YBN Nahmir's Journey from Alabama Baseball to Rap Stardom
YBN Nahmir is a uniquely modern artist. To begin with, Nahmir's energetic flow and production is a melting pot of styles and sounds—the 18-year-old rapper grew up in Alabama, but took his musical cues from Bay Area artists like Mozzy. He gained a following online, but not through streaming services like SoundCloud—Nahmir got his start through gaming, specifically Grand Theft Auto.
In 2014, after enduring consistent shit talk from another player, Nahmir responded with his first song—a diss track about his rival. The rival responded, and then, Nahmir says, "we realized both songs were kind of hard." The two started trading music, and the YBN movement had begun, with Nahmir and the artist now known as YBN Almighty Jay at the forefront. YBN Cordae is next up, and he's already turning heads as a young kid with a veteran's lyricism.
Once Nahmir and Jay had settled their differences, they doubled down on the music. "Rubbin' Off The Paint" was one of the biggest songs of 2017, and at the top of 2018, Nahmir released the video for his followup hit, "Bounce Out With That." The two video have over 200 million views combined, and the artist responsible moved west, where he's now thriving in Los Angeles.
He's one of music's most exciting rising stars, so we decided to explore the paths Nahmir almost took instead. When he wasn't gaming as a kid, Nahmir was on a baseball diamond—a sport he's played since a young age. In this episode of Music Life, we joined Nahmir on the diamond and in the studio to hear about how those two pastimes helped play a role in his current success.
