Yung Berg – the rapper you love to hate. Over the past few years, the Yung’in has quickly risen to stardom, but what a lot of people don’t know, is that Berg has been putting in work for almost a decade. Once signed to the Chi-City outfit, Infared Music, and later enjoying a brief stint at DMX’s Bloodline Records, Berg is no rookie to the industry. With what appears to be an equal amount of fans and haters, Yung Berg stopped by Fake Shore Drive to chat about his detractors, his history in the industry as well as his upcoming release, Look What You Made Me.
So first off, Berg, are you Jewish?
(Laughs) Nah man, not at all (laughs). Nah, that’s from the Iceberg name from back in the day
So you’re familiar with Fake Shore Drive, right?
Oh hell yeah, I be checkin’ y’all out all the time. I appreciate all the love, and I be seeing what the haters have to say about me in the comments section.
Let’s talk about the history of Iceberg or Yung Berg. I read your various interviews and they all seem to ask you primarily the same questions, so I wanted to change it up a bit, so let’s talk about the past.
Well, I was doing my thing with a label back in the days, Infared Music, that was run by a guy by the name of E. What happened was the CEO of the company tried to put his hands on me on some bullshit or whatever, so I ended up leaving and going to sign with X [DMX’s Bloodline Records]. A producer by the name of Boogz, he was my mentor at the time, he was kind of getting me tight and grooming me as an artist, shout out to Boogz, he really got me ready for my whole Bloodline deal.
Yeah, I heard Boogz used to put tape on the ground to keep you from stepping too close to the mic while you were rapping
Yeah definitely, I remember that shit like it was yesterday, and without that, I wouldn’t be in the place I’m in right now, so it’s all love to that n***a.
So you mentioned your time at Infared Music. I’m sure you recently saw that an act from Infared, the group L.E.P./Bogus Boys, released a Yung Berg diss record.
I used to know these people, but I don’t know who these guys are now, dog. You know what I’m sayin? I know E the leader of their crew, but I don’t got nothing bad to say about them, you know what I’m sayin? Like Count, he cool, but I’m too far up in the clouds to worry about them right now. I got plaques on my walls and these boys haven’t made it past home yet. Like why would you diss me? Y’all supposed to be these street dudes, and you’re worried about little old me (laughs).
So after your stint at Infared you moved over to Bloodline with DMX. What happened with that situation?
Actually, I lost my deal over there because my parents sent me to boot camp, and that’s how it dissolved. I was running around like I was little X at the time, just wild and crazy, so really it was worth it to lose the deal. It set me up for what I am now and made me work a little harder, and let me know not to take shit from people.
Do you still keep in contact with X at all?
(Sarcastic laugh) Ah…nah. I ain’t spoke to X in forever. X gonna be X man. He’s a fool.
One thing I mention on the site a lot is your work ethic. You’re always dropping new videos, mixtapes, songs for the internet, etc. I’ve heard you’re the type of dude who will stand outside of a building, in the freezing cold for hours, just to hope to talk to a certain person who may be in there
After “Sexy Lady” dropped I kind of sat back and watched how a lot of people weren’t taking me serious as a rapper, or a producer or a boss. So I felt that I had to take control and do all of these things myself. So I go out and I shoot my own videos, like the “Do That There” video which I think had something like 5 million views on Worldstarhiphop.com, so now it’s time for me to show off. I’m working with more and more people and am continuously workin’, but now I got my R&B thing crackin and I’m doing like 8 songs a night. You know, dudes are out there doing drugs they’ve never done before trying to do it like me, hoping to inspire them to do it like me (laughs). But really, I’m just focused right now, and I’m trying to put my foot down – R&B, rap. The new single “The Business” is finished it just hit radio last week, and it’s the #1 added song in the country right now. So really, I’m just successful at the moment and I feel like that’s the reason people hate on me so much.
Speaking of hate, you definitely seem to stir up a lot of controversy, not only my site, but basically all over the internet. People seem to either love or love to hate you. What do you have to say to your detractors?
The more you talk, you know what I’m sayin, the better I get. So I ain’t mad at it. The world needs haters, I need haters, and that’s what’s really keeping me going right now. So to all the haters, I love you and I’m going to keep getting money and eventually make you a believer.
Do you think a lot of the hate comes from people in Chicago? Are you working with any Windy City artists at the moment?
Yeah, Cap One, that’s my brother, and that’s the only dude from the Chi that I’m working with. I work with the Blok Boyz, Crucial, my boy Tony Loco, but other than that, that’s it for Chicago. A lot of people are haters in Chicago right now.
So when is the album dropping?
August 12th, it’s called Look What You Made me. The first single is “The Business” with Casha, and the album is just crazy and full of hits. We got Trey Songz, Lloyd, Eve, Collie Buddz, Ray-J, Twista, my big brother Cap One, Hunnit Grand – it’s a movement. We really made a movie with this album and I’m proud of it like it’s my baby – it’s just nonstop hits. And you can tell all the haters on your site that they can suck my DICK. Hardly anyone from Chicago out right now is selling millions of records, and having multiple songs on the radio, and I got my shit poppin’ with NO cosigns. I ain’t got nobody – no Jim Jones, I don’t got no Timbaland, I don’t have nobody holdin’ my hand. It’s just Yung Berg, so I gotta ride my own dick and I’ve been successful. And for all you haters from the Chi on your blog site, you should be ashamed of yourself, you only sitting around hurting yourself. Stop wasting your time worrying about me, go ahead and get out there and get your bars up, and so something constructive.
But anyway, I love your site, and I try to get there all the time because I be seeing a lot of different views and opinions on me.
We definitely support what you have going on, and you’re obviously doing something right. I also think a lot of times people may take your sense of humor the wrong way and take it for pure arrogance or cockiness – kinda of like what happened with the Flo Rida situation
I mean, that whole situation got blown out of proportion; you know what I’m sayin? It wasn’t no disrespect to either one of them [Brisco or Flo Rida], you
know I got love for both of them. I was wrong for what I said, and being the man that I am, I can admit that. But Brisco is also wrong for what he said on the internet – maybe he was just trying to get himself some exposure, but its all love and it is what it is.
What about this 50 Cent situation I’ve been hearing about?
Oh man, 50 is like a mentor to me, and I really get down with dude, you know what I’m sayin’? I’m not gonna get rumors started because “The Business” just went out as the number one added song in the country last week. It was spun 465 times just yesterday, so the record is climbing right now. So I’m just staying positive.
I see you jumped on the whole autotune/vocoder bandwagon with “The Business”
Yeah just a little bit. But man, I was on that before Wayne dropped “Lollipop” and stuff. I was singing on a lot of my records, and when me and Wayne recorded the song together, we admitted that we were both on our singing shit right now, so there it is.
Any last words for the readers?
Chicago let’s stick together – let’s really make it happen. You can be a superstar, you can make it happen! You just gotta do your research! Look what I’ve done and continue to do for the city everyday, ya dig?
You are a bitch and your music sucks dick.
YB is the most underrated and the most talented artist that i know , i’m from France and all my friends listen YB in a party or car agree with that shit . You a real killer and i hope u’ll continue to drop mixtapes and vidéo for a long time