The Break Presents: Yung Baby Tate
Some people spend their entire lives searching for their passion. Yung Baby Tate, the 22-year-old singer, songwriter and rapper out of Decatur, Ga. had a different experience, crafting her musical style from early on. Between playing the piano when she was 10, singing in her church's choir, going to performing arts schools and making up jingles for fun with her mother, Tate was surrounded by artistry she was a kid.
By 13, Tate was producing her own beats, armed only with her GarageBand app. She dropped ROYGBIV in 2015, playing on the colors in the spectrum of visible light. Her latest project, Girls, is an exploration of the many facets of being a woman, rife with charm and honesty that permeates through every song.
Learn how Yung Baby Tate did it all on her own in XXL's The Break.
Age: 22
Hometown: Decatur, Ga.
I grew up listening to: "My mom has always exposed me to a lot of different music. When I'd come up to New Jersey, I'd be listening to the old school like Gladys Knight, Aretha Franklin, Anita Baker, Marvin Gaye, those types of people. But then I also grew up listening to the Atlanta shit—Migos, Future, Gucci Mane. I also really loved CeCe Peniston, Nicki Minaj."
My style’s been compared to: "I don't really pay attention to comparisons that much. I feel like people are ignorant, not in a mean way. They literally just don't know, but what they do know, that's what they'll compare you to, until they know you. I've been compared to like Aaliyah, Missy Elliott, Nicki Minaj, Lady Gaga, Cyndi Lauper, Michael Jackson. And then the up-and-coming female rappers, people have compared me to as well."
My standout records have been: "Definitely 'Bob.' I made 'Bob' off of a meme. It was a meme of Bob The Builder and he had on his construction hat, but it had a Supreme box logo on it and he had the laser eyes. It was like, "Yo, I fuck with the vision, let's build.' I saw that meme and I started writing 'Bob the Builder lookin'-ass nigga,' the whole chorus and part of the first verse. 'Pretty Girl' is an ode to all the Atlanta classics, Fabo, D4L. Shoutout to Atlanta. For some reason, 'Dope D.' The world is raunchy, so they love it. I performed that when I opened up for CupcaKke at CenterStage. The crowd went crazy. They were like 'Yesss! All I wanted was some dick!'"
My most slept-on song is: "I feel like a lot of my songs are really slept-on and people really pay attention to the songs that are so like, 'For real? This the one you like? The one that took me five seconds to make?' I don't even know, I have so many that I feel are slept-on. It's time will come or it won't."
My standout moments have been: "Rolling Loud, A3C, [and] performing on the same stage as Trina. I saw her at Rolling Loud Miami. It was nuts."
Most people don’t know: "I make all of my beats—I'm fully creating everything that I do. I'm really, really talented. I'm not just some little popped-up, popcorn rapper. I don't consider myself a rapper—I'm a singer first, then a producer, then a songwriter and then a rapper. Because I feel like when I'm songwriting, it's super easy to write a rap. You don't have to find a melody to that. You just gotta get a cadence. I'm built for this, I'm made for this and I'm trained for this."
I’m going to blow up because: "Because what God has for me, is for me, period. I don't think that, not to get too spiritual, he wouldn't have brought me this far to leave me. You just gotta keep walking that path, and if your meant to quote unquote "blow up," I feel like I've blown up already, from where I've come from, you just have to be grateful for what you have and what you've been given and the opportunities that come, and how far you can keep taking it."
I’m going to be the next: "Biggest superstar ever."
Follow Yung Baby Tate on Instagram and SoundCloud
Standouts:
Girls
"Bob"
"Pretty Girl"
"That Girl"
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