In a year known for powerful and talented female artists such as Nicki Minaj, Cardi B, and others, one new young artist is making a splash- and making waves in the hip hop world. Young Devyn, a 16 year old from New York City, is taking the community by storm, fusing reggae, soca, old school 90’s hip hop sound, trap beats, R&B melodies, and insanely strong vocals with even stronger lyrics and a freestyle flow that puts even the best rappers to shame- man or woman. Seriously, Young Devyn breathes fire ever time she spits beats.
However, the high school senior’s journey to stardom wasn’t without a shaky start. When she was just two-years-old, Devyn was diagnosed with Kawasaki disease and spent much of her childhood battling the illness, so much so that she almost died when she was two. It was in the ICU that nurses reported Devyn had an unusual habit for a baby- she was humming. In a matter of years, she started putting words to melody and performing soca-based music in a nod to her family’s Trinidad roots.
It was the soca sound that inspired one of her first songs, “Find Me,” a catchy track complete with a Carnival-inspired music video as well as “Feeling It,” a track and video she made when she was only 13. Yet her talent isn’t relegated to the soca or even the reggae genre.
She channels her inner Beyonce and Adele and shows her melodic chops with “Let You Know,” a slower song that borderlines on a classic 90’s R&B sound and proves her ability to appeal to teens and adults alike with its subject matter of heartbreak and moving on.
If dominating two genres wasn’t enough, it was her remix of Nicki Minaj’s “Chun Li” and “Barbie Tingz” that put Young Devyn on the map- and even earned her appraise from Nicki Minaj herself.
In addition to appearing on numerous shows and podcasts, she’s appeared on iconic shows such as TRL and Sway’s Universe among others.
It was during her phenomenal performance opposite Lord Owen on Sway’s Universe Friday Fire Cyphers where she shocked the world with her jaw-dropping freestyle abilities that put even the fastest rappers to shame. During the show, in addition to conquering some very adult topics such as social justice, family drama, class struggles, and sexism. She also drops the line “I leveled up like I was graduating”
A senior this year, Young Devyn will indeed be graduating with the class of 2019, making her prediction of “being on top in 2020 like I’ve got perfect vision” a very likely reality.
