Today we’d like to introduce you to Yahliq.
Hi Yahliq, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
My story started on the south side of Raleigh where I grew up in low income housing. Raised by my mother and grandmother(my father’s mother), while my father was incarcerated. Upon my dad’s release, he was in my life more often. My music journey started young, choir and piano lessons at church. My grandmother was gifted a piano from the church for me to practice with at her house. I was a theater kid in elementary school but around this same time, my passion for hip hop was slowly being cultivated by my father and my older brother an artist known as Sn8ke. My father would play mixtapes and cds and we would freestyle over the songs while they played. My older brother Sn8ke would come over and show me how to write rhymes and record on my old windows laptop on mixcraft. By this time I was in middle school and had moved in with my father, I would write rhymes but wouldn’t record as much anymore. I was in chorus and took guitar lessons while in middle school so, the love for music was always there. It wasn’t until high school where the passion for hip hop would truly show itcellf. From 9th through 12th grade I was in audio production which is essentially a class on learning how to produce and engineer music. I was fortunate to have gone to Enloe High School, they had a full professional grade recording studio, thanks to my teacher Mr. White. Mr. White made every day at school worth it. He really allowed us to flourish and grow as artists and creatives. I would spend at least an hour every day in the studio recording, working on my own or others music. I was so passionate about music that for one of my birthdays my dad bought me my first midi controller, microphone and interface. I would record demos at home on FL Studios as well as make beats. All of this was done on a computer that my grandfather(my fathers father) built for me. By this time its junior year of high school and I’m releasing music on SoundCloud fairly often. Finding my way as a new artist and looking for opportunities to grow. I found out about my schools talent show called, the variety show. I tried out for the first time and was fortunate enough to make the cut. I performed one song with two of my friends at the time, Diandre Jones and Donovan Petteway. It was a fun experience and I was able to get some practice performing. I thought that we had figured it all out but little did I know how much there was to being successful in the music industry. Senior year rolled around and I had released more music in my senior year than I ever had before. One EP and at least seven singles. Looking back at the songs, they were pretty bad but at the time a lot of people actually listened to and enjoyed them. That was enough of a push for me to continue working to get better. I remember being at the dinner table one day and my dad playing my EP being very unimpressed by it. It was embarrassing but I know that he was emphasizing to me that I had to become a better artist if this dream were to ever come to fruition. Once I graduated I continued to pursue music and released a mixtape the summer after I graduated. Very little traction and no performance opportunities came from it. It felt as though the work I was putting in wasn’t translating to actually making a career out of music. Fall rolled around and a lot of people that I knew were starting college while I hadn’t even thought about school. I was solely focused on figuring out how to be successful with rap. As winter ended I had released 3 more singles that still saw little to no traction and by this point I hadn’t performed since the variety show in high school. At this point becoming somewhat unsure of what my next move would be, I gave in to believing I needed to go to college if I were ever to make something of mycellf. So, I enrolled at Chowan University. In hindsight, I wish I never went to college but I picked these lemons so, lemonade had to be made. I studied mass communications, took more piano classes, studied classical music, took a course on religion that was mandatory but really enjoyable and did the talent show, this experience only lasted one year before I realized, this just wasn’t for me. Before I dropped out, I released another mixtape. At that time, it was my best and most creative work yet. I felt as though I were being completely transparent about who I am and what I was feeling at the time. I still listen to that project today, not because it’s great but because it’s honest and fun. I came home from school early 2018 and was jobless for a year using music as an excuse for why I wasn’t working. “I’m a full time artist”, I would say but my dad would always say, “Until you’re making money off of music, it’s just a hobby”. I eventually found work and for some time, music was on the back burner. I would still record and make beats but it wasn’t until the pandemic that I decided that I was going to give it a real shot. So, the plan began. I put mycellf in artist boot camp. It wasn’t something I signed up for, it was something that I subjected mycellf to. I forced mycellf to write and record with the goal of getting better, and faster at writing songs. I was fortunate at this time to have had friends like Spence, Davone, Bri and Chubbz. Providing me with space and opportunity to record and get better. Their honesty in critiquing my work and encouraging me helped me the most when it came to polishing my craft. I don’t think that I would’ve ever turned the corner of making enjoyable music if it weren’t for this period in time. Spence was my biggest supporter in high school next to my friend Diandre, I would read my rhymes to him on early morning bus rides when it probably would’ve been in our greater interest to be taking a nap but he would listen and give me his honest opinion and advice. He knew a lot more about making it in the music industry than I did. He was tapped in with people that I wouldn’t find out about until later. He also introduced me to Chubbz, Davone, Ace Henderson and many others. I really felt that around this time, I was becoming who I wanted to be. There’s always wrinkles to be ironed out but overall I was turning a corner. This all happened between late 2019 and 2022. Then I created a plan a 5 part series of projects that will get me over the hump of local artist to world renowned artist. I released the first project “over the horizon” in March of 2023. At this time, I was at my lowest point. I lost my job of 3 years, my engine blew up in my car and I had just had a serious