Your Grandparents' alternate soul music offers a new perspective on 'Black life, Black love and Black youth'
Your Grandparents are the new kids on the block. An impressive genre-bending trio of Black rappers, singers and songwriters, this is a group with a sound that pays homage to those that came before them, much like their name.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, Your Grandparents describe their music as a mix between R&B, Hip-Hop, and "Alternative Soul". At the young age of 22, the group is composed of vocalists Jean Carter and Dacosta and producer ghettoblasterman. In April 2019, Your Grandparents self-released their breakout debut EP, 'Been Cold', which included fan-favorite track, 'My Only One' featuring neo-soul R&B songstress UMI.
Following the EP release, the Los Angeles-based trio headed out on a sold-out West Coast tour with fellow SoCal singer-songwriter Cuco where they received an overwhelming response and packed houses with upwards of 2,000 people in attendance every night. And in the midst of growing as a powerful music group in the past year, each member has also managed to create success independently in their own right. Most notably, Jean Carter featured on Cuco's hit song, 'Bossa No Se', which has clocked 70 million streams so far.
With a sound that is reminiscent of legendary artistes like The Fugees, Outkast and Digable Planets, this young trio is ready to take the hip-hop world by storm with their latest release, 'So Damn Fly', which marks the beginning of a new era and is the lead single off their upcoming debut album out later this year. Of their new single, Your Grandparents share, "An ode to the unapologetically beautiful, black, and bold youth of today. We hope the way this song builds and evolves will leave our listeners in awe."
MEA WorldWide (MEAWW) got the chance to chat with Your Grandparents about their musical journey and upcoming projects.
'Your Grandparents' certainly has a nice ring to it. You've said your name was a way to pay homage to those that came before you, artistes and ancestors alike. Do you feel like your name has an even more poetic tinge to it now, given the current situation and how it has led more people to honor those that paved their way?
The older we get the more we learned to appreciate the music our grandparents and parents would play. We have always respected the ones that came before us and hopefully we can pass down some dope sh*t the same way they’ve done for us.
You've said before that everything prior to your debut EP 'Been Cold' was "practice." How do you think your music has evolved since that release to your upcoming album?
Our music has evolved in every way and has matured with us. I think we've gotten better at translating our life experiences through music.
'Been Cold' featured a wide range of genres and thematic elements. Would the next phase for Your Grandparents be equally experimental or have you honed in on a sound that you think defines you?
We like to push our ideas and incorporate the wide variety of music and art we enjoy so trying new things and getting experimental has always been a theme of our process. This next body of work we feel does a nice job taking the music we love to new territory while still having a sense of familiarity.
A lot has changed in the world since your first EP came out, ranging from a pandemic to worldwide protests. How have these events affected your music?
Working remotely on music hasn’t been too hard to adapt to, most of the creative work that has required sessions has been handled thankfully. Music videos and other video assets have been a bit of a challenge though.
Could you tell us a little more about your upcoming single, 'So Damn Fly’?
We are so excited about the trumpets featured on this one. s/o Waine.
Are there any songs off your upcoming album that you are particularly excited for the world to hear?
That's a hard question to answer, we all have our own favorites and they change all the time. We also don’t want to sway anyone’s opinion so we’ll leave it up to people to choose.
Were there any memorable moments during the recording of the album?
The day we recorded drums and bass. A lot of people came by the studio that day and it turned into a party.
What do you hope listeners will take away from your upcoming album? Do you hope they'd just find it easy to groove along to, or is there a message you're hoping to get across through your music?
We hope you have a great time immersing in the world of the album, seeing the world through our window. We hope people garner a new perspective on Black life, Black love and Black youth.
What's next for YRGP, apart from the album?
We want to make feature films. Other than that, we want to focus on moving onward and upward as artistes dedicated to bringing new ideas to the world of music.
'So Damn Fly' is out now on all digital streaming platforms.