DGB Exclusive: Grammy Nominated Producer YNG Josh talks producing for Nipsey Hussle, YNW Melly & Victory Lap

Meet YNG Josh! He’s the Producer behind some of your favorite hits and has produced for major powerhouses in the industry such as Nipsey Hussle, YNW Melly, YFN Lucci – just to name a few.

During our interview, the Grammy Nominated producer takes us into depth of how some of his well known projects came about.

Check it out below:


Mikala: I do want to ask, first and foremost, where are you from?

YNG Josh: I’m from Houston, Texas the Northside.

Mikala: YASSSS! I’m from Dallas!

YNG Josh: OOOOO LIT! (Laughs)

Mikala: Who were your influences growing up?

YNG Josh: Man…It’s crazy my Godfather put me on like a lot of music so its like, it ranged from Santana to the Dr. Dre’s and the POP. I can’t even be really specific. I love music. I love music as a whole…I have a lot of influences!

Mikala: Was there anyone in your family with a musical background?

YNG Josh: Well now that I’ve been here for a little bit…I know now that it’s a few people with a musical background but, at the time, I thought I was the one.

Mikala: Just elaborating on that, who is it that you found out had a musical background?

YNG Josh: A couple of my cousin’s on my dad’s side. They just do Gospel Music. I found out one of them… he used to sing for Stevie Wonder and the other one, he was in the industry BIG! That was cool to find out.

Mikala: You know I was reading up on you and saw that you were even active in the church playing drums!

YNG Josh: Yes Ma’m!

Mikala: Did that kind of help with your producing as well?

YNG Josh: Definitely…definitely, growing up in the church from a very young age. Playing drums assisted me in producing, you know, just getting the beats in that type of field.

Mikala:  What were you doing before you made that transition into producing?

YNG Josh: I was playing in some local bands around the city in Houston. Playing drums in the studio a lot and I was apart of a live arrangement. We did a live arrangement to Drake “I’m On One”. It went viral on YouTube, 300k on YouTube!

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Photo Credit: Uknowjwillmadeit

Mikala: Oh WOW, that’s awesome! Now did you know that producing was your calling or did you find out later on?

YNG Josh: I definitely found out later on, later on down the line after being in the studio a lot. You know, coming up with different ideas. People would be like “AYE MAN” You should think about recording more, recording drums more, and it just took off like that!

Mikala:What are some things you did to get your name out there? 

YNG Josh: Uhm, I’m still thinking that I’m getting my name out there (Laughs). I was just apart of a lot of great projects, you know, which turned out to have my name out there a little bit. Like I said, what started first was the viral “I’m On One” video. After that it got the attention of Quincy Combs (P.Diddy’s son). I actually did a track with him as far as just drums, not producing, on the Live arrangements side…so yeah that actually kind of set up everything.

Mikala: Now I know you were talking about working on a lot of great projects with different people so what is your relationship with Teeflii? 

YNG Josh: Aww…man that’s my brother (Laughs)! That’s my brother for sure, that’s my big bro for life! I got a crazy relationship with him. I can’t really say Shaq and Kobe right now but we’re something like it! 

Mikala: Did you help him produce his Mixtapes or Albums?

YNG Josh: I was on A5, I did “Annie are you okay”. I did 7 songs on that project and then all of the other projects that he had put out up until this last project with Dom Kennedy.

Mikala: You know what, I actually have Teeflii on my Soundcloud. I have all of his old songs on my SoundCloud right now! People be sleep man!

YNG Josh: (Laughs) That’s dopeeee! That’s my guy!

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Photo Credit: AdrianHerrera


Mikala: Now you also worked with YNW Melly on Melly vs. Melvin. Can you give a little bit of details on that?

YNG Josh: Yeah! I  moved back to Houston for a bit and I was engineering at a studio in North, Houston. The studio was called 281 studios. It’s one of the best studios in Texas for sure but definitely on the Northside of Houston, I was engineering there.

I got a call at around 2 o’clock in the morning saying: “Hey Josh, you want to come pull up, come work” and they gave me an artist named Melly. I really didn’t know of him at the time. I was just like “okay, I’m pulling up to work!”. I was just supposed to engineer the session but I put some beats on and he got into my sound and we recorded “Adam Sandler”, “Billboards” and “I Ain’t Lying”. 

Mikala: How was it working with Melly? Was he pretty cool?

YNG Josh: He was real chill and laid back, he definitely had a lot of energy, a lot of energy. He’s definitely a special guy! He’s VERY talented and I’m not just saying that just because it’s him. I’ve recorded literally over 500-600 people, so I’ve recorded a lot of people but recording him, it was like perfect damn near! He went into the booth and he pretty much freestyled it and then I arranged it but the freestyle was so dope, you know. It just felt good and we recorded these songs within one hour each!

Mikala: Oh…WOW!

YNG Josh: Really 30 mins each. My job took the longest (Laughs).

Mikala: You also produced on “Victory Lap” which is MAJOR! What was the recording process like recording on “Victory Lap”?

YNG Josh: Really me and my brother Teeflii, our chemistry when we go to the studio is like…aye we don’t give up! For instance, we would never go to the studio and record 3-4 tracks, you know what I mean.

We had the opportunity to go there. We knew that he was working on his album. I wasn’t really focused, you know, I really wasn’t focused on like “THIS IS VICTORY LAP”, “WE’RE WORKING ON VICTORY LAP”…That wasn’t my energy, I was just there trying to vibe have a great time and you know we recorded 5 songs, me and my brother Teeflii.

The 4th song was “Keys to the City” and Nip was like yo “ let’s pull that up right now!”. That’s how that was. We went in the studio, laid 5 joints down, and he picked the fourth one.


Mikala: Working with Nipsey I’m sure the chemistry was amazing. How was he in the studio?

YNG Josh: Man…his energy is always on next level energy for sure. He came in there, he’s real, he’s a real humble guy, real respectful and he’s about his business. I thought he was going to take a long time to write but we recorded the songs, I went to the store to get some backwoods, came back, the hook was laid down. I was like…”Yo, that was fast” (Laughs)!

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Mikala: How did you feel when you found out  that “Victory Lap” was nominated for a Grammy?

YNG Josh: Mannn…It was like a moment of thought like man this is God! God is really working, you know. I started this 10 years ago. I planted my seed 10 years ago.. Now for it to harvest is amazing. That was my very first placement so for that plant to harvest like that and it be Grammy Nominated, it was amazing. It was a blessing!

Mikala: Can I just AMEN on the phone (laughs)

YNG Josh: (Laughs)

YNG Josh: I’m surrounded by some great people right now. I’m learning a lot. 2020 is about to be an amazing!










1 Comment on "DGB Exclusive: Grammy Nominated Producer YNG Josh talks producing for Nipsey Hussle, YNW Melly & Victory Lap"

  1. DeeMan Da Vinci | August 26, 2021 at 10:03 am | Reply

    How much are interviews?

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