me a while to kind of get to the title first the project. It was a song called Long Nights and that was gonna be the title of the project too. Once I finished that song I was like alright, cool. I think I'm I'm gonna start making something. I'm gonna make start making something. I feel comfortable going into my next chapter.
To me, what's so impressive about you is that you're also an all-around creative, and it feels like you're flexing all of that sh*t on this project. Were you intentional about pulling out all the stops on this one?
Man. So look, it was like so I just graduated from art school. Like back in May, I still got like a credit and a half outstanding but f*ck that sh*t. I'm gonna get it done. But I graduated from school back in May. And then as I was working on my senior project. I was also working on this album. I wanted to show how my art and my music can coexist. You don't gotta separate this. This is what I do. I create experiences. When you go into the website. It's like looking at a gallery. I wanted everything to be all together and intertwined. Just to show you like how deep the layers is. This is layers on top of layers, like hours on top of hours. Just learning and putting up shots.
There's definitely this late-night, being outside type of vibe to it [the project]. What was the concept there? And how did you tie that into the cover? What came first?
So the music came was coming first. I was doing a lot of music. At the time, I was recording songs then the senior project came up. I told my professor, "I got these songs and I kind of want to do something with them. I don't know exactly what I want to do." I had this idea of creating one of my childhood homes because I've bounced around a little bit from place to place, but it was one place where I spent from 10 years old to about 14. So, that's the house you see on the cover. I recreated that house and it was kind of supposed to be like this dream-like nighttime aesthetic. I was just kind of grappling with like adolescence and coming to age. I feel like on this project, I'm really maturing as an artist. (...) With this one, I was like, "man I want to make the best music I can." And I always feel like I'm making the best music I can possibly make. I want to make sure when people listen to it they want to listen to it from top to bottom, and really experience what's going on. Then with the visual aspects, I want people to feel like, "This looks like what this sounds like. This feels like what this sounds like."
So what projects do you listen to from top to bottom?
Albums that I listen to top to bottom? "Voodoo" by the D'Angelo. Really a lot of R&B music influences what I make, and how I structure songs. "Blueprint" by Jay Z. I was listening to that a lot. I was listening to so much music. I was listening to a lot of Kelis. I was listening to "Wanderland" at least I was playing that album a lot. Let's see what else Oh, Pink Pantheress her album, "To Hell With It." I love that project. Vince Staples his self-titled. I was listening to that. It was a lot of music though.
People probably wouldn't expect you to be listening to Kelis and Pink Pantheress because you make so much Drill music. That's such an interesting aspect of you as an artist.
Yeah, so with the Drill music. I always been a cool dude, laid back, kind of fly. I like to get fresh. I was real adjacent to the streets because it was just something that was around. Everybody do they thing, I do my thing. But I was always into the arts and weird sh*t a little bit. That was just always my thing. Like sh*t that was like n*ggas was like "N*gga what the f*ck you are you listening to?" Like sh*t, This is what I'm on right now. This is what I like. I was like a Tumblr kid. I was heavy on the Tumblr sh*t. So, with the Drill music, I wanted to do it in a way that was cool. I feel like a lot right now, especially in New York and even in Chicago, a lot of the Drill music is almost becoming a parody of itself a little bit with how violent people trying to push it. People want to be as violent as possible. I just wanted to make Drill music for bad b*tches. I want women to listen to my music. You feel me. That's always been one of my target audiences. So I wanted to do some fly sh*t with the Drill music. So, I listen to a lot of sh*t.
"I wanted to show how my art and my music can coexist. You don't gotta separate this. This is what I do. I create experiences." - Yash Flee
So on "Top Five", you call yourself a "pioneer." Thinking 2 years down the line. What do you want people to hear in this project and think Yash Flee pioneered that?
People feel like they got to be put in a box. I find it with a lot of rappers that they let themselves get boxed in into a sound and get like fearful of pushing boundaries. And I feel like, for me, I'm gonna make the music I want to make. I feel like I'm a pioneer in terms of like - its some songs on there that are just like genuine R&B records. Like when I'm singing, you know, I'm harmonizing. Then it's a song on there where I'm really just on some Drill shit. I feel like you can't judge me because I'm both of those things. You can't tell me I'm not R&B or you can't tell me I'm not Hip-Hop, you feel me.
I feel like being authentic in connecting all of these different reference points with the music is something I feel I can help. Hopefully, it helps other people who might make Drill music who's gonna be like, "Man, I feel like this is just what I make. This is what people want to hear." If the music is good, man, that sh*t gonna find the audience. Good music is good music. (...) So make the music that is representing what you on. Especially if you're a young artist like me. I'm not famous, so I could try as much as I want. This is why you should try all the shit when you're not famous. Like I could do whatever I want to right now. I feel like artists get too ahead of where they at. You not on a billboard. We regular n*ggas. Try sh*t, bro. That's it. Try sh*t.
