Young Devyn’s rise to stardom is best credited to her Trinidadian roots. Stylistically, the Brooklyn-raised emcee has carved out her own lane in music, all while bringing soca to the forefront of drill.

Most notably, Young Devyn’s domination in the freestyle circuit has garnered mass appeal, citing praise from a host of industry greats such as Nicki Minaj, Jermaine Dupri, Taraji P. Henson, and more. And yet, she’s only 19-years-old.

With over a decade’s worth of time spent fine tuning her sound, Young Devyn’s origin story in rap starts at age eight. She dedicated her life to music early on, investing time and effort into an “adult-dominated industry” long before she was of age to be admitted into the venues that housed her performances on the weekend. “It’s like how is this eight-year-old kid performing at 2:30 in the morning at an adult party?,” Young Devyn recalls the only challenge faced as a minor – learning how to become accepted in what’s considered unfamiliar territory. But she embraced the moment and understood her assignment, or as she avows in confidence, “…I broke that barrier really fast.”

Years later, Young Devyn continues to breakdown barriers. After becoming the first artist to sign with 4th & Broadway – the iconic label relaunched by Island Records – the buzzing Brooklynite took matters a step further with announcing the release of her debut EP Baby Goat. A featureless effort, the project spans eight tracks in total, offloading raw emotion and realism through a retrospective lens. “I wanted to take my time to show people everything,” she explains.

Young Devyn is set to take the rap game by force. Admittedly, her delivery in song is somewhat aggressive, and she tends to assert herself lyrically (without warning), but that’s just Devyn. She’s not acting bad, it’s a Trini thing.

Check out our full conversation below, lightly edited for context.

What initially prompted you to start creating your own music? 

Me creating music came from everything that was going on in my life. I was traveling for years at a time doing soca, but I didn’t have a song out because I was really the only kid in soca. I was blowing up pretty fast. I created a song called “The Islands”, that was my first song. After that, it’s just been up ever since.

Looking back, did you face any challenges with dedicating your life to art at such a young age?

When I was younger, the only challenge was that I’m a kid working in an adult-dominated industry, so that was a head-crack for everybody. It’s like how is this eight-year-old kid performing at 2:30 in the morning at an adult party? But the performances were lit, and by the end of the show, they understood and they embraced it. I never really had any type of challenges besides that, and I broke that barrier really fast.

Did you live a normal life or was it hard trying to balance school and growing up in the music business? 

I was able to balance both (school and performing) at a young age. I would sell out shows on the weekend and take the bus back to school by Monday. You gotta remember, soca music isn’t as mainstream as hip-hop or r&b. You can be a soca artist and be a huge star while casually walking down the street. One of the reasons as to why I even transitioned into a more mainstream genre is because I noticed that. I was still able to balance school and things like that.

Was that an easy transition for you to make or did it come with an adjustment period? 

The transition happened because I was watching a Nicki Minaj documentary and I loved everything about it. It inspired me to listen to her album. I discovered metaphors and punchlines for the first time. Of course, I knew who Nicki was, she’s one of the most successful female rappers ever, but at the time I was too young to understand her impact. I was 14,15 when I went back and listened to her album and finally caught what she was saying. I wanted to do it myself, and so I started writing raps and that’s when I started getting into other artists like Meek, Jadakiss, DMX and Lauryn Hill. I took inspiration from different artists and made it into my own. 

As a female artist operating in what’s considered a male-dominated industry, how do you stomach those unsolicited comparisons that come with stardom? 

I really try to not think about it. I know people may feel like new artists want to be compared to somebody else, but that’s not really a thing. Yeah, we love the fact that you can say we’re going to be like the greats, but to try and identify somebody’s sound and music as another person, no, everybody’s individual. I always tell people who I’ve been inspired by, people that I love and listen to, who I admire etc., but that doesn’t necessarily mean I want to be compared. I’m still my own artist, I still have my own story. On top of that, within my own city, people try to compare me and I tell ‘em “stop comparing me,” and I was saying that for a couple of months. Now that my project is out, it really showed what I meant. You try to compare me to a bunch of Brooklyn drill artists for example, and now my EP’s out and it’s like, “Oh wait, she doesn’t just do Brooklyn drill.” You try to compare me to the next dancehall artists and then you listen to my EP and it’s like, “Oh wait, she can do everything.” You don’t ever have to bring someone down to bring somebody else up. If you’re talking about an artist, keep it about the artist and leave it at that. Artists still want to be their own person too. 

At times, the perils of fame and fortune tend to overshadow that exhilarating feeling of success. What keeps you motivated?

