 Hey guys so we on a new segment talk of the town today we have a special guest Yifani How you doing? I'm good how are you? I'm doing well Okay so um so tell us a little bit about the history of your name like why did you pick that to be your artist name? Oh man um so my name is Yifani Chuku it means nothing is impossible with God and um I see that a lot of artists y'all like tend to pick a gangster or an image that they would like to portray and then they add that into the artist's tree or they raps and whatnot when most real motherfuckers come out as themselves you know what I'm saying like that's who I portray I portray myself and iffy baby everybody think it's iffy but it's like no I'm not iffy my name is Yifani Chuku it means this but and for sure you know what I'm saying it's iffy yeah I can get iffy So does that get annoying and get complicated like when you meet a new artist? It does it does I said yeah so you feel like the music makes up for all that though? Yeah for sure okay all right so tell us like how you got into music um I knew a couple people already in the industry and um it just fell on my lap so I ended up talking to a couple dudes and they sent me to Atlanta and Miami and now we're in New York and it just you know it started just falling along with the plans all right so do you remember that first studio session when you record that first song? Oh yeah the first studio was crazy um that it was um it was out Baltimore shout out to KP he did some things early in his career with um some niggas but whatever that studio was super crazy it was uh uh Sony 800 so that's the same uh microphone that JZ used and it was like a really big studio it was really cool okay yeah so that was your first studio session ever? I mean my first studio session when trying to take it. Trying to be serious being serious okay cool so like when since that was like one of the first times you know it was taking it serious being in the big studio was that motivational did you feel pressured did you like know like yes I really want to do this moving forward like it was it was motivational but then at the same time there was pressure because it was like now you gotta put out something for people to like and everybody ain't gonna like anything you put out and curate in your music and sound so that motherfuckers could like what you I could cuss right yeah yeah so yeah so uh motherfuckers could like you know your track that's shit hard you know like you you you're putting your stuff out so people could judge it you know so yeah so so you always feel pressured when recording songs or you feel like you don't build your confidence? Nah I built my confidence enough now where I'm like like I got studios they where I go so even like last night I was in the studio so I just I get in I got a process that I just you know I do and I just just stick to my process and just keep it push okay okay so what's that process like let us know like what is it like in a studio like how do you get in in your bag to record? I probably like smoke a blunt I let the beat run for a minute okay I go through what I've written before or whatever I'm about to come up with now and then I let it run and I just like keep practicing it and let it run and then I'll just be smoking I just get up and I go in the booth so it's like you you self-motivate I'd be like yo my friends gotta be there gotta be dark yeah so everybody yeah I'm not super like that having 50 niggas in the studio and shit you know what I'm saying but some people are like that you know so so you know you can get in your own bag okay that's cool that's cool so um so who is you listening to growing up like who's some people that inspired you and flow to music? Um but for real till I got into music I always like Jay-Z okay that nigga always been like the top tier rapper to me okay that I'm like you know we from Africa and shit so he's like man he cool I wouldn't be like that guy and shit like that and it's how he moved with the culture okay so it's the music or it's the way he handle business so it's everything overall it's the thing is both it's the the the ability to handle both and you know just stand out in those aspects okay okay so what's like something on your bucket list what's something like yo I gotta accomplish this while being an artist um damn it's a lot I mean I already did one so I know I'm uh uh it's the streams I was like man I'm gonna get over a hundred thousand streams and I already you know say that's like been accomplished so check one so so I'm like all right I want a hundred million streams but then that's like something that we could work towards like a Grammy or like some awards from some some some some you know some award shows like oh he's check him out he's dope you know come do some shows with y'all okay so so getting those awards getting that recognition for your music and people loving and appreciating right right right and try and do something positive too that's what I heard we got um give back try to do some positivity shit so I've been trying to think of things I could do to give back you know what I'm saying so so any plans you know Christmas coming things give or come in you want to do some give back stuff um or you don't know yet I mean we're always doing giveaways though yeah so that's not an issue our niggas always doing the giveaways but like come Christmas Thanksgiving we'll definitely think of something that we could uh yeah okay okay okay so you got a record with shy good and shy yeah yeah let's get into that how did you how did that collab come about um well from the same city so I know a shy manager through the streets and shit so I hit him up and he put him on a track and me then I already linked with 808 so they always send me beats and whatnot so that's nothing and uh yeah it was just in the strip club and we already put the hook down then we went back from the club to the studio to drop the drink and then we hit them niggas up and then there was like oh yeah we're over here y'all pull up with a hard drive and let's lock in okay yeah okay so y'all got y'all did a couple tracks so y'all just locked in on this one just did this drink right okay okay okay so who's um so who else are you listening to from DC like who's some artists out there that's buzzing um I fought with 3o you know saying 3o and probably like big flop to meet them niggas um I'm buzzing right now and you know you got uh you got no savage you know saying got IDK you know saying you got yeah okay IDK in fact I'm not know they're from DC I'm in tune though that's not crazy I know you not man I know who no savage is in I know who IDK is all right I know that's from DC though area I'm thinking everybody's from Detroit I don't know why no no no all right so um so all right so in DC right it's like a meme going around of like the Mount Rushmore and the music Mount Rushmore so DC