YOUNG KRILLIN invented cloud rap*. In an interview with Stefan Niederwieser, he talks about rap, which inspired him, about honest tracks, about cancer and the best base you can imagine.
How did M1 Ridey come about?
Young Krillin: I know influencer Dave from the Rapper Read Rapper event series, where rap lyrics are interpreted. He then asked me if we could do something together. The beat is from Fid Mella, so maybe it was his idea too. I’ve been approached about this many times by people who know me through this track and had no idea who I am beforehand.
Is the welfare system the best ride?
Young Krillin: Ah, how’s the line? “OG Young Krillin, my game way too tight, my bana san. But my ride is the best you understand, I man the social system has been finessed.” A little fun. Thanks to the social system. Is a great wheelchair!
What are you up to?
Young Krillin: Crack Ignaz and I make new material. From Fid Mella and I’ve had some lying around for a while, but that doesn’t matter, because it’s still awesome stuff. And with Mosch I’ve built a pretty cool friendship too [siehe Album Ziemlich basede Freunde, Anm.]. There are some other people I would like to work with, but catching up on a whole album with a hundred parts from different rappers is extremely tough work.
How did the collaboration with gynecologist conditions?
Young Krillin: That made me very happy. gynecologist was a very inspirational rapper for the same reasons as Moneyboy. Do everything yourself, don’t give a fuck what other people find cool. All that sex rap stuff, that was cool. Lyrically one can of course argue about it, but there are worse things.
Is there?
Young Krillin: A lot worse.
How has your style changed?
Young Krillin: I’ve actually never done the same thing, but always did very different things at the same time. I wanted to be as independent as possible with a lot of references like a patchwork. If you take a track from me, I can break down what it’s based on for each element. I want to juggle everything I like.
What was that before?
Young Krillin: I was interested in these things from Huntsville, Alabama, like these Block Beataz. Souljah Boy made mixtape after mixtape, rapping about new beats, homemade beats, or something cursed. Cool attitude. Asap Rocky, Main Attractionsnaturally Lil B. We often go too The Lean from Sweden have been compared. It was all related in spirit and not normal rap.
There were legendary Facebook– The group.
Young Krillin: Fix. That was funny. We have memes on the account of Hanuschplatzflow made. Much was formulated in such a way that it seemed ironic, but was meant seriously. We screwed other rappers. This post-irony came about through this meme culture on the internet. And that influenced our music and how we presented ourselves on the World Wide Web. That was not conscious, but simply our mindset. You’re online and on Twitter and you’re aware of that.
“That was funny. beef!”
How did you Hanuschplatzflowdie Berg Money Gang and the Swag Mob behave towards each other?
Young Krillin: Hanuschplatzflow was our circle of friends. There was a blog that was named after a track by Drexor was called. Later other people joined because of the music. BMG was founded by Coaster Mob from southern Germany. Money Boy and the Swag Mob were more the enemy group. That was funny. beef! For some reason they felt threatened because they weren’t the only ones anymore. At concerts by Moneyboy did they join a choir Fuck BMG and made diss videos. This that. I was cool with Money Boy. But there was a pretty toxic community around it.
“I know people who are already very woke at 18. Unfortunately, I wasn’t like that.”
There have been incidents.
Young Krillin: some! Hip hop in general is a pretty toxic subculture. Of course not all. But there was a lot of shit in that circle as well. I mean stories with groupies and minors. I don’t want anything to do with any of this anymore. At the time, I didn’t really reflect on the implications of that. When you’re older… it took too long for me. I know people who are already very woke at 18. Unfortunately I wasn’t like that. That was the time when the internet desensitized a lot of people and then it became too much.
Why were there so few women in rap?
Young Krillin: All these crews came about through groups of friends. For a long time it was something that only nerds were interested in.
Did you do cloud rap?
Young Krillin: It wasn’t classic hip hop. We had diverse influences and a do-it-yourself attitude. It’s hard to describe. You just feel it. At first it didn’t bother me when other people called it cloud rap. For me, cloud rap was what the Americans do. They were an inspiration for us, but still something different. At some point cloud rap became a much more annoying term here. And now, for me, it’s clearly the German-language thing.
Is cloud rap your baby?
Young Krillin: Cloud rap is my baby, I made that up. [lacht]
Have you always been the funniest of them all?
Young Krillin: I think so. Nobody checks.
How did your alias come about? DJ Crazy Legs?
Young Krillin: Simply because I can’t walk. And it’s funny when they call you Crazy Legs. No idea. [lacht]
Have you been on a Men’s Health cover recently?
Young Krillin: That was from Mob Industries faket, a Viennese fashion label that made a collection for wheelchair users and other people with disabilities. The cover was a promo.
You are open about your cancer diagnosis.
Young Krillin: I’ve always made very honest tracks, but written more poetically about my emotions. If you ask me privately, I’ll make no bones about it. But I didn’t always want to bring it into the music. Now I’m rapping about cancer too.
What is Selfmurk?
Young Krillin: Ah, Crack Ignaz let out a torrent of tweets, something like: To anyone who’s depressed stop it, be strong, you gotta get out of this! That’s why I wrote asking if I should do Selfmurk. He said no. Twitter used to be a little wild west. We talked about how jokes can go too far back then, but it was still pretty cool. It seems to me more and more that there is no longer a healthy mediocrity, either people are super correct or misogynous or Nazis.
You also mentioned fluoxetine there?
Young Krillin: [zögert] Venlafaxine has been a struggle, Oida. This is an antidepressant that I’ve been on for a number of years because I used to not do well and I just couldn’t get off it. The withdrawal symptoms are bad. I didn’t want to get stuck on that. It was not easy. Now I’m gone thanks to fluoxetine. And hopefully I’ll be away from it all soon.
And Cockta?
Young Krillin: Great youth drink. It was an American rap thing to put something like that on an album cover. I like colours, logos, designs, also from advertising. I find that aesthetically pleasing.
Are you well known in Salzburg?
Young Krillin: Already.
Is Heinz Fischer for the common photo approached you?
Young Krillin: It was on the Salzach. I don’t know why he was there. I just drove over to him.
When will Salzburg finally erect a statue for Young Krillin?
Young Krillin: It’s about time, I think. There are already so many by Mozart, you could really swap one for me.
Thank you for the interview!
Stefan Niederwieser
“Session04” by Young Krillin & Mosch will be released on April 21, 2023.
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*Cloud rap is now primarily understood as a German-speaking phenomenon. Wikipedia says: “The 2009 album 6 Kiss by the American rapper Lil B was a style-defining influence.” Three years later, around the same time, the Sad Boys in Sweden were founded around Yung Lean and the Hanuschplatzflow collective in Salzburg. This came out in May 2012 Swag tape by Crack Ignaz and in December 2012 the sampler “Gwantanomo Vol.1” by Young Krillin. Yung Lean’s earliest releases came later.
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Links:
Young Krillin (bandcamp)
Young Krillin (Instagram)
Young Krillin (Twitter)
Young Krillin (Youtube)
Mob Industries