Hip-Hop Lives Here
Hip-Hop Lives Here
Share
JOLIET, Ill. (September 20, 2024) – When a guy spends his entire young life growing up in rough surroundings and looking in the eye at tough situations every day, he needs a positive outlet to release his feelings and frustrations.
For Michael (“Wachtel”) Barnes, that outlet is rap music.
Today, Wachtel is releasing the new single “Nutball” through his own independent record label, Yungns Entertainment.
Wachtel describes “Nutball” as him taking all the emotions from what happened in his past that had been building up and what people were saying about him and accepting it to become stronger in the long run.
“In life, we go through so much - and for a period of time it beats us up inside until we can develop the ability to embrace it,” he said. “In my case, what once was holding me hostage is now working for me to my ultimate advantage.”
Then he said with a smile: “Okay, so if you call me a nutball and that’s what you think I am, then I’m going to be the best.”
Wachtel grew up in Joliet, Ill., a rough town and home of the Stateville Correctional Center where his father served time when he was a child and while the family struggled financially.
With a dream to get his family out of poverty by any means possible, Wachtel was pulled to the streets, surrounded by gangs, drugs and guns – finding himself trapped in a no-win situation.
As he fought against the odds from the community and the law, he released his pain and his past into his music.
Wachtel said his music is inspired to a certain extent by Tupac. In particular, he said he likes the strong presence that the rapper continues to have and how he used his platform to speak out on issues that were important to him.
In addition, he said he admires JAY-Z for the way he conducts his business and pushes forward, regardless of whatever challenges or obstacles he may face.
“I guess you could say I look up to him as sort of a ‘superstar hero,’” Wachtel said. “And I don’t mind saying that because we all need heroes to look up to in life.”
With ambition and determination similar to JAY-Z, Wachtel created Yungns Entertainment as an independent record label in 2017. After this focus on putting out his own music, Wachtel said he plans on releasing music with other local artists, performing live shows, and building the brand with custom clothing and accessories.
“By choosing that name with its unique spelling, I want to create a home for the young – those that have been underestimated and are now striking back against the status quo,” he said. “We’re not accepting it anymore. It’s not a political thing, but rather just the openness of being who we truly are.”
TikTok
Instagram
Facebook
YouTube
Spotify
Share
Advertisement
Tired? Fed up? Don’t want to take any more BS? From anybody? Take a listen to “Shake Down,” the latest single from KiKey Da Weirdo.
It is an in-your-face, sexually explicit hip-hop challenge to put up, shut up and leave me the hell alone.
Or just listen because you want to hear a hard-charging, inventively rhymed rap monologue from a talented new artist, set to a chiming melody and a beat that alternates hard and soft.
“I was in a New York drill kind of vibe,” said KiKey (pronounced KEEkee). “It’s just me, talking my shit, kind of like the final straw. That’s where the name came from.”
Oh I got you niggas scared by the way I look.
The way I spit. The way I move. The way I got you hooked.
The way I got you studying. Do you like my book?
The way I got you touching it. Can I touch it too?
“It’s like when you’re tired of everybody’s bullshit, basically, and you want to do something about it. You’re just airing everybody out.”
And while the song may sound like it’s aimed at male BS, the message is for men and women.
“It’s like stand up for yourself,” she said. “That’s what it’s giving.”
Being fed up is what led her, in 2020, to turn to music as an artist. She has always loved music, all genres, since the age of 3, but didn’t think of in terms of a career.
Nursing was her first thought, but she realized early that wasn’t for her, but fashion was. She is hair stylist and fashion designer, but now rapper, singer and songwriter come first.
The turning point came when her older sister died, and she was, despite all the people around her, alone in her grief.
“I needed an outlet just to get my anger out, and instead of arguing with people and things like that, fighting, I did it with music. I always loved music.”
One day, freestyling, having fun, she said, and she conceived the idea of writing an entire song, and when she had it, she thought, “You know what? This track — it sounds good.”
In the short time she has been writing and dropping tracks and performing in rap competitions in the upper Midwest, she has developed her own style, “dark nerd,” which she describes as a darkish kind of humor.
“That’s definitely me,” she said. “People could describe me as I don’t really take anything serious, but I do. I just always just look at the brighter side of things, and I think that’s misunderstood.”
In “Shake Down,” it becomes “like a sexy nerd.” An explicitly sexy nerd, issuing explicitly sexual challenges.
“Like you’re not going to think a nerd is going to say anything like this, and it’s also me being playful with my words.”
Her style involves a wide variety of genres, both in the different tracks and sometimes within individual songs.
“I love all types of beats. If you listen to my music, you can probably tell I don’t have just one style. I want to venture out into all genres.”
She raps and she sings. Her music varies in the beats and in the melodies and instrumentation and in the explicitness of her language and subject matter.
But, she says, “It’s all real. It’s all from the perspective of I either went through it, or I’m going through it, or it’s what I’m trying to be. It’s all relevant.”
Her ambition is not small.
“I want to go mainstream. I want to be compared to Michael Jackson. I want people to listen to my music five, 10 years plus and it still sounds fresh.”
To the observation that Michael Jackson is a high bar, she said, “I know. I like a challenge.”
Her motto is “Go big or go home.”
She has about a couple dozen songs out and more coming. She plans to do more singing and create some music for younger teens. “I want to make more appropriate music for the younger kids as well.”
At this stage, she is still developing, putting out music, looking to get established in the business, making contacts, getting known.
“I’m just trying to take it to the next level,” she said. “Get a manager, put myself out there more. That’s my goal. I want to be on all stages.”
Get acquainted with KiKey Da Weirdo and connect on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.
Amazon Music
Apple Music
Spotify
YouTube
Instagram
TikTok
Share
Advertisement
