What Made Yung Gravy, so Gravy?

By Destany Sanchez
Music Journalist

have probably heard the name Yung Gravy sometime in your life. Either from his newest single, “Betty”, the controversy surrounding him now with Addison Rae’s mom or the fact that he’s notorious for moms as fans. He is someone that deserves to have a biography written about him and why he’s just so dang beautiful.

Matthew Raymond Hauri, also known as Yung Gravy, is a famous rapper from Rochester, Minnesota. He began his humble beginnings while pursuing a degree in marketing at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Wisconsin. During his time as a college student, he felt rapping at parties was getting him somewhere. Because of the publicity he had gotten from his hidden talent, he started publishing his music on SoundCloud after the success of Lil Yachty and Ugly God. His first song, “Karen,” drew in lots of fans quickly. Before he could release an EP, he uploaded his first ever mixtape, “Thanksgiving Eve,” which included a sequel to his original named, “Karen, Pt. 2”. It wasn’t until later that he would finally release his first ever EP. It came time to release “Mr. Clean,” which gained internet attention due to its meme-integrated rap, thus giving Gravy popularity among his fans. His single, “Mr. Clean,” ended up pushing the album’s popularity through the Internet using his most famous sample, “Mr. Sandman,” which gained him around 11 million plays on Soundcloud. Because of this sample, Yung Gravy later went on to continue this trend throughout his music career.

Yung Gravy is known for sampling well-known instrumentals, such as “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, “Mr. Sandman” by The Chordettes, “Careless Whisper” by George Michael, and even the theme song from the movie Rocky. It is no wonder why he gains so much attraction with his music. Because of Yung Gravy’s famous samples, it has made an influential mark, not only on rap but within the sampling community altogether. Preferring samples with much longer instrumentals over cuts and alterations. Many artists, within the rap and hip-hop community, have used this technique back then to further push a song’s popularity. The best example of this type of sampling technique would be Gwen Stefani’s “Luxurious,” sampling “Big Poppa,” which was then sampled by Notorious B.I.G from “Between the Sheets” by The Isley Brothers. Not only does he sample lots of great tracks, but he is known for his long-term partnership with his good friend, bbno$.

I believe bbno$’s involvement with Yung Gravy and the meme culture that surrounds both, contributed to their fame when it came down to releases and concert tours. Their partnership flourished when fate pushed them to meet in Switzerland. Yung Gravy, at the time, had 100 followers on SoundCloud and bbno$, 200. Both stemming from the same situation, they were eager to grow their careers. In an interview with Poptized, Gravy mentioned that he was never willing to collab with anyone until he had met bbno$. With bbno$’s upbeat tempo and Yung Gravy’s cool approach to music, they got along like PB&J. They first released “Baby Gravy” in 2017, embarking both on their journey to a strong partnership for years to come. The duo is unstoppable, and I personally love their chemistry when it comes to the multiple singles, EPs, and albums they have released together. Currently, they are touring together, showcasing Baby Gravy the Tour, which can mean one thing- the fans.

The fans are what made Yung Gravy’s popularity skyrocket even further. Specifically, the moms. We can all agree that Yung Gravy is the most handsome guy on the planet, and because of his looks, he is popular with pretty much everyone on the planet. But because he is so ungodly handsome, the moms go nuts over how cute he is. He has joked about loving mothers in his music since his music career began. And thanks to his loyal fans, he can pursue the joke even further, making many of his fans’ mothers appear at shows, tours, and special appearances wherever he goes. Thanks to this genius publicity stunt, Yung Gravy has gained 6.8 million followers on TikTok, by reacting to fans’ mom’s reactions to him. Whether it is a publicity stunt or not, Yung Gravy has the time of his life enjoying his fans and being himself.

Yung Gravy has come very far in life in such a short period of time. Since 2016, he has grown a strong fan base. Whether it’s from the meme culture that he surrounds himself with, to his constant genius producing, or from the moms, Yung Gravy will always be unique. That’s what makes him Yung Gravy.