The music of YoungBoy Never Broke Again is usually associated with a lot of pain. A good chunk of it has come with a lot of anger and violence, lashing out at enemies who wish ill upon him. A lot of it is emotional wailing, reflecting on the ugly and evil that takes place in the world. He’s closer to a Blues artist like Muddy Waters and Buddy Guy than your average mainstream superstar.
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While that raw source of pain cultivated a highly successful career, YoungBoy very rarely talks about his life. He’s extremely averse to the press and very private. But in a candid profile with Billboard in 2023, YoungBoy Never Broke Again opened up about the moments that changed his life for good. One night in prison, he recalled praying to see his grandmother Alice one more time. Then, he remembers feeling her presence hugging him in a moment of darkness.
After she died in 2010, it was NBA YoungBoy’s time getting beaten up in a group home that hardened him from the rest of the world.
YoungBoy Never Broke Again Opens Up About The Heartbreaking Conditions He Grew Up In
“The other boys would put their hands on me, and I would look up like, ‘Why are you hitting me, bro? What’d I do?’” YoungBoy recalled anxiously. “It made me discover another side of me that I never glorified or liked. I found out how to be the person that you don’t want to do that with. [Before then], I never understood all the evilness or wrong because I was showered by so much love from this one person.”
During the profile, Meaghan Garvey noted how she offered to take a break when he was uncontrollably shaking. YoungBoy Never Broke Again declined, noting that the anxiety and the fear wouldn’t ever stop. Then, after taking a moment to collect himself, he expressed how difficult it is for him to interact with others around him. As much success and beauty as he’s seen in the world, YoungBoy knows how grim and ugly it can all get.
“I’m very scared right now. It’s just natural. I’m not big on people. I never knew why once I walked on the stage, I could get it done and leave — but I am terrified of people,” YoungBoy Never Broke Again admitted. “People are cruel. This is a cruel place. You’ve got to be thankful for it. It’s very beautiful, you know? There’s so much you can experience inside of it. But it is a very cruel place. And it’s not my home.”
The post YoungBoy Never Broke Again Candidly Reflects on How Losing His Grandmother Changed Everything in His Life appeared first on VICE.