DELISA: Maryland rapper YBN Cordae has been making some serious waves in hip-hop.
DELISA: With his clever lyricism, unique flows, and co-signs from the industry’s heavy hitters,
Cordae has established himself as an artist to watch.
DELISA: The DMV rapper, born Cordae Dunston, hit the scene under the moniker Entendre in
2014, releasing three mixtapes, ‘Anxiety’, ‘I’m So Anxious’, and ‘I’m So Anonymous.’
DELISA: Off the heels of the release of ‘I’m So Anonymous’ in 2017, he linked up with
gamer-centric crew, Young Boss Niggaz, and adopted the new collective’s alias, emerging
as YBN Cordae.
CORDAE: We was just fans of each other music and shit like a year or two ago just on instagram.
Whenever we was in the same town or city we just linked up and shit.
It’s like a brotherhood.
Those like my legit brothers.
DELISA: Among group members like YBN Nahmir, Almighty Jay, Manny and more, Cordae established
himself as the lyrical aficionado, laying clever bars on top of Soundcloud-type beats.
CORDAE: I care more so about making good music.
As far as bars, I came in just proving I can rap.
DELISA: The rapper pulled from a variety of influences to create his sound, which he credits
to his upbringing in the DMV area, something he told Genius.
CORDAE: It’s a very soulful area, which has its own genre and it’s such a melting
pot, you know you have all different ethnicities and influences that live in the DMV area.
DELISA: And he applied that same method to his lyricism.
DELISA: As a self-proclaimed student of the game, the North Carolina-born rapper draws
inspiration from hip-hop OG’s like JAY-Z and Dr. Dre, even citing the latter as a mentor,
saying quote,
DELISA: I love working with him because it's like going through basketball drills.
I felt myself getting better by the hour.
CORDAE: I'm just extremely like grateful for the predecessors of hip hop.
The Jay-Z's, the Nas, the Big Ls, the Tupacs, the Biggies, Eminem, et cetera.
So many folks.
DELISA: With his place in the budding crew cemented, the newly named YBN Cordae had an
impressive debut in 2018.
DELISA: His first official release came in May with a fiery remix to Eminem’s “My
Name Is,” solidifying him as next up.
DELISA: A few weeks later, he dropped a response to J. Cole’s mumble rap diss track, “1985,”
attempting to bridge the gap between hip-hop’s old generation and the new.
CORDAE : I’m a student of the game.
In order to be a great, you gotta study the greats.
And all of ‘em have the same common theme, when it first came out, all the OG’s were
like get that hippity hop shit outta here and then look what the fuck that shit turned
into, rap is the new pop its the no. 1 genre out right now so eat a dick, old nigga.
DELISA: In September, the collective dropped their debut, ‘YBN: The Mixtape.’
DELISA: The project showcased their range and Cordae caught attention with his standout
tracks “Target,” “Alaska (Scotty Pippen),” and “Kung Fu.”
DELISA: The Maryland rapper kept the momentum rolling
in 2019, starting with “Locationships,” a play on his idol Jay-Z’s 2001 hit, “Girls,
Girls, Girls.”
DELISA: In June, he landed a coveted spot in the XXL’s 2019 Freshman Class…
CORDAE: Feeling caged in like Nicholas.
Blood pressure high, stress levels is ridiculous.
Came in the game, no chain, on some different shit.
Just getting started, my nigga.
This ain’t the end of it.
DELISA: And his debut studio album, ‘The Lost Boy,’ dropped a month later.
DELISA: The project featured a concise throughline with assists from Pusha T, Meek Mill, and
the J.Cole-produced, “RNP,” featuring Anderson.Paak.
CORDAE: We connected in North Carolina, we cooked up a couple of jaunts. We got some jaunts in the archives.
But man, I was like, “Yo, I need some beats, bro.” I was like, “Yo, I need a beat.” You know what I'm saying?
Because I feel like he's underrated as a producer. So I feel...and like a Cole beat is rare, it's more rare.
DELISA: Cordae is paving his own way in hip-hop alongside his YBN brothers and it seems like he’s
enjoying the journey.
CORDAE:A lot of people was like, do I feel pressure creating this project? I was like, “Nah man, I just make
music.” You know what I'm saying? And just let the music speak for itself.
DELISA: I’m Delisa with Genius News bringing you the meaning and the knowledge behind the
music.