Florida has experienced a boom in rap over the last few years. Within the Sunshine State lies Project Youngin, a 24-year-old St. Petersburg, Fla. native who truly got it out the mud, putting in the ground work to build up his name. Now, with the YoungBoy Never Broke Again-assisted "Biggest Blessing" becoming his hottest record to date, the journey to get here was worth it. With things on an upswing, Project Youngin came to the XXL studio to drop a few bars for our What I Do freestyle series.

Not one to be distracted, Project Youngin rhymes about both his motivations to rap and trying to steer clear of his past. "Only the strong survive, one of my favorite quotes/I got some niggas dead and gone, the fam, I"m tryna give em hope," he raps. "Back out, the crack route/ Yeah, bitch, we sellin' dope/ It's hard, you got ya aunties and ya uncles, who tryna smoke/And use they nose."

He follows up those poignant bars with tips to stay safe in the street: "Yeah, this shit for real/Get caught slippin, ya own homies, they'll try and peel/Fuck a nigga, get paid, make sure that your homies straight."

Before he got to this point, being a rising name in hip-hop with some controversy, Project Youngin used to spend more than he was making to get his music heard. "I used to have to pay to open up for people, now I'm getting 5,000 dollars a show," he reveals. "I'm independent, I don't have a deal, I'm not signed with a major label. Who else can say that?"

Doing it on his own has always been important to Project Youngin; it shows through the way he handles his career. "I had two vans, wrapped my face on it, we hit the road, city to city all through Florida, putting up posters, passing out CD's," he shares.

With some buzz off his 2018 project, Group Home Living, Project Youngin is still pushing himself further. "I'm not content and I'm motivated," the rhymer states. "I got too many people counting on me."

Catch his freestyle up top.

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