Young Goldie (@IamYoungGoldie), a teenage star-in-the-making, is looking to put a new shine on the city and make the world think differently about the place he calls home.
Whether it's in fictional dramas like The Wire or real life news coverage from CNN, the city of Baltimore, Maryland is usually shown to be overcast with clouds of gloom. But now, those clouds may finally have a silver lining. Or better yet, a golden one.
Known as the crab capital of the world, Goldie faced crabs in a figurative sense as he struggled to get out of the barrel that is Baltimore's West side. Witnessing first hand the ills of drugs, poverty and even seeing people die right in front of him, Goldie decided at a young age that he wanted his story to be different.
"The struggle was my motivation to do better," says the rapper who learned much of his discipline from boxing in his spare time. "I want to be somewhere in life."
Rapping since the age of four, Young Goldie realized that music could be his ticket out of the 'hood when he met fellow Baltimore-natives singer/songwriter Mario and rapper King Los. Hearing encouraging words from artists who emerged from the same streets he was looking to escape from motivated him to follow in their footsteps and eventually leave his own.
"After meeting them, I started making my own videos, flyers and throwing parties to promote myself and my music," he says. "No one helped me but my mother."
His mother's helping hand led to his music catching the ear of music industry veteran Tony Austin. After she played some music for Austin, a former Def Jam A&R, who has made it his priority to grow Baltimore's presence in Hip Hop, he jumped at the chance to sign Goldie to his Austin Music Group imprint.
"He has that 'it' factor," says Austin who has worked with the likes of DMX and Russell Simmons. "When I seen the kid, I knew he was superstar. I feel like Quincy Jones when he discovered Michael Jackson. I feel like this kid is amazing. We haven't seen an artist do what he does in a very long time."
AustinMusicGroup, BreezySays, CRDJS, Checks, CoreDjs, PromoVatican, Single, TeamBiggaRankin, TonyNeal, YoungGoldie
Citing Meek Mill and Chris Brown as some of his main influences, Goldie offers a combination of reality rap and charisma that has seen him featured on Hotnewhiphop.com and CNN. His current single "No Problems" is rapidly becoming a city-wide anthem that has him on his way to becoming everything that his name represents.
"The name comes from kingdom thinking," he says. "I think I'm the best at what I do."
Connect w/ Young Goldie
IG @younggoldie
Twitter @iamyounggoldie
https://www.youtube.com/user/YoungGoldieVEVO
http://www.vevo.com/artist/young-goldie