"Head Up" is one of my favorite songs on there. It gives me this "Street Lights" by Kanye vibe. What do those moments add to the larger picture album for you?
I feel like it adds a different level of depth. I'm glad you brought up "Streetlights" by Kanye. Amongst all the controversy that's going on. "808s & Heartbreak" is one of my favorite albums. I used to spin and shit like when it first came out. I'm like nine years old. That's one of the few albums that got songs in it that made me cry. So with Kanye, he's one of those artists who was able to switch his style and do different things. So for me, I feel like songs like "Head Up", "Flaws", and "Casualties" add a level of seriousness almost like a level of storytelling that I like to do. I like to tell stories, and I like to be able to create real experiences with the music. I feel like music has a lot of merit as art you feel me like, people view it as entertainment. Because you know, it is entertainment, but it also has merit as art. And I just try to make artful music with whatever I'm doing.
I love that you're not just throwing songs on there and calling it an album. It's this body of work that really feels like it's meant to be together.
Yeah, when I'm making albums or I'm making working on music. I hermit in. I'm very focused, I'm very particular about opinions. Like, eventually I know how to, you know, send, expand, get a team. But I do trust my taste. Like as an artist, I trust my taste. And I think when you trust and start building and developing your taste, you are like - I don't know if particular is the word but you're intentional about the decisions you make. With every decision, I try to make an intentional one. Especially with the music-making process. I just tried to be intentional, and do what I can to make it sound good.
"I feel like artists get too ahead of where they at. You not on a billboard. We regular n*ggas. Try sh*t, bro. That's it. Try sh*t."
There's no features on here. What was the message with that? Do you prefer to work solo?
Yeah, so it was a couple of songs that were supposed to have features. It was a couple of songs that was like that I did want features [on] or I might have invited people in and I was like, "Man, I don't know." I feel like this project is very concise. It's no filler songs where I feel like I need to flesh this out. I'll drop something short before I drop something I think got bullsh*t on it. So for me, I was like, "Man, I got all these ideas that are formed on my own that I kind of think work well with just me. (...) I feel like the stories that I'm telling are very personal. It's a very personal project. I feel like it was better off no features.
This one is mostly me, I did the majority of the beats. And then I worked with Luke. My homie Icy produced on it and my other homie St. Ryan produced on it too. And even with those songs, they were sending me to beats and I'll be at home because I don't really go outside a lot. If I'm working on music, I'm in the crib. I go outside for shows. I don't really party like that it's never been my thing. I work on music. I make art. That's what I like to do. I feel like this is like a solo mission. Like where I have to kind of just see this through on my own.
How do you feel you've grown between this project and projects like 4U and Let's Get It On?
I feel like I use those like building blocks. I took a lot of great things from Let's Get It On like a lot of personal lyrics. The lyricism. I was very like, on point when it came to my rapping. And then 4U, I feel like how I put that together and like the cohesiveness and how I set out that the tracklist and how I had this whole roll out for that. I was able to build upon that with this one. (...) And right now I'm settled in with I where I am. I can just kind of let the music do what it do. I feel like I'm on point. I'm at a great point, in terms of musical maturity, but also having a youthfulness to me. I'm only 23. So it's still a ways to go.
That shows in how you explore different sounds, like Jersey club on "What U Say." I really enjoyed that. That was refreshing to hear.
That was a really fun one. When I made that beat, I was with Fari. I was like, Man, I think I might have something with this. So then I was like, but I don't want to just do it like that. Then with the lyrics, it's like everybody can rap about partying and having fun and sh*t like that. But I'm like, Man, I really want to rap. I want to rap rap on these beats. I'll tell you that was probably one of the hardest songs to record. Just from a technical aspect because like, the flow I do on the hook. I'm like, "Man, why the f*ck did I make this hook this difficult?" That was a fun song for me. I really enjoyed making that song.
So we're almost out of time, ima open the floor up to you to shout out whoever and get whatever you want else to say off.
I'm really just happy with the reception I'm getting with this project. I knew I was gonna love this project. I felt like it was songs on here that were like, favorite songs of mine. But it was different. You know, it's always different once it's out there in the world. I was just happy people was like, "This your best project. It's no skips on here." And I've had projects that had bigger songs like 4U it was like some like Miss U was a bigger song w Now or Never. Those are all bigger like singles for me. Don't Call Me was kind of what I had. Then we was dropping the tape. So it was just cool with people sitting down and really listening to a project. Especially in such a singles-driven era and me dropping on the same day as Lil' Baby. That was cool. Mfs still gon listen to me, that was cool. I'm just happy.
Shout out to everybody who helped and was even around. There's no features but, Fari was really important to cultivating the sound because we were working on a lot of music together at that time. We actually got a project coming called "Pretty Flee." People may be tired of hearing just me. Shout out to Luke and all the producers. I'm just happy. It's something that's out in the world now. I hope it do what it can, and goes as far as I can make it go. Oh, and go watch the "Lights" video.
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