Yung Pooda was born in music. Coming from a musical family, where his grandfather was heavy in Zydeco and his father was a DJ – with a rather impressive album collection, it was only a matter of time before he found his own niche in the art of sound. With straddling the fence between the streets and the studio, Pooda found himself at a crossroad later on in life: either make music and live comfortably or trap it out until something shakes. “In the middle of recording and getting in all kinds trouble, I promised God I would get out of the streets and just do music,” he shares.

Admittedly, Hip-hop and street culture are relatively synonymous. But when you’re spiritually inclined, your ability to discern right from wrong outweighs the will to ignore that moral sense. Growing up in Orange, Texas – a small town on the outskirts of Houston – forced Pooda to venture off into neighboring cities to fully pursue his aspirations as an artist. “Once I seen it wasn’t going to happen in the area that I was in, I made the choice to follow in the footsteps of UGK, Bun B and Pimp C,” says Pooda. He took matters into his own hands and created the opportunity he was seeking, embodying the essence of that independent grind artists tend to glorify in their raps.

With over 33M views on TikTok and 13,000 user generated video uploads, it’s fair to say Pooda’s sophomore single “Chicken N Grits” is a hit record by today’s standards. Outside of the viral nature behind the song’s success, the Cool and Dre produced single is slated to make more rounds across social media. Today, multi-platinum R&B megastar Trey Songz has now joined the chat, pairing up with Yung Pooda and Dreamdoll (who’s on the original version) for the official remix and accompanying video.

For Pooda, it’s bigger than a moment, it’s bigger than music: he’s all about paying it forward with a message. “I want to captivate the youth and lead them somewhere else other than what I can see,” he declares.

With high hopes and a selfless devotion towards promoting change, Yung Pooda is a man on a mission seeking to impact lives, hit-after-hit. Read our full conversation below, lightly edited for clarity and context.

When you think of the phrase Houston-bred, what comes to mind?

Someone that’s not originally from Houston but been there long enough to call it their second home. Houston-bred is when they (the city of Houston) take you in and embrace you with open arms.

Do you consider Houston to be your second home? 

Definitely. I’m actually from Orange, Texas though, it’s on the outskirts of Houston. 

Outside of being a professional recording artist, where do your interests lie? 

God. I’m very spiritual. Painting. I’m a big family man. Mediating. I love to read. I love nature. I love getting out and doing stuff, being active. I wanna get into acting. I’m just a very adventurous person. Whatever comes to my mind and I feel like I wanna do, I’ma do it.  

When did you first get interested in music?

I was born in music, because as long as I can remember I’ve always been around it. Family events, cookouts, birthdays – my grandfather, he was real heavy in Zydeco, that’s a New Orleans style of music. My pops was a DJ, he had a home-recording studio and all types of equipment and a crazy collection of albums. Everywhere I turned I was around music, so I’ve always naturally had this passion. I started in the Orange area, far as freestyling and trying to get in studios. Once I seen it wasn’t going to happen in the area that I was in, I made the choice to follow in the footsteps of UGK, Bun B and Pimp C – they originally from Port Arthur, Texas and moved to Houston for bigger opportunity, so I was on the same page. I went to Houston, got in the streets, starting moving around, networking, passing out CD’s, showcases, just doing whatever I could do. 

Social media wasn’t as prominent during UGK, Bun B and Pimp C’s era as it is today. When that comes to mind, what role has that played in your overall growth as an artist?

It’s played a very big part because without social media you can’t see how I’m living. I can’t tell y’all what’s going on, show y’all who I am. With me having social media and being socially in tune it has done a lot. You can be at home and still be seen across the world. That’s what you need. You gotta put out content, content is key. People wanna be in your business, and in this business you have to put your business out there, to a certain extent and let people know. 

With making this transition from the streetlife to being a professional recording artist, what has been the hardest part about adjusting to your new norm? 

The hardest part is deciphering what should be seen and what shouldn’t. It’s like aight, now we really gotta filter what we put on the internet. We really gotta filter how we say things. That in itself has really been a challenge with me, because me, I’m very outspoken, I don’t sugarcoat anything; I give it raw, real and authentic, but it’s a certain way that you have to do it. I feel like you gotta be strategic with it. 

With the success you’ve received for ‘Chicken N Grits’, how do you plan on seizing the momentum going forward and using this opportunity to your advantage?  

I plan to learn from it all. Just learning to not take things for granted and do what I gotta do. In the words of Eminem, “You only got one shot to blow. This opportunity comes once in a lifetime.” I live by those words because as an artist, and as a business man, I got a responsibility. I’m gon’ take all I can from it and do what I’m supposed to do with it, as far as everything. I really want people to know who I am and what God has done for me. I want everybody to know they can do the same: I’m a big dream chaser. Anything that you dream, anything you put your mind to, anything that you can think of that you want out of life, you can have it. I want to spread my message to the people. I wanna touch hearts. I wanna open eyes, open minds. I’m on a mission right now. 

What’s the overall message you’re trying to convey to your listeners?

I want to captivate the youth and lead them somewhere else other than what I can see. I was getting it a different type of way before, but now there’s other ways you can do it. Music changed my life and that’s bigger than words. Now, when you can go tell someone that music saved your life and they can actually see what it’s done, you probably can save somebody else’s life. 

Looking back on things, did a younger Pooda have an OG or someone to look up to, somebody that guided you the way you’re doing for others? 

I’ve always been around the older crowd. I’ve always had a handful of the older crowd try to give me solid game: words to actually live by, words to evolve me as a person. The type of person I am, I take heed to everything. I had to mess up on my own, but I still had the OG’s in my corner: really sat down and gave me game. Shoutout to Pow Wow, shoutout to Boosie. Those are some of the guys that did that too. 

What’s the nature of your relationship with Trey Songz? I saw the clip you shared on Instagram of you two in the studio, so I can only imagine that something is in the works? 

Last week actually, I was in Houston shooting a video and then my label called me. They was like, “Trey just called, we gotta get you to Miami now!” Shoutout to big bro, Trigga is on the ‘Chicken N Grits’ remix. It was just history like that, he loved it. I got on a plane to Florida, we had the studio session booked. He walked in and actually recorded himself. That was my first time actually seeing an artist do that; walk in and tell the engineer I’ma sit where you sitting and do this right quick (laughs). I actually got to see how he works first-hand. 

Let’s expand on this a bit more, because that experience seems invaluable. What was your favorite takeaway from that studio session? 

Everything bro. From the moment he walked into the moment he walked out, I was observing everything. What I really took is how much fun he was having. He’s still having fun. Trey is a legend and has accomplished so much more, but he’s still having fun with this. That’s probably the main thing I took away from that moment; even though we were handling business, we still had fun. 

How do you maintain that yearning desire for more, to continue elevating your game? 

Just the want of more. I’m very grateful and thankful, but I feel like I got so much more to do; I don’t feel like I’ve accomplished as much. When I started, I saw myself doing so much more, I saw myself being so much more. I’m not a CEO yet, I can’t stop. I don’t have businesses yet, I gotta have my own clothing line, trucking company, I gotta have my own label. I can’t stop until I can cross these real big goals off my vision board. I got my family put up, I got my little girl put up, we straight. I can’t kick my feet up, I can’t slow up until all of those things are met. And even then, I’m still not satisfied; you only got one life to live and I’ma live it to the fullest.