Young M.A may be young, as her name suggests, but the Brooklyn-based rapper has quickly
managed to solidify herself as one of the biggest forces in hip-hop.
She's earned millions of fans, plenty of magazine features, and praise from her peers since
she first made waves back in 2014 with her "Brooklyn (Chiraq Freestyle)" video.
But who is Young M.A, really?
What was her childhood like?
Where was she before she made it big?
We take a closer look at Young M.A before all the fame.
She's only had two jobs
Before pursuing a music career, Young M.A slummed it in retail.
Like most kids fresh out of high school, the talented rapper worked at discount retail
chain TJ Maxx, then jumped over to the exciting world of fast food at Shake Shack.
After getting tired of flipping burgers, she realized it was time to pull the trigger and
devote all of her energy to chasing her dream of becoming a full-time musician.
In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said,
"I wasn't happy.
It was just something to get a dollar once I graduated from high school to have money
in my pocket.
[...] I wanted to go to college, but I don't know, there was just something about music
that I couldn't let go.
So I just pursued it 100%."
50 Cent is her muse
If it wasn't for 50 Cent, Young M.A might not be rapping today.
As she revealed in an interview with The Breakfast Club, it was 50 Cent's 2003 hit song "Many
Men (Wish Death)" that inspired her to start rapping in the first place.
She's the first to acknowledge the massive impact the rapper has had on her life and
choice of career.
Luckily, the feeling is mutual.
50 Cent posted a photo of the pair to Instagram in Summer 2016, declaring his admiration for
the young star.
Losing her brother changed everything
It was on September 26, 2009 that Young M.A lost her brother to gang violence.
As she told Billboard,
"That was the day everything just changed for me.
[...] I would skip class.
My mom never knew about it…
I was depressed but I made as much of it as possible because I didn't want to drop out.
2009 was the worst year of my life.
I just looked at life totally different."
That's when she began embracing music more and more.
"Like, once my brother passed, like, I got in a booth and I made a song about his passing.
And I was just trying to emotionally express myself through the music."
Punching the Queen
QueenzFlip has made a name for himself online as the wildest Uber driver on the planet.
Yes, it looks like a serious safety hazard.
But Young M.A was clearly unaware of the viral sensation and was so unimpressed by his efforts
to prank her that the comedian actually got a terrible surprise in return.
Even as he tried to explain what he was all about and what he had been trying to do, the
young rapper refused to find his act funny.
For good reason.
"You bust my mouth, look, you bust my lip!"
"You're lucky that's all I did, boy!"
"Aw, c'mon, Brooklyn, ooh…"
She turned down Empire
Empire may have been one of the most talked about TV shows of 2016, but Young M.A actually
turned down the opportunity to be a part of the cast of the smash hit series after writers
created a character specifically for her.
As she told Rolling Stone, the character for Freda Gatz was initially going to be played
by her — but she had other ideas.
"I just didn't want to be known as a character from Empire before I was known as Young M.A.
[...] I turned it down, that's why they got someone else to do it.
It just wasn't for me.
Plus, the contract wasn't up to my standards."
She always knew
Young M.A has been open about her sexual preferences from the very beginning of her career and,
as she told Vlad TV, she discovered she liked girls at a young age.
"Since I was little, man.
Like, Kindergarten, I believe.
First grade?"
"Really?"
"Yeah.
Young M.A went on to say that she actually dated boys during her teen years and only
told her mother the truth and officially came out when she was 17.
"I thought, you know, my moms was going to look at me different, even though my mom always
said she wouldn't look at me different.
She knew, though.
My moms knew."
Invited on tour by Beyoncé
While celebrating her 35th birthday, Beyonce uploaded a special video to Instagram in order
to thank her family, friends and fans for all of their well-wishes.
The soundtrack for the clip?
Young M.A's smash hit.
"These haters on my body, shake them off!
Oooh!"
Fast forward to the following month and Young M.A was on stage, opening for Queen Bey and
performing that very track on the final stop of Beyonce's Formation World Tour.
"That moment, getting on that stage… man, I ain't never been that, like, googly in my life.
Like, looking at the people.
Like, really just, like, mesmerized."
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