‘It Takes a Village’ — ImYoungWorld Talks New Album, Family and Buffalo

ImYoungWorld (Photo Provided)

IMYOUNGWORLD lives these days in Atlanta but as his career flourishes, Buffalo continues to play a big part of who the 28-year-old rapper is.

Fresh from dropping his new LP ‘It Takes a Village’ — a follow up to his 2022 album, ‘Bleu,’ — the lyrically gifted artist spoke recently to 1120 Press about the new record released by Black Soprano Family, the label and collective headed by Benny the Butcher, the famed rapper and icon of the Buffalo hip-hop scene.

ImYoungWorld explained the two hues adorning the album art — red and yellow — are his high school colors. He was a suburban kid with inner city experiences, noting he was from a family in which his father was incarcerated. Still, he said, his parents’ aim was always to provide him with the choices and opportunities they didn’t have.

“I’m not one to glorify anything, but I do speak about it because I think it’s good for people to know the perspective that I have,” he said of his father’s drug dealing. “I’m a testament of having a choice. You can have success and have a good time but do the right things. You don’t have to go on a negative road.

“I think it’s important, especially for the younger generation, that we give them perspective. You can attain the things you want in a safe way. You don’t have to be doing all these things that make you uncomfortable. I personally wasn’t comfortable doing some things. Street stuff. (But) I understand that my family had to do some things to come up … and I did talk to my pops. He did it because it was important so he could put his family in the position where they didn’t have to do any of those things. I find that to be very noble.”

As to living in the “Ruff Buff,” ImYoungWorld said he misses the people. They’re “one of a kind,” he said, and the community “is like no other.”

“You get that grind in you. You learn how to grind. In my experience, if you can get something to happen there, you’re doing something right, because you really are making bread out of crumbs,” he said. “It creates hardworking people. You won’t ever out-work people from Buffalo.”

It Takes a Village (Photo Provided)

As ImYoungWorld readies to embark on an international tour to promote of his new album, he also works diligently at staying in touch with his fans, giving advice, connecting with them and promoting his message of “It Takes a Village.”

“Nobody ever comes up alone,” ImYoungWorld said. “I’m building something right now — a literal village of people that we all convene on, bounce ideas off of, speak to each other and have resources for people who feel like they might not have a community.

“If you’re a fan of mine, a supporter of mine, you can join this community. I call it ‘The Village.’ You can literally reach out and get help with anything that you need. It’s just being able to go into Discord and type in, ‘I’m going through this right now.’ To have someone to speak to,” he said. “And that’s just an easy segue into helping each other out. Anybody that comes across my music and is interested in it, I want to be able to help them at any given time.”

ImYoungWorld said he will be coming back to Buffalo where he’ll be giving back to his community by playing a show inspired by his brother who lives with autism.

“It’s going to be really intimate,” he said. “We’re going to do all-inclusive performances for the autistic community. You don’t ever want to exclude anyone from an experience you can provide. It’s about finding a way to accommodate anyone who wants to be a part of The Village and having specific shows where there’s not going to be a crazy light show. It’s going to be a real intimate experience.”

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