Cooking with Gas: Boiling Down Yung Gravy's New Album, Gasanova
Image Courtesy: Strike FSU
If you had to explain Gasanova in 3 words, what would they be?
“3 words? Um… it thumps. Number one: Thumps. Number two: Care-free. We will say that is one word, there is a hyphen. Number three: Gas. This album is gas.”
Image Courtesy: Pinterest
Matthew Raymond Hauri, better recognized as Yung Gravy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur from Minnesota known for his unique soul sounds and “meme” references in his music. With his top hits including Mr. Clean, Gravy Train, and Alley Oop feat. Lil Baby, Yung Gravy has made a name for himself in the music industry for his care-free attitude and comical lyrics.
Yung Gravy released his latest album, Gasanova, on October 2nd and Gravy took the time to dive deeper into these tracks and his career via a press conference with Strike Magazine last Wednesday. Gasanova, described as being nothing short of silly, stupid, and sensational, has been streamed all across the US and has received plenty of praise already. It includes 14 songs, some of which feature special guests such as Chief Keef, Ski Mask the Slump God, and TrippythaKid.
Here is what Yung Gravy had to tell us about his music career, Gasanova, and his upcoming endeavors:
What is the story behind your stage name?
“So, a long time before I even was rapping, or at least before I was taking it seriously, I used to freestyle with friends in high school while I was working at a summer camp. When the kids would go to bed, we’d go smoke a blunt and rap, just freestyle some random shit, and I had a few names. You know, I was Mr. Butter, Lil’ Steamer, Jimmy Continental: I had a lot of names.”
“But then, one time when I was just rapping something, I said a line about wavy and then gravy and it just kind of stuck. I guess I didn’t really have a name that I had stuck to when I was free-styling with the boys, but when I was in college and taking it seriously, Yung Gravy just made the most sense. It actually took me a while to decide between Y-O-U-N-G and Y-U-N-G, that was probably the biggest difficulty in that decision. But, I went with Y-U-N-G because I was inspired by Yung Lean.”
What do you want fans to take away from your music?
“I think people need to learn to just not give a fuck. People should feel good, and I would say that there's a lot of negative energy on the internet right now. I think people should be able to kick back and enjoy themselves and try not to stress about what's happening on social media or how many followers they have or whatever else.”
“That's not exactly what I was imagining when I first started making music, I just wanted to make people feel good and smile, but now I'm seeing all these kids that are being judged by people and I think it's dope to be able to feel like you can express yourself and feel confident. Just after noticing that change in people made me really focus on that more when I create new music.”
You are well-known for the fun sample sounds that you integrate into your music. Will we be seeing more of this in the future?
“Yeah, in the album that we’re dropping Friday, Gasanova, it has a decent amount of that sample sound. The main difference now is that it is a lot easier to create your own samples than it is to clear them. I found the right people, too, that can play whatever instrument it is and we’ll come up with ideas on our own and it's honestly more fun that way because I could do a lot more from the ground up. So yeah, I mean that sound is going to stay there forever I think, and it's just a matter of starting it myself rather than just finding an existing sample. I like it better this way.”
Everybody loves Lil’ Dicky’s show “Dave”. When are we getting the Yung Gravy show?
“You know, I actually have had two potential shows pitched to me, but I ended up being busy. The guys who put together Jersey Shore have some sort of Bachelor show. They wanted to do one where it was me, but it was like with MILFs, and then there were multiple concepts going around. Howie Mendel saw it was kind of into it and it was going to be like a Bachelor with MILFs, but then things didn't come together for that. I guess I was just too busy with music stuff.”
“Then another idea that Trevor Wallace and I were going to put together was like an Eric Andre type show with random skits and that was pretty close to being fully confirmed and put together on Adult Swim, but then the whole Coronavirus thing happened. So, either one might still come someday, but I guess it's not the same as Dave. I think it could be more like Eric Andre vibes when the day comes.”
Were all of the meme references and witty lyrics by design, or is this just sort of a byproduct of the artist you wanted to be?
“I’d say it's more of a byproduct, I guess. A lot of my lyrics are just what comes to mind, it's not really super calculated. For example, the Chuck Testa one. When I was in the studio, I was like ‘Yo… I love that line. It seems so dope,’ and then I put out the video with Chuck Testa in it. Then I was like ‘alright, the younger fans, people under like 21, have no idea who Chuck Testa is. It doesn't matter to most people.’”
“But, when I think about it, I'd rather rap about Chuck Testa or something I love rather than try to pull out some current reference for clout. I don't keep up on the internet enough, everyone was referencing like Tiger King and shit; I never watched that, so I'm like ‘I'm not about to rap about Tiger King.’ Everyone tells me ‘oh dude, try this bar’ and I’m like ‘nah, I'm gonna stick to the 2014 era because that's what I'm used to.’”
Strike Magazine thanks Yung Gravy for sharing his unique and eccentric personality with us in order to better understand the mind behind his music.
To stream Gasanova, click here.
Strike Out,
Writer: Tabitha Labrato
Graphics: Audrey Estupinan
Tallahassee