knee injury. During this time, I prayed harder than I ever had before and asked The Most High to show me who I am and what is required of me to become who I desire to be and boy did they deliver. My cousin Chalk and I had just formed a group called “Zenhop” and we started performing at an open mic at The Lucky Tree cafe on Hillsborough Street. They had an open mic every week called “Free the mic” hosted by the late and immensely great J. Bow. I felt that I had finally found my start. I performed every week religiously, using the opportunity to hone my skills. Crowd control, showmanship, networking, whatever you can think of, I was working on it. I also met some creatives that became my close friends like Cardigan, Sifi!, Cloud Envy, MBLoaded and Khalil Nasim. Then, I found out about Jandr Jam at house of art hosted by Sazi. I added this to my list of weekly performances. This is where I grew the most support, performing at Jandr jam every week is the first time I experienced people learning and reciting my songs. Thanks to this experience my first official booking happened. CJ Monet chose me to perform on “Not A Show” i finally was seeing some growth and I made sure to not disappoint. I took the opportunity and ran with it, putting on an amazing performance that started a buzz surrounding me and my music. This was perfect because I had just released my second EP of the year, “ The Rising”. After performing at “Not A Show”, Sazi began booking me month after month to perform at her showcases and that really opened up a lot of doors. I started to become more recognized in the community and gained a lot of support that translated into personal relationships and friendships. By this time, it’s 2024 and while I hadn’t released any projects, I had been on a run performing 3-4 times a month and still growing as an artist. This turned into Sazi being my first manager which was an enjoyable experience. She really did her best to help me and was exceptional but there was a point in which, I felt that I may not need a manager because I believed that I didn’t have too much to manage and I really didn’t know what I wanted from a manager. And like the kind hearted soul she is, she was understanding and released me from her management with no hard feelings. To this day, Sazi still provides me with opportunities and shows me love like I’m her own blood. By spring of 2024 my cousin Chalk and I threw our first Zenhop show at Lucky Tree titled “The Fortunate Forest”. It featured Brassious Monk, Cardigan and Khalil Nasim as performers and Sifi! as our DJ. Following this Khalil formed the Deviants which is a friend group consisting of Khalil Nasim, Cardigan, Cloud Envy, Sifi!, MBLoaded, Blxnknn, .zone, Sazi, ANU. and Mycellf. We banded together and threw our first Deviants Show called “The loaded show” at The House of Art. Zenhop and The Deviants continued throwing shows throughout 2024 to establish ourcellf in the community as amazing performers, putting together shows that felt like you gained value from being present. Late 2024 rolled around and I had decided that it was time to get serious about putting together more projects. So, I decided to lock in with Eric and Dillion of Stratosphere Records to put together an Album. My Album set to release in October of this year features my closest friends and some of the greatest artists that I know personally like CJ Monet, Chalk, Zayveon Walker, Khalil Nasim, Cardigan, P.M., Sifi!, Cloud Envy, .zone, and last but definitely not least my partner ANU. who I met at House of Art in 2023. ANU. has been my greatest supporter over the last 2 years and continues to push me to strive for greatness every day and I love her immensely for that. Going into 2025 I felt as though I was finally getting a grip on what I would call a music career, I even started my own juice company called, “Happy Juice Community”. Happy Juice is a project that I started and have been working on for a little under 2 years and we plan to provide healthy hydration to the community for years to come. Overall, it’s been a roller coaster but not one time did I decide to get off. And now here I am 26 years into this journey, more sure of mycellf than I’ve ever been before. With a community that I’ve always wished for, excited for what’s next.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
The road hasn’t always been smooth, growing up less fortunate but still making the most out of it. Being unsure of if music is something that I could truly succeed at. A severe lacking of financial literacy and addictive personality turning me to substance abuse. A martial artist journey riddled with injuries. And a host of other things that I included in the last section.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I rap, produce and curate shows. I’m also a business owner. I specialize in set design, administration, and 2 genres of music that I created called “warrior spirituals” and “heart repair music”. I’m known for my electrifying performances and inspiring lyrics. Along with my unique sound and creative freedom. I’m most proud of the example of perseverance that I set for my younger siblings and integrating mycellf in the community more. I believe that what sets me apart from others is the fact that I’m unapologetically me. I refuse to conform to being something that’s recognizable or able to be categorized. Whether it be my lyrics, production, concepts or even my style. I’m me to the fullest extent.
What does success mean to you?
Success to me is being able to take care of those that took care of me. Being able to give back to the community that raised me and leaving the world a better place than when I came here. Success is setting up the future of humanity for greatness and an easier life. Success is being more educated on the things that matter most in the world. Like preservation of life, trust in each other, collective growth as a society and sharing love amongst each other.
Pricing:
- Zenhop Presents: The Luau July 25th at The Portal HQ $10 entry
- The Yahliq Anthology a mix CD of all my work $10
- Happy Juice 3 exclusive flavors for $5.55 a bottle
Contact Info:
- Website: https://linktr.ee/yahliq
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yahliq
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/yahliq
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@Yahliq
- Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/yahliq
Image Credits
Ashley Reed (@leboots)
Michee (@michee.png)
Naima (@eemahvision)
Zion Sadique McKnight (@zionsperspective)
Derrick (@esoderic3)
Aaron Joates (@visuals.ao)
Tim (@tirnothy)
