Bun B’s Son, Young B, Goes For the Crown [Family Ties]

Though many new artists claim to have honed their skills listening to pioneering MCs, only a few can honestly say they learned firsthand from one of rap’s greats. Having lived under the same roof as Southern hip-hop maverick, and one-half of UGK, Bun B, 25-year-old Brandon “Young B” Kindle can do just that.

Raised in Houston, Kindle was in middle school when Bun and his mother, Chalvalier “Queenie” Freeman, got together in 1996, while his biological father was serving an eight-year prison sentence. The couple married in 2003. When Bun first entered his life, Brandon was a casual rap fan. But after a few years of being around his stepfather, and listening to the music of Geto Boys, 8Ball & MJG and OutKast, Kindle’s fascination with hip-hop intensified. “I got into [music] because I wanted to learn the business side,” says B, who started recording freestyles when he was 18. “But that passion for [rapping] just grew more and more. I was being around him in the studio, on the road, at shows.”

At first, he received mixed reactions when he told his parents that he wanted to pick up the mic. “[Mom] was like, ‘Bun went through so much,’” says B. “She just wanted me to make sure it was something that I really wanted to do.” Content with his decision, B dropped out of Prairie View A&M University (which also claims young acts Dorrough and Party Boyz as students turned rappers) after his sophomore year for a life of rhyme.

In 2005, Young B began his career as a solo artist. During the course of working with local rappers, B linked up with the duo of Broderick “B.P.” Purvis and Michael “Young Mike” Williams, both 21, and formed the group Youngest N Charge, dropping their first mixtape, Trill Shit Vol. 1, in 2008. They followed that with The Takeover (December 2009) and Trill Shit Vol. II (this past March), starting their own indie imprint, Trillionaire Records, before The Takeover.

Now opening shows for Bun, dropping viral videos and pushing their first single, “She Gotta Ass,” YNC isn’t trying to be the new UGK, but they are keeping it trill all the same. “Professionally, ain’t nobody fittin’ to cut him no type of slack,” says Bun B. “He is going to have a lot of expectations on him… I have no doubt that he can get it. It just depends on how bad he wants it.” Young B, for his part, isn’t worried. “At first, I used to feel the pressure,” says B. “Now I don’t, because I’m not rapping Bun’s life. I’m only being me.”

As trill as it gets. —C. Vernon Coleman II

Check out a few Youngest N Charge tracks, below:

"Get Paid"