Catching Up With Kansas City Rapper/ Aspiring Filmmaker Yung Cat

BlackFilmandTV.com recently caught up with Kansas City rapper "Yung Cat" as he continues to make music and albums (Only in Killa City Ftj, Vol. 1, Blokk Gang Presents Drilla City, Back Like I Left Somthin, Fat Tone Jr It's Like That, Vol. 2, and Black Balled)

He also turned some of his music into mini-films such as ‘Lay It Down,’ which received around 2.6 million views on YouTube and ‘Run It Up,’ which runs a little over an hour and has racked up over a million views. He also has a web series (Shoot First), which is currently on Season 2. Most of his music falls in the Gangsta Rap genre and are primarily heard on his YouTube channel.

When did you get started directing music videos, and expanding them into smaller films?

Yung Cat: When I was little I used to listen to a lot of like Master P and what he used to do. Plus, a lot of my family were into music. It was always around. My dad used to play Tupac all the time so we had no choice but to listen to music. So me and my brothers started to make our own group. That’s where we went from there. 

Were you good at rapping or did it take some time working on your skills?

Yung Cat: I've never really even thought about that. We just freestyled. Back then they just had to tape it so my brother would make a beat on his chest and I recorded it with the tape player and I would rap. Then when it was time for me to rap, I would beat on my chest so we were just freestyling it back then. We didn't know anything really about writing until we were 14-15. Once we got older, we started taking it seriously. I wrote like my first song when I was like 16.

Writing lyrics is one thing. Then getting it produced and making a track out of it along with the videos is another/ How did that come about? Are you more of a director or a rapper? 

Yung Cat: I really want to just dive right in and do movies. But then again, I got a lot of people who want more music. It's like it's 50-50. I like to go back and forth. Sometimes I'll take a couple days to work on a movie, or write a movie and the next couple of days I do the music or somehow hash it out each day.

With the music that you're putting out, where's the inspiration coming from?

Yung Cat: It’s a lot. I lost a lot of homies that I started with, and that goes back to when I was eight years old. Their deaths is what keeps me going. One just passed away recently. Plus, growing up in shelters and stuff like that, I always wanted to be rich. I have to take care of my momma. There’s a lot of stuff that keeps me going and plus my kids. It’s a lot. 

When did you decide to get behind the camera, start shooting a video and then developing your skills as a director?

Yung Cat: When I noticed that people didn't want to just sit and watch a picture around YouTube anymore. I started reaching out to people looking around for videos, but it was so expensive. It was like $300 to $400 a week and I was young back then. I started teaching myself how to shoot videos. By the time I did my first video, I was using the iPhone 4 and bought a MacBook. That video I shot got 500,000 views. I used to start living off YouTube. I used to stay up till like five in the morning learning stuff off YouTube and Google on how to add effects and other stuff. 

How did the longer videos develop?

Yung Cat: I shot a movie in 2010 but I didn’t know what I was doing so I gave up then. Then some years later with the same iPhone, I shot a whole movie called Lay It Down and it got 2.5 million views. We were just in the hood, just doing stuff together. It was like ten of us outside. I had them split into groups and I shot the film which turned out to be an hour and forty-one minutes. Next thing I know, folks are asking when is part two coming. People were writing comments and hitting me up on Instagram. Once I did part two, then I was asked about a part three. I did that as well. 

What’s the next step?

Yung Cat: I’m trying to go big. I’m still learning stuff from YouTube. What more do I need to make a movie? Eventually, I will have to upgrade and get the big $35,000 cameras and stuff, but right now I just to have work with what I got. I got another movie done now, which is an hour and twenty minutes. Then I have another coming soon, which will be a bit longer. The one I recently dropped is called Up The Score and has a pretty good storyline.