After more than a year of working on his newest body of work, Youngin True releases his anticipated album, Temporary Forevers.
It goes without saying the artistry in Youngin True’s music has grown since the release of his first project, The Hood Blues EP, in 2016. This new project, much like his EP, comes from his personal life experiences. Though he had already been singing and making music since a child, one of the biggest ones that impacted him was the passing of his mother six years ago.
“She knew I was gonna be something,” True said. “It’s always been deeper than the music. [I] learned that sometimes the things you love the most don’t last forever, you just learn to adjust.”
His experiences led to reflection and growth as he began to find his sound. This culminated in the creation of his own sound, “Hood Blues.” A combination of his experiences coming up in the hood and his adoration of R&B. He said the Hood Blues sound is nostalgic for him with stories of the good and bad in his life.
“It’s the blues,” he said. “Painful and beautiful. A beautiful struggle…I feel like [it’s] the perfect mix between everything I grew up off of. I’m a child of hip-hop, but I love R&B as well.”
Temporary Forevers
After beginning to work on Temporary Forevers, True said he had to re-learn himself and keep growing. One of the aspects of his learning process was learning to produce. Something he said he learned how to do in a month. Peering down the tracklist and credits, it’s clear that True executively produced his album and ultimately had the final say on how it was to sound like. His favorite track happens to be the first song he ever produced, “Spanish Harlem.” He said the song takes him somewhere mysterious. Behind that was “Shady.”
“For a while,” True said. “I felt like I lost myself and I was doing music for the wrong reasons. [I was] trying to prove myself to people that didn’t wanna see me in things that initially weren’t my intent. I had to remember why I started and ‘Shady’ is one of those songs I felt I put my heart on my sleeve [times 2].”
True wants listeners to get the real out of his album.
“Understand that your story is already written,” he said. “You never have to sell yourself short to come up or compromise your morals and values to be accepted. If you stand on something valid and sincere, you will always prevail, [but] it ain’t always easy…never stop showing love.”
Friends
The 18-track album doesn’t come without its own set of features. Local artists Chizz Capo, who just released his own project Don’t Blink, Gio Dee, Ralph Corgain and Prince Smooth all get tapped to appear on the project. As for production, other than True, we see production from Larkin, The Boy, Garrison Ford, Ill Beats, G The Genius, Nick Starr, Leon Lavvish, Yung Tago and Yondo.
“I honed in on my craft and really worked to take my sound to the next level,” True said. “But it’s about everything that has transpired and changed my life since my debut project. I made this one for everything and everybody who’s no longer here with me. I do this for them and for the people that [have] been through some shit.”
