We recently connected with Lil Yoshii and have shared our conversation below.
Lil, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.
Even though my latest project ”Ecstasy Heartbreak Mixtape” is my first official album thats on all platforms ”Scallywag” most definitely is the most meaningful project to me. It dropped right before summer 2019 giving off a fun groovy summer vibe. The album was recorded and produced in 2 days, a whole 17 tracks. It’s a Dallas underground gem only out on a few platforms…. for now. Life was good when this album dropped you can feel the energy! Late summer nights, lake parties, hood chicks twerking at house parties screaming ”aye” this tape gives you all of that. The whole album is full of none stop bangers and ”Bafoon” thats blown up on youtube, was the last track recorded on the album. I remember producing the beat in 30 minutes and recording all night. It was 10pm when i started recording and 8am when i was done. I recorded the song over and over all night until the sun came up. My homegirl who was sleep in the studio woke up and told me it sounds good just save it and boom ”Bafoon” was recorded. If i wasn’t such a perfectionist i could of recorded it in one take. Everything was so chill with this project came out though. Listening to the album will give you a worry free good summer day feeling. I had multiple features with out of town artist. I had just got out the military and just got use to the civilian life. For people that don’t know it’s hard to transition from a soldier to a civilian. I went to Iraq came back, got out the military medically, and was just enjoying my time back home with friends and family. Summer 2019 was definitely one of the best times in my life. The album was a success it showed me that i have a higher purpose than just being in military. Everyone in the military would laugh joke about my music cause it was different but after i was leaving everyone had faith and could see the bigger picture…. my vision.
Lil, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
When i was a kid i would always have chill beats playing in my head. I would make beats with my mouth ”beat boxing” and always jam out vibing. Once i got a hold of this hacked fl studio from this cool nerd in high school i started making beats none stop. I started making money selling beats to my friends and other random artist. I always free-styled but i had fun making instrumentals i never stopped producing. I instantly knew i had a passion for music and started playing the electric guitar. My friends would pull up on me everyday to smoke and already be ready to freestyle to some hot new wavey instrumentals. I always had the busted down home studio but once i got the chance i went to my favorite store ”guitar center” and got the best quality equipment. I started charging people to use my studio and mixing peoples vocals. One day i was producing a beat in the back of my friends car in east Dallas when a huge rock flew threw the back window. Everyone stopped free-styling when they seen my friends gf pull up with drama. I started getting bored of people hopping on my beats and i could rap to my beats with a new flow no one could match. I then started doing music for fun just for the pure enjoyment. I tried to push the boundary of whats normal and make a new genre. I had bought a camera and started having even more fun. I was focus and worked everyday pushing my wave. I knew i was a hit when people would start to steal my flow (rapping style). I started my own record label and had artist who used my studio. Before i had videographers shooting my videos i would make everything happen myself. I edited my own music videos. I produced my own beats, mixed my own vocals, shot and edited my video, posted and did promo for the project. I started investing in myself and things started taking off from there. I did my first show ”Drug Train” in downtown Dallas deep ellum area and rocked out. I loved being on stage jamming and everyone dancing to my music. I looked in the crowd and everyone was having a good time i would like to get booked more for shows. I had my t-shirts for my ”Scallywag” album and they were and instant hit.. Those shirts were sent across the world. Im dropping more clothes soon. I love my fans so much i did a live raffle and gave a couple shirts out for free. People sent me pictures of them rocking the ”yoshii” tees. I always stayed focus to the art and just was creative It comes natural for me.
Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?
Just have fun and do what makes you happy. Youll be shocked how better you feel when you not trying to worry to fit in.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Yes my passion for music brazy i wake up everyday driven to drop new mind-altering projects thats going to set new trends.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://open.spotify.com/artist/7LjUhM5Ty119fs9n3CaaOp
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kush_lasagna/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lilyoshiimitsu/
- Twitter: https://mobile.twitter.com/kush_lasagna
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCgBCVz2h7GhWqPbSjYg_J-Q
- Other: https://soundcloud.com/khalil-walker-7 https://mymixtapez.com/artist/58516 https://music.apple.com/us/artist/lil-yoshiimitsu/1608733509
Image Credits
@cum0ne_ for letting me perform at his event and @joelmontfort for footage