With a more than a pinch of Bronx grit and an aggressive delivery loud enough to wake anyone sleeping on him, “OMG,” the new track from rapper YONAS dropping today (Feb. 21), is a not just his new single. It’s a declaration that this New York City rapper is not to be trifled with. Nor is he to be underestimated. Starting off as a banger that’s going to be all up in the club this year (“Woah, shorty drop it like she spilt somethin’ / Started from the bottom then I built somethin’” he raps), the song pulls a 180 three-quarters of the way through. Suddenly, the tougher-than-leather production drops out for a poppy beat. Before you can say “Oh My God,” the first beat returns and suddenly, YONAS is your favorite rapper.
“This song is me reminding people not to put me in a box,” YONAS tells HollywoodLife, explaining the change-up that happens on the track. “Just because I make music that has a deeper message buried into infectious pop melodies, doesn’t mean I don’t also appreciate the more provocative and aggressive tone in hip hop. My foundation is built on free-styling at house parties in the projects, and that’ll never subside.”
YONAS may be your favorite rapper that, as he says to HollywoodLife, has yet to have his “major blow-up yet.” Having worked with everyone from Kendrick Lamar to Logic to Schoolboy Q, YONAS has made a name for himself across platforms – and across continents. He’s racked up over 500 million streams and has toured throughout the world (he just returned to the states from his second headlining European tour.) Remarkably, he’s done this while all on his own. “I recently realized that this next EP will be the ninth independently released project of my career!” he tells us. “And I still haven’t had my major blow-up yet. When this movement finally takes off, there’s gonna be a lot of music for people to discover, which I think is going to be a big reason for us building more fans and momentum across the world.
“I hope to be an example that even without any major machine or major label behind an artist’s career,” he adds. “We should always put out quality content and build a legacy for that day that one song takes off.” For those who want to keep track of YONAS and not miss out when that “major blow-up” happens, they can subscribe to his new YouTube series.
“I’m starting a new Vlog series called ‘Tour Life’ to help expose a lot of the things I’ve learned on my journey so far,” he says, “to hopefully help up-and-coming artists in some way navigate their own destiny.”