had a music Mount Rushmore who would be like the four artists on there for real for real I don't think it would be any of the the rappers will probably like go go artists for real if the if DC people would have picked you know I'm saying it'd probably be like Chuck Brown and and well no like rappers rappers I mean if you were talking about Mount Rushmore like of music impact that's what I'm saying the city like that like that rapper wise damn like it'll be I mean rapper wise don't say that you got a real real dope there that impact the whole city the city of Detroit yes I mean I keep saying Detroit DC the city of DC it'll be a couple niggas I'll say shout definitely make make him up there because he did he did a he did a lot for the city you know what I'm saying and um like Wale Wale still going for the city okay you know what I'm saying that's a good one um who else is all right if you can't think of the other two I'm just like you know I like to ask that question see who you feel influenced your city all right um I'll probably put on for our logic he did a lot influence for the other side of the culture all right and one more if you could think of one more um he did um it's a hard question it's cool it's cool it's a hard question to let the people decide who the third one yeah you gotta let the I'm gonna that's a good question I'm gonna actually ask that on Twitter be like yo who y'all think the Mount Rushmore or the DMV music scene should be like who are the the top yo DMV has the news yeah that's a big big big uh drink yo yeah you know what I'm saying fact so um so out of all the music you made so far what's your favorite song man honestly it's this one right now this one yeah this one right here this one it's like because when I first came out we're doing a lot of trying to get on the radio and shit like I wasn't understanding my style and once I started understanding my style I kind of got away from a certain type of people and I started like moving in a certain you know crowd and I started understanding the type of music I need to make to just you know I don't gotta really follow nobody's style I just fuck on my own shit and just gravitate towards my crowd and that's when I started making the music that I like like I like going to the club so I like making club music okay and then sometimes uh niggas be wanting you to make you know like top 40 songs and shit because you got music execs in your ears you know what I'm saying so the creative process kind of gets gotta be versatile right so you gotta you know get to your creative process right now I like my creative process because there's nobody in my air when I submit they you know they're all these the singles we like okay and stuff like that okay so you got full creative control yeah okay yeah for sure so what's one song you made that's out right now that you feel like it's underrated that you feel like it's slept on that you feel like people gotta really listen to to to get me oh you got good questions oh thank you um um all right so this project trap star I was just talking about kp there you go right there kp shout out to kp we recorded a kp studio yeah this whole album and there's some songs on that album my fellas if that were just underrated like bar for bar you feel me like when I'm like oh because uh it's called thing of ours so that's one of my favorite songs on the trap star album okay it's called thing of ours and that drink it's like bar for bars like oh yeah it's shit hard especially the second verse you know what I'm saying talking about if I if I were to leave the game and never come back like this thing it was real yeah yeah yeah all right so gotta check that song out people gotta tune into that definitely get a whole different vibe of you so like who would you say is some of your biggest supporters so far like who you've been seeing cheering you on from beginning to end oh you gotta shout out to bui state all my people from bui state and then I went to school we always fuck with me hard so like you know what I'm saying even though I only went there for a year but the people that I know there and all my family and stuff they definitely supported okay okay good so you said on your bucket list to get a Grammy and things like that what's your goal for the end of the year and music um go on the road I mean I'm already gonna do it so but then it's like go on the road and and make it make it count you know like I went on dipset tour but then I understand you know that my first time on the road it's gonna be my second time god willing I can understand how to make it count like how to actually implement going on the road for the career okay so what what what are some struggles you face being an artist from DC tapping into these other cities with so many artists so so I'm not I'm not famous in my hood I'm not popular at all like I'm a real quiet motherfucker young but my hood niggas know me okay I'm not a big show boaty nigga yeah we chillin okay but then as the music came about you know you have to be this popular nigga this super jiggy nigga I'm like dad we can't just be gangsters you know what I'm saying like the fuck nigga why we gotta be dancing and shit so you over the oldest tiktok energy yeah but then now I'm understanding the business aspect of it and being more creative he's like nah you're not a gangster you're an artist I'm like yes I'm an artist you're right I'm very versatile so you gotta get with the creative contents and you gotta get with the with the um with the tiktok saying you gotta get with the young boys with the visuals you know what I'm saying so it's rather you adapt or die so yeah we're adapting and we're trying yeah so you're adapting are you liking the adapting are you still growing on you or uh how you feel about it I love it I love I love the um meeting new people trying to yeah man me and you I was like yo what's your gram I'm fucking with this shit right here because it's rather you going to be out and moving out on the road or you're going to be watching niggas doing it right okay so you you show you down to like go out there experience yeah for sure all right that's that's cool that's cool sure for sure so I was gonna ask you how you feel about the music now but you're saying you're not really into the tiktoks so no so so because because I fought with a lot of young cats and shit like my my young boys and shit that I do got to I was just thinking about the tiktoks on this morning he's like yo this your tiktok song it's called hit it you feel me and I'm like now I need to push that dream I I was just talking to him like yo we need to get the uh the tiktok song going and shit you feel me because it's just part of the culture so I'm trying to be an influence on the culture but not take away from like my masculinity is okay I'm still able to hear you words but still adjusting to the terms now yeah I like