YSN Flow recently celebrated a milestone: 100 million streams at only 16 years old. The Cleveland Heights native comes from true humble beginnings, beating the odds and making a name for himself in the rap game with his catchy motivational anthems — spitting like he’s an elite. Each time you see him, he’s a little bit drippier than the last.
Last year, Flow exploded onto the scene with his viral hit titled “Want Beef?”, who’s music video currently has over 20 millions views and counting. Fittingly, he just received his Youtube plaque for hitting 100K subscribers. Attributing his success to his incredibly loyal fanbase, Flow continues to put in work, perfecting his craft in the studio on the daily.
Having sold out a show at the Lyrical Lemonade Summer Smash, Flow can’t wait to get back on the road and give the fans what they’ve been asking for. His ultimate goals include taking home that Grammy, while taking care of himself, his family, and his friends. Earlier this year, he released his debut mixtape titled Flow $ZN which sold 21K in its first week alone… and he’s already onto the next one.
His newest singles are “Blow It All” and “OTW,” holding fans over until his next project release. AllHipHop caught up with Flow via Instagram Live, who was posted in the studio with producer Iceberg. Read below as we discuss his recent accomplishments, his forthcoming EP titled Long Story Short, working with Doe Boy, advice for upcoming artists, and more!
https://www.instagram.com/p/CFnlyaHHgnb/
AllHipHop: Flow, congrats on 100 million streams! How you feeling?
YSN Flow: Not going to play, when I got the plaque I was happy as f###. It’s my first plaque so that s### felt good, that s### was hard.
AllHipHop: You’re still 16, that’s insane. How do you feel?
YSN Flow: It be happening so fast, I don’t even get to take it in. I keep trying to work. Right now, I’m really trying to record music, I’m working on a mixtape right now. I don’t know if I’m going to drop it because I haven’t beeen f###### with the s### I recorded. If I don’t f### with it, I don’t drop it. My fans f### with it, but I don’t f### with it.
https://open.spotify.com/
AllHipHop: Why don’t you f### with it? Your last tape was fire, Flow $ZN.
YSN Flow: I self-criticize myself a lot. I just know what voice I’m looking for. Right now, we were screaming doing a little vlog so I’d lost my voice. My s###’s still not back. I don’t like it because it doesn’t sound like me.
AllHipHop: You’re still recording with your voice gone?
YSN Flow: Hell yeah.
AllHipHop: Where do you get this work ethic from being so young?
YSN Flow: For real, seeing how my mom and dad worked so much. The amount of s### I saw my mom go through showed me no matter what you going through, you can do that s###.
AllHipHop: What do you parents think now?
YSN Flow: My mom’s super proud of me. My dad’s proud of me. He called me yesterday to tell me he’s proud of me, that s### made me feel good. My dad bumps my s### everytime. Everytime I see that n*gga, he has my s### playing.
AllHipHop: What are you doing with that plaque?
YSN Flow: I’ma put that b#### on my wall, I don’t know if I have a spot for it yet. I live in an apartment, we’re moving to LA soon. I got a whole ass studio in my room so there might not be room for it right now.
AllHipHop: 2 years is crazy fast, what do you make of this rapid rise?
YSN Flow: S###, I’m forever grateful. I appreciate all this, I’m blessed. I try not to get stuck on my achievements because I know I’ma do more. I’m still so young, I know there’s more than life. There’s more s### I want to accomplish so I’ma keep going to see what’s next.
AllHipHop: What are some things you want to accomplish?
YSN Flow: My main thing is I definitely want a Top 10 Billboard song, a couple of them. I want at least 3 Billboard songs and at 5 Platinum plaques.
AllHipHop: Someone asked, when’s the “Faith N*ggas” coming out with Melvoni?
YSN Flow: I got so much old ass music, that’s song I recorded my first time going to New York.” We recorded that in a session, we’re never dropping that. I don’t remember the beat. A lot of songs I don’t drop because I don’t remember the beat I made it on. If I don’t buy the beat, I can’t drop that s###. I’m not allowed to drop the song.
AllHipHop: But you got the files right?
YSN Flow: No! For most of them, I don’t have the files because I don’t keep a harddrive on me. Whenever I record, I get it emailed to me as an mp3 and put that s### in my Notes. Whenever I have a session for real, I try to remember. Some of my sessions, my manager keeps it. Other than that, I be leaving that b####.
AllHipHop: How much music you sitting on?
YSN Flow: Right now, I’m probably sitting on 430 something songs. It should be more for real, I’ve been recording for 2 months.
AllHipHop: What’s your relationship with the producer Iceberg?
YSN Flow: The first time we met, I had a studio session with Republic Records. They booked me a studio session and brought in Iceberg. We made 8 songs, one night we’re in there for 16 hours. I was bullshitting most of the time or I woulda made more. We’re smoking, we clicked after that. We started booking more sessions, built a relationship.
AllHipHop: What can we expect from your guys’ joint EP?
YSN Flow: I’m calling it Long Story Short. I want it to be a vision: n*ggas seeing me, how I came, how s### was. A lot of music I’ve been dropping has been turnt. These deep songs I’m making right now, I’m telling them my story for real.
AllHipHop: I know you got a record coming with Doe Boy.
YSN Flow: That one’s a hard ass feature for me. That s### was crazy. Definitely one of my hardest ones before I started recording music months ago. My fans are definitely hyping that one.
AllHipHop: What does L462 mean?
YSN Flow: L462 is love for my brothers. If you don’t get it, you have to look at your phone. It’s L for love, then 4 is for. The 6 comes from the ‘m’ being the number 6 on the keypad, the ‘b’ comes from the 2, so L462.
AllHipHop: Advice for upcoming artists?
YSN Flow: For real, invest in yourself. That’s the biggest thing an artist told me when I was coming up. It’s crazy he still hasn’t blown up but the biggest thing was invest in yourself and that’s what I did.
AllHipHop: What do you think about your fans?
YSN Flow: My fans loyal as f###, I swear to God. When we shot that day with Doe Boy, he’s like “you got one of the most supportive loyal fanbase I’ve ever seen.” My fanbase go crazy.
AllHipHop: What’s your motivation?
YSN Flow: Family and money, for sure.