The Organic Ascension of Yung Bans
Written by Greg Harris // Photos by Junya
The year of 2017 has been one where the music has seen so many grasroots ways of marketing artists, and due to these methods of exposing these artists on multiple platforms they've benefitted in the matter of being able to reach a large scale of different demographics. You've seen this with the ascension of Lil Uzi Vert, Playboi Carti, XXXtentacion, Ski Mask the Slump God, Post Malone, and others. Through the avenue of Soundcloud and other services, emerging artists such as Yung Bans is one of the key figures of the next class of rappers who are going to make a huge splash in the industry in 2018.
For those of you that are reading this and think the name seems familiar, well you may be familiar with some of his singles such as "4tspoon" featuring Playboi Carti, and some of his other loose singles such as "Yea" and "Right Through You". Aside from these singles, Bans has made a name for himself in the industry in a fashion where he sticks out more than his peers. In a sense, the quality of the music he produces is of greater content and it's not filled with simple ballads about Xans, popping different shawties, and ultimately wasting time and space during the duration of songs. The description of Bans sound is the battle cry for the young street soldier that hails from the South. The same feeling when the trap heard the off the wall vocabulary of Gucci Mane when he went on his mixtape run in the mid-2000s, the same feeling when Chief Keef broke boundaries with his projects after Finally Rich, the same feeling when Young Thug first released 1017 Thug under Brick Squad, Yung Bans embodies in his direction of his music.
The raw elements mixed with the polished undertones he carries pushes him beyond the spectacle of being another "Soundcloud" rapper, instead, he finds himself as a difference maker for young artists who have the odds against them in the streets and translate it in his music. The odd thing about it is that he doesn't only resonate with the hood but his sound crossover to mainstream demographics as well. For example, the marketing rollout for his hit single, "Dresser" was a process that unprecedented to say the least.
His managers, Lil Jake and Mateo Dorado schemed a way for fans to get engaged with previews of his music and pick their favorites from the batch, Dresser being one of those among of the collection. Throughout that time, fans and supporters were posting the preview of the song before it even released and it carried this heavy undertone of how big the single was going to be. It only elevated once the song released, the record became so popular on an independent level that fans created a petition for "Dresser" to become the National Anthem.
"Bans is a growing artist who's hitting a million views on a video in under two months and his material is not reflecting an age of people who are putting out mediocre music. It's the silver lining of positivity, reality, and progression he delivers in his lyrics and given the path that he's on, it's only a matter of time until his message reaches everyone's playlist. "
Moments such as that and receiving co-signs from Breezy of Yo Gotti's CMG camp, Hotnewhiphop, and The Fader, collaborating with OriginalFani + Carrots, making a song with Young Lean, performing at Day n Night in the Bay, and more all propelled Bans' audience to grow (while being on house arrest for an alleged burglary + murder charge).
When brought up in conversation, the mystic approach that Bans has taken throughout the time he's been out is close to anomaly given the content of his music he's pushing out and the time frame that he's releasing music. It's almost like blending the stories of Keef and Thug into one, but more modernized and having much more of an elastic sound than the two artists mentioned prior in their earlier days.
If listeners see it now or they recognize during the time where his rise is more prominent, Bans is a growing artist who's hitting a million views on a video in under two months and his material is not reflecting an age of people who are putting out mediocre music. It's the silver lining of positivity, reality, and progression he delivers in his lyrics and given the path that he's on, it's only a matter of time until his message reaches everyone's playlist.
Listen to his self-titled EPs below, and follow him here.