Yungdrizzz

I’m Yungdrizzz, also known as Neutral Elegance: an Afro-European artist, born and raised in Zurich, and the artist and main face of DUKEDRIZZZ ENT. I represent the creative identity of the whole movement. My parents raised me with English, and I grew up with German alongside it. I think in English, so making music in English was never a decision I had to make. It was always the language that felt natural. Most of my time goes into writing songs, recording and developing my music. Because I have my own full recording facility, I can work seven days a week and give an entire day to one project without depending on anyone else’s studio time. That has let me record far more music, far more consistently, than most artists before their breakthrough, and build a catalogue at a level most artists can’t reach until they have already broken through. What makes me different is that I’m Afro-European. A lot of the conversation around this music centres on Afro-American artists and culture; I represent a European perspective on English-language music. I’m not making music in English to prove that I can speak English, and I don’t fill every song with complicated words or forced slang. I want to make music people can understand, relate to and listen to, wherever they come from.

My sound is closely connected to the English-language rap I grew up listening to, especially what people call American music. Some people hear it and say it doesn’t sound European. That’s understandable: I don’t have a typical English or British accent, and I’m not trying to imitate one. At the same time, I’m obviously not American. I’m an Afro-European artist making this music from Europe. I want the music to feel accessible and relatable rather than overly complicated or dependent on slang. English is the language I naturally think in, so the music should feel natural too.

I grew up listening to the artists and stories of Tupac, Biggie, 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg, Nate Dogg, Warren G, NBA YoungBoy, Migos, Young Thug and many others. That music taught me what music could sound like and how stories can be told through it. So the American influence is naturally there, because that is what I grew up with, but the person creating it is European. Outside rap, I would compare it to Bob Marley. His music came from a very specific place and culture, and it became global. That is also part of why I’m proud of the Rasta community and the connection to Africa. I see the same possibility for Afro-European artists: creating from Europe without having to pretend to be American to make English-language music.

My bigger vision is to help create a fixed and safe community around global English-language music, whether that is rap, reggae or other genres. I want people to have more power and more ability to start something from the ground up, whether that becomes an artist career, a music project or an independent label. The idea is independence: building something yourself and capturing what you deserve from what you create. MUMBLE stands for “Make U R Music Better, Less Evil”. That is the direction I want to push: making music better, building independently, and creating something that can grow beyond one artist.