My supporters, my family, everything that’s going on around me. I’m doing everything I used to dream of. My friend texted me the other day and told me I’m doing everything I said I would do, everything we used to talk about on the bus. Things like that just keep me motivated to keep going. I’m nowhere near where I wanna be. I’m like the smallest thing in the tank right now, probably like fish food (laughs). I still feel like I have so much more to do, but I think that I’ve definitely come a long way and worked really hard while remaining humble, and I think because of that, the blessings are starting to overflow. Those things just keep me motivated to keep going. 

Have you always had a strong support system? 

The crazy thing is, my immediate family are old school Caribbean church ladies. You wouldn’t think that they would be accepting of soca music or hip-hop – anything that’s considered “ungodly” – but they actually embrace it one-hundred percent. I’ve never been vulgar, you can look through all my music. I talk about my experiences and I might be a bit aggressive with my delivery, but I’m never raunchy or anything like that. My mom, since day one, has never doubted me. When I got booked for my first show, we didn’t even know how to book shows or what that was, but we got it done and ever since then my life has been lit. I’ve always had a good support system. 

Your music speaks on life through a retrospective lens. How does pain affect your character as an artist? 

For me, personally, pain tells the best stories. When you think about it, some artists get their brightest moments from their darkest times, so they write their biggest hits when they’re down or going through something. When I’m going through pain or something like that, it’s like an underdog feeling. I wanna tell my complete story – what happened and where I’m at now, how I’ve learned from it, how I’ve grown from it. I’m always reflecting on my life or looking back on certain moments. Pain definitely helps tell a story because it can come from so many different things: falling out with friends, family, losing people, it’s so many different aspects in life that pain can come from. I just remain honest and authentic about it in my music and hope that my message transfers to the listener. 

The process behind developing your own sound has somewhat been years in the making. With that in mind, is there any significance behind the timing of your debut project? Why now?  

When it comes to my sound, I started going viral for my freestyles, so a lot of people knew me for that. Back then, there was this podcast or whatever and they were like, “Oh she hasn’t found her sound,” and things of that sort, but little do they know, I already knew my sound, but I also knew the fact that I was versatile. I wanted to take my time to show people everything. I came in the game, I did the freestyles – because that’s what caught people’s attention and gave me those viral moments – and when I got their attention, that’s when I did the drill thing, because I come from Brooklyn and that’s the hot thing. When I released this project (Baby Goat), everyone could see all aspects of me: my Caribbean side, with songs like “Secret” and “Entangled,” showing my melodic side, then you have my real rapping side, like with “Intro.” It’s just a fun combination of everything. I feel like taking my time with this project really helped and I feel like everybody loves it. 

Personally, I think Baby Goat is a hybrid of BK drill and soca, with a smidgen of r&b. What percentage of your music would you say is influenced by your Trinidadian roots?

100% of my music. Everything that I do, I always make sure that I put Trinidad in it someway somehow. I can’t run from it. Even with certain words that I say, I have a Brooklyn accent but I can’t avoid saying it with a Trini accent because that’s my slang. When I first started doing music, Trinidad was the first place (outside of America) that embraced me. They could’ve looked at me differently, but they loved me, embraced me, and took me in. I’ve been going back and forth (to Trinidad) since I was a child. Even with songs like “Act Bad,” it’s on a Brooklyn drill beat but at the end of the song I’m saying things in a Trini accent. I didn’t do that on purpose, that’s just literally how it came out because of my culture and where I come from. That inspired me to say act bad, because at the time I didn’t even have that as the title of the song. It was no chorus, no hook, it was none of that – it was just the verse that y’all heard. In Trinidad, we say things like “Ya getting on bad,” “Ya acting bad,” so it inspired me to say act bad on the record and mesh that Brooklyn zeal with my Trini roots. I got all my swag, my drip, my flow from Trinidad – the way I can stay in certain pockets, it’s a Trini thing. I don’t know how to describe it. It just gives me an extra oomph. 

If you had to select one song from your EP to best describe this moment in your life, what would it be? Why? 

To describe this moment in my life, I would say “Realer Than This,” because my outro is such a testimony. I literally was speaking with my friend before I went to film the BET Awards (2019). I was just telling him to be safe, he was telling me how proud of he was, then I got a call the next day, he locked up for 17 years. He’s not coming home anytime soon. I speak about these things because it talks about my struggles, but also about my growth. I’m talking about the things that I’ve been through, about my elevation, and really just reflecting on it. I think it does a really good job at highlighting where I’m at in life. 

Would you ever consider retiring the “Young” part of your name?

No, I wouldn’t consider dropping it because I believe it will forever express the youthful and unique flavor that I bring to the music scene.

Any closing remarks?

We got another one (EP) coming right after. I’m not gon’ drop any dates! I’m always working on new music, even when you don’t see me on the internet. It’s always a trick up my sleeve. Just stay tuned.