Do you remember being fourteen? I do. I remember cutting classes and skateboarding with my friends. I remember stealing school lunches so I could use my lunch money to buy a dime bag and a Dutch. I definitely don’t remember recording a hard hitting song and releasing a music video though.
Unlike me, that’s a memory Yung Manny will probably have for the rest of his life, as the fourteen year old DMV rapper recently released a video for the song “Bitcoin” off his latest project Manny Phantom. The video finds Manny backed by his squad on a golf course as they take a golf cart on a joyride through the green.
On “Bitcoin,” Manny repurposes DJ Carnage’s production from the 2012 Theophilus London x A$AP Rocky song, “Big Spender,” and makes it his own. The sampled horns here are bombastic and pompous as they blare away in the background like a marching band in a parade. But it’s clear that Yung Manny is the one leading the march as his front-and-center charisma and swagger steal the show. He delivers witty punchlines with a highly aggressive delivery and an off-kilter flow that flirts with being off-tempo without ever truly losing its pace.
Slide in all black, now I’m feeling like Venom
I told her kick it, uh, Beckham
Squeezing the MAC, uh, lemons
Walk down on boy, got him booking a reverend
Other lines like, “I’m making a big move call me Max / Dr. Seuss, there’s a MAC in my hat /I’m watching Cartoon Network in the trap,” hint at Manny’s youth, but these childhood pop-culture references also give the track tons of personality. It’s the unique personality and charisma of his delivery, flows, and lyrics that makes Yung Manny stand out as one of the DMV’s hottest underground talent.
Still, until now you probably haven’t heard of Yung Manny, but the DMV area has long proven to be a place of underground success stories. From Fat Trel, to Shy Glizzy, to Goldlink, underground rappers from the region have often gone from the shadows to the bright lights. Yung Manny still has a ways to go, but we might be looking at the next underground MC to blow up out of DC — it sure seems like he might be. When I first heard his track it was sitting at around 15k plays. Today, as I finish writing, it’s over 100k. Take a look at the “Bitcoin” video below.