“A lot of people want to live the beach boy lifestyle…”
Yung Pinch is 19 years old and done with high school. He’s a Huntington Beach native with a long wavy mane of hair that swims far past his shoulders like a cloak. He talks quietly, slow, and smooth, with the same laid back SoCal drawl you hear on his mixtapes when he sings and/or raps. He is a skilled lyricist with introspective tracks (check out “Look Like”), but it’s that paired with his voice that makes Pinch something unique. His flow is calm and relaxed, and he bends notes like butter particularly at the ends of bars like a trained singer. But it’s rougher. And it works. You could almost compare his singing style to that of Rae Sremmurd if they would calm down a little bit, and his rap style to Post Malone but with more elegance, grace, and mystery. Upon first listen you might not think it, but Yung Pinch’s music does come from somewhere deeper than a quest for chains, cars and cash. There’s more to the story than meets the eye with Yung Pinch…
With so much music coming out of LA, most people associate the SoCal rap culture directly with LA. But his home of Bluntington Beach as they call it is what created Yung Pinch: The New Beach Boy.
“A lot of people gravitate towards LA instantly but I chill on my own thing. The 714 (Huntington Beach) has influenced me way more than LA. LA is far. I still listen to LA culture music. Only time I started coming to la was going to the studio. The 714 - it’s unique..”
For those whose January’s are full of ice and misery and don't know, Huntington Beach is one of the largest coastal cities in southern California about an hour south (or more if the traffic fucks you) of LA. It has a 9.5 mile stretch of beach which naturally breeds a flavorful surf culture.
Pinch is rooted in this world and it oozes out of everything he puts out. His videos feature young kids in flip flops, shorts and shades, smoking weed, partying, and generally enjoying their existence, draped in sunshine. His biggest video, “Rock With Us,” has over 1.4 million views on YouTube and counting, and got remixed by rapper/singer/product Blackbear, who co-wrote Justin Bieber’s platinum pop track “Boyfriend.” This collaboration ultimately resulted in Yung Pinch’s first tour as direct support for Blackbear.
“That’s the homie (Blackbear). He heard "Rock With Us" from a friend and then reached out to me to remix it. Surprisingly, I woke up the next morning tagged in a tweet (from Blackbear) which announced the release of the remix. After that we linked up a few times and we kicked it. And then a week before (Blackbear’s Over You) tour, I told him we were gonna be in New York. He told me if we met up we would do the whole tour.”
Obviously, paths crossed. Now for Pinch its one tour down, many more to go. With high school behind him and a wave underneath him, Yung Pinch is swimming confidently in his lane and is wading his way into the music industry. Like a true beach boy, he is patient, and is approaching the next stage of his career with the same quiet focus that got him here in the first place.
“I’m dropping projects where I'm talking about a lot of things that mean a lot to me and people are gravitating to it. It’s crazy to see how quickly things have grown in a year. So I don’t think I'm gonna change my approach at all. I’m gonna keep being myself, keep making good music, (and) put my feet into the industry one step at a time.”
Last year on Valentine’s Day, Pinch released his EP 4EVERHEARTBROKE. This year, he follows up on the same day with 4EVERHEARTBROKE 2. Inspired by the woes of an ex lover (do I even need to say more?) 4EVERHEARTBROKE 2 is an amazing 4 track EP with more soulful SoCal drawl, and 2 very dope edits of Red Hot Chili Peppers and Weezer tracks. In an ocean of new wave hip hop artists that rise and fall like the tides, Yung Pinch is definitely worth your time to check out.
Check out his new EP 4EVERHEARTBROKE 2, as well as his mixtape 714EVER below: