"The New Sound of Memphis"
~Mrs. Jaszy
~Mrs. Jaszy
At the age of 20 Tommy Cash, better known as Young Fly Richy, has accomplished being the new sound of Memphis, TN, and designing for two up-and-coming clothing lines, Flyer Society Clothing Co. and Fli Pelican. “Basically I work for two clothing lines one called Flyer Society Clothing Co., and another one called Fli Pelican. Basically both of the lines heard my music, and was like we want you to rock some of our shirts or wat eva’! I was thinking on more of trying to do business with them or wateva’ …Flyer Society stuff is coming out real soon, I sell whole bunch of Fli Pelican stuff, we have a group for it on Facebook and you can also go to www.myspace.com/flipelican.”
When did you start rapping?
Back in the 6th grade! Me and My lil’ homie lil’ Delton Edwards use to beat on tables and stuff, and that’s how I started rapping. I use to get sent to the office for rapping, and the only way to get out of trouble was to rap the same thing over and over again!(laughs)
Where are you originally from?
I am from Memphis, TN…Eastside All Day!
What sets Young Fly Richy aside from other rappers?
What sets me aside from other rappers, especially rappers in my city, I guess you can say I’m different, I’m eccentric, I’m very versatile, most rappers from Memphis are “trap” rappers or like “dope-boy” rappers. I’m really just going against the normal, which is in Memphis by just being me, how I live, the people I have around me, how I dress, and everything.
Who are you mostly influenced by?
Big influences…you can say Micheal Jackson, that’s somebody who inspired me, Run DMC, Sugar Hill Gang, Kayne West, Lupe Fiasco, Pharrell, new influences…people in Memphis like Skewby, me and him are getting close and he’s kind of setting a trademark for new rappers in Memphis. So I really like what he got going on!
What is something that other people might not expect from you? (interests, hobbies, etc.)
That I skate! I’m a skateboarder; I do it all the time…Most of my friends know that I do it! I’m always practicing on the skateboard, that’s my new hobby!
If Young Fly Richy wasn’t rapping, he would be…?
Designing clothes, but I do that already anyway!
What’s your favorite song to perform?
“Same Difference,” it’s really been a big song for me! I performed it in some big spots, and it gets anybody motivated…So it’s a good look!
What’s the craziest thing a groupie has ever done to get your attention?
Like on Facebook ,this actually happened a couple of times, a couple of girls had asked me for my email address and these girls had said they wanted to take a picture to promote our music, and the pictures they sent…they were kind of nude in them junks! Facebook is crazy…honesty box is to; they leave crazy stuff all the time, so yeah groupies are ff the chain!
Who are some people you would like to collab with in the future?
Skewby, we working on that right now actually. Kayne, Pharrell, Lupe. This chick name M.I.A, and the Cool Kids, that would be off the chain!
What’s your favorite song of all time?
“The Show” by Dougie Fresh & Slick Rick.What’s your favorite album of all time?“Graduation”, that’s my favorite album of all time…and “Off the Wall” by Micheal Jackson.
So are you single or taken?
I’m single…some girls might claim they talk to me but as far as statuses and all that, but right now I’m single! I’m looking for my “Fly Girl” right now.
Would you consider yourself to be an overachiever?
I guess you can say that I’m a perfectionist, and that’s why like with my music right now… I’m taking so long to put it out, because I just strive to be the best! I get influenced by my dad, and it makes me just go out there and grind hard.
Who is your favorite rapper?
A rapper I really get my inspiration from is Kayne West.
Do you think Hip Hop Music accurately portrays sex or do you think it negatively influences younger kids?
I think with Hip Hop today it’s in both categories, because you have a lot of people these days that are trying to go for this “dope-boy” image, and sometimes you’ll see these cats outside the booth and they not really doing what they say in their lyrics or wateva’. Then at the same time you got to look at it in the art form …it can be positive for some people, like saying don’t do this, don’t go the route I go. I don’t think we have a lot of rappers today that’s trying to speak the truth, and really trying to educate these kids out here on what’s real, and what we can do, and how we can be leaders in this nation! It’s like the voting thing going down with Obama, is the presidential campaigns and stuff, we could have rappers promoting that… but they rather rap and grind hard talking about how many 0’s they slanged, and all the clothes we rocking. Some of that stuff just gets played out, and everybody needs to just start being their self and start being real with what they say!
What can we expect from you in 2008?
A lot of crazy, different type of music that you have never heard from out of Memphis, I’m really going left from a traditional rapper! I got some mixtapes coming real soon, the biggest one coming soon is called “The Goodtime Mixtape,” I got some production from Skewby coming, this kid name Iceman and a list of others…I’m really excited about it, hopefully everything will be dropping around May or June.
What’s your opinion on Superhead and the recent trend of women writing tell-all books?
I guess you can say “sex sales”! Superhead, in a way it’s a good thing that she made some money, but at the same time it’s like what would you do to get money?....I think that she could be doing a whole bunch of stuff, rather then telling how she use to “do” all these guys, tell the video girls how to go around from getting setup like she did, even though she was getting paid by these guys…. When it all falls down, most guys probably look at her as a “hoe”. I just think it’s a better route to go and make money!
Any advice to upcoming rappers?
Keep God first; keep your family with you all the time…Really on the God thing, just pray because you go through stuff all the time, and the devil will test you hard! Just practice, practice what you preach, practice what you live, and just grind hard and be yourself, and don’t let the media fool you into being something that your not!
Shout-outs:
To everybody who supports the music, my mom, my pops, my little sister, everybody in Memphis, to the crime, the good, the bad, and the ugly, to Tatiana, Pat J., Bonafide, and thank you for your time!
Odd End.
You would say no to…
Drugs!
Fish & Grits or Chicken