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If you have ever wondered “what happened to Atlanta rapper Yung L.A.“, he’s still around and I ran into him recently at a local restaurant. The last time I heard his name was in 2013, unfortunately, in the beginning two minutes of Hustle Gang’s “Err’body” song, which appeared on their G.D.O.D. mixtape. T.I. and Dro dissed him for some things that happened a few years prior.  So, I curiously wondered if the public would here a diss track from Yung L.A. after that. Nothing ever surfaced (that I know of).  Well, what was he doing during this time?  Did he ever remove the Duct Tape Ent. tattoo from his face?  Hell, I was curious. By the looks of it, he’s doing alright. No sign of the infamous tattoo. And according to Leland Austin (his legal name), he’s in a good place…professionally and spiritually.

 

Peep our convo….

 

Bels: What’s been going on with you?

YL: Wow. What isn’t going on with me?

 

Bels: Well, we haven’t seen you in a minute.

YL: Well, let me say this. What doesn’t go on with L.A.? This ni**a always in some shit. The ni**a always in trouble. It’s always adversity. But, every time we see the nigga [himself], he’s looking good and he looking like he’s maintaining. An he’s always smiling so he must be happy.

But, it’s crazy right now. Shout out to Dirty Money. Shout out to Kalenna (Harper), my new music partner at Phantom Music. And God, you know…wow. You know how it go and it does go like that. Because I would look at myself and ask “how am I writing R&B now?”

 

Bels: But, you’ve always done the singing-type rap thing anyhow…

YL: Right. But I think when I came out I think I set a sound. I started a sound that never existed until I came out. I don’t think a lot of people understood when I first came out because it was so new. So, music today is like L.A. never left. When you think of an artist staying relevant off of something he did, 4 years ago, then you get to say “well this guy is the truth. He’s the real deal. How’s he surviving through longevity and he not even putting out music?” It’s like, you just dealing with that kind of person.

 

Right now, we writing R&B. We writing gospel. We writing Rock & Roll. It’s no limit. We writing country. If Taylor Swift was to send us something, we will cut it in the likeness of Taylor. We will reference it and we will send it right to Taylor Swift. That’s what I’m doing now. I currently have a publishing deal situation.

 

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FRAK enters the conversation (he’s L.A.’s publishing partner; pictured above)

 

Bels: What’s the name of the publishing company?

YL: Frik & Frak. You say, well dam isn’t it the same word. It’s only one letter that differentiate, Frik from Frak. So when you see me and him standing next to each other, we’re totally opposite. But we are really the same. It’s probably only one thing that make us so different. But, when we are in the room together, it’s crazy. When I tell you it’s not a game…

 

YL: Can you tell her our new phrase?

 

Frak: IT’S NOT A GAME. IT NEVER WAS. IT’S NEVER GOING TO BE.

 

YL: Sometimes God move in ways that you don’t understand. But when he moves, he moves. But I’m happy. What can I say? I’m happy. This is the happiest I’ve been in a minute. I’m very very happy.

 

 

Of course, we didn’t have time to go into detail about a lot of the “adversities” he’s endured.  But, stay tuned because we will finish this conversation. Yung L.A.’s ready to speak the truth about everything and Stacks Magazine is going to give you the exclusive.