Photo By Zach Cooper
YNW Melly has set himself apart from other young rappers with soulful vocals on songs like “Murder on My Mind” which contrast with the violent lyrics in his music. In an interview with Complex conducted days before Melly turned himself in on first-degree murder charges, the 19-year-old Florida native explained the unlikely inspiration for his sound, which sets itself apart from the SoundCloud rap scene by focusing on more restrained melodies.
According to the profile, Melly spent his childhood studying pop singers like Adele and Ed Sheeran, learning “how to make music that touches the soul.” He elaborated on why he gravitated toward the sound, explaining how it’s able to reach a wider audience.
“If that bitch touch anybody soul, you got them. It could be a billionaire listening, but if you made that song out of your soul, it’s gonna grip ears,” Melly said. “It’s gonna be stuck. It hits your soul before it hits your ears.”
Melly recently named “Someone Like You” as his favorite Adele song on an episode of All Def Music’s series Arts & Raps:
Elsewhere in the Complex interview, Melly also made it clear that his ambitions extend to other genres besides hip-hop and R&B. “I made a country chorus for Miley Cyrus and Noah Cyrus,” he claimed. “I can be in any category.”
During a late 2018 episode of Genius' series Verified, Melly spoke about writing “Murder on My Mind” in 2016, when he was juvenile incarcerated on gun charges. He explained it was written from the perspective of Melvin, one of his many mixed personalities.
“My other person inside, Melvin. Everyday, all day [murder] is what he be thinking about,” Melly said. “Some people think about pussy when they wake up, some people think about shoes, some people think about weird shit. That nigga wake up with the murder on his mind, and I’ll be like, ‘Aye, bro. Do you.’”
“I murder the vagina and I murder the beat,” Melly clarified. “I am not no human murderer.”
Melly told Complex that he has six different personalities in total, two of which—Melly and Melvin—are known to the public. “Melly is a joker. He’s just the one that everybody loves, and he loves everybody,” he explained. “Melvin is the one that protect Melly from the wrong people.”
At this time, Melly is currently awaiting trial without bond at Broward County jail in Fort Lauderdale. Since turning himself in, Melly has also been linked to the murder of an off-duty Vero Beach police deputy, but has not been formally charged in the case.
Read the full interview at Complex and catch up on all the lyrics to YNW Melly’s biggest hits on Genius.
