‘Serving Country’

Yung Gravy, a Midwest rap artist, has been delivering quality tunes to the airwaves, characterized by his signature effortless yet addictive flow, since 2016.

The artist, whose given name is Matthew Hauri, returns to the Palouse for the second time in a year with a show Friday during the University of Idaho’s Summer Country Showdown at the ICCU Arena.

Why is Yung Gravy, a guy who made his name in the rap game, on the docket, let alone a headliner, for a marquee country music festival?

He released his first album under the honky-tonk banner, “Serving Country,” earlier this month and has long had a secret sauce for making music outside of hip-hop.
“I’ve always been open to doing anything with my music,” Yung Gravy said, in an email interview. “I did my first country song in 2019 — me and bbno$ make disco trap bangers; I’ve sampled obscure Brazilian jazz. If you’re a real deal artist, nothing is off the table.”

The 28-year-old is fearless when producing his songs, having a wide range of tracks that fall into different subgenres.

In terms of sampling, nothing is off-limits, either.

Hip-hop artists mostly sample songs that fall under the rap umbrella; that’s too boring for “Mr. Clean.”

There are hip-hop elements in Yung Gravy’s work, but what makes him stand out is the mixture of soul and funk he uses, mainly from the 1950s, ’60s and ’70s.
An example of his masterful use of sampling comes from his 2016 hit track “Mr. Clean,” which samples the 1954 song “Mr. Sandman” by the Chordettes.

In the same song, he samples an ice cream tester giving his review of the product.
There’s also a distinctive voice midway through the song saying “holy shi-,” another unique sampling, this time from video game company Epic Games and Digital Extremes.

“Hip-hop wise, I have such a deep admiration for the music,” Yung Gravy said. “I researched the samples and gathered ideas from movies, video game soundtracks, word of mouth, and older women around me and ended up with a plethora of sources to pull from.”

Perhaps one of Yung Gravy’s most successful sampling jobs came in his most-played song to date, 2022’s “Betty (Get Money).”

The first nine seconds are a sample from the now-infamous track “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley.

After Rick-rolling his audience, Yung Gravy proceeds to create a song so distinctly on brand for the 6-foot-8, your-mother-loving rapper, it was bound to be a hit.

He also included other unusual samples, such as a clip from the 1968 movie “Night of the Living Dead” and the vocals of Temptations frontman Dennis Edwards.

“I’ve just always gravitated to the fringe music-wise,” he said. “I never just went with the status quo; I wanted to explore more. Naturally, you discover one artist, check similar artists, and my taste developed from there.”

Yung Gravy gained more mainstream recognition after the release of “Betty,” performing the song on “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and during halftime of the Minnesota Vikings’ Thanksgiving game, his hometown team.

“It was interesting that ‘Betty’ blew up how it did because it’s a very Gravy-style song,” he said. “Classic sample, copious sauce, bangin’ drums, etc. I think it just happened at a time when sampling was very popular and my style just fit in with what was popular at the time, but I’d been doing songs like that for a few years — that one just happened to go super viral.”

Although that success opened new doors, he said he felt like he’d arrived long before “Betty” came out.

“I felt like I made it when I was able to make a living from music and give jobs to my homies,” he said. “That’s the most rewarding thing for me. The big stuff like that is obviously very exciting and makes me very proud, but I haven’t reflected much because there’s so much more I want to achieve. I’m very thankful for everything, though.”

It’s been quite the come-up for Yung Gravy, who said he’ll always consider himself a “SoundCloud rapper.”

The SoundCloud rap era, named for the streaming platform where up-and-coming artists upload their songs, has produced some of today’s biggest music stars, Yung Gravy among them.

He recalled working with Jack Harlow, Lil Nas X and Doja Cat before each of them became well-known in the music industry.

“It’s a trip,” he said. “Seeing how long me and other artists have worked before they really get worldwide acclaim, Doja especially.”

During this time, he was performing smaller shows in more intimate venues, and he recalled a few concerts early in his career where only about 15 people attended.
He also performed at his label boss’s daughter’s bat mitzvah for about 30 people. However, one of the attendees was Martha Stewart, which he said made it “pretty cool.”

The ICCU Arena is expected to offer an intimate setting for Yung Gravy, something he’s familiar with. He’s also no stranger to the Palouse or the Gem State, having toured through Idaho “four-five times now” and spent personal time in Coeur d’Alene.
Pixley, online editor for the Lewiston Tribune and Moscow-Pullman Daily News, is a longtime Yung Gravy listener and a big fan of WSU’s own Gardner Minshew. He can be reached at tpixley@lmtribune.com.


IF YOU GO

What: The Summer Country Showdown returns to the University of Idaho’s ICCU Arena this weekend for a second year, juxtaposing country music legend Clink Black and genre newcomer Yung Gravy.

Yung Gravy, whose latest album links his hip-hop roots with country sounds, plays Friday, with social-media-sensation-turned-country-star Tayler Holder opening.

Black headlines Saturday’s concert, following performances by newcomer Mackenzie Carpenter and stalwart country artist Craig Morgan.

When: Doors open at 6 p.m. Friday and 5 p.m. Saturday; music starts one hour later.

Where: ICCU Area, University of Idaho, 900 Stadium Drive, Moscow.

Tickets: $35-$65 (with a discount available for students) at summercountryshowdown.com.