I met Ezekiel Jones, a.k.a. Yung Mil at a Starbucks on 102nd and Halsey; a decidedly unconventional locale for an interview with an unconventional local hip hop talent.
Fresh off a big video contest win for Def Jam’s Get Schooled and a whirlwind trip to New York, complete with a performance on BET’s 106th and Park, weouthere.net had to sit down with the 18-year-old to hear first-hand about the trip and ask the question on everyone’s mind; “What’s next?”
Yung Mil (Music Is Life) is one of four brothers; all musical. He started making beats at 12 years old and developed his flow and style while freestyling with his brothers in their home studio.
Somewhat of an awkward adolescent, Jones says he found himself socially, through music. As an anime-watching, comic-drawing youngster, he often felt detached from his peers, but gained acceptance and acknowledgement through his music.
I spoke to Yung Mil about the PRTLND scene, realizing dreams and his upcoming projects:
It seems like it’s hard for some artists to get that all sought-after “cosign” from scene heads. You seem to have the backing of many PRTLND heavy-weights, what do you think is more important in achieving this; good music, or a humble personality.
The Cosign is kind of a harder thing to get. I think that people appreciate my flow and lyricism, but I think that remaining humble natured and working hard are more important. I think people can see how hard I’m working at such a young age, and they appreciate it.
Tell our readers about your trip to New York, how this all came about and performing on 106th and Park.
Man, my Mom actually stumbled across the contest (Def Jam’s Get Schooled video contest) online and brought it to my attention. After I did some more research about the competition, it seemed like a perfect opportunity for me with what I was doing already, making music and videos.
From there, I just wrote a song about reaching for your goals and going for your dreams. It’s not really a song just about education, but also about just going for what you believe in.
I found out that I won, and man, I had that moment in New York where I’m like, “Wow bro, I’m in New York City for Music, man – looking up at buildings that are three times as high as in PRTLND, it was incredible.”
The meeting with Russell was crazy. I was up in the big office, seeing the people that I’ve seen on the reality t.v. show, and we chopped it up for a good 20 minutes. They asked me all about my music and interests and I was just soaking up the wisdom.”
Hitting NY is a major move, congrats on that bro. With such an incredible opportunity, what’s on deck for Yung Mil?
Man, I’ve got the new mix tape coming out Wild Fyre later this summer. I’ve got production from Stewart Villain, OMGfreshB_PM and some other dudes I’ve met through Twitter and stuff.
I have a video for a new song called “Bring It Home” that’s all about my trip to NY and coming back to PRTLND that will be coming out in the next couple of weeks and I have a new full-length album coming out this fall that I’m doing most of the production for. We shot a lot of the footage for that in New York while we were out there.
Also, we have the Up and Over tour going on starting in August, where we travel to different schools along the West Coast and speak with kids about overcoming obstacles and tribulations and pursuing their educations.
You can check for Yung Mil updates at www.yungmil.com and make sure to follow him on twitter @YungMil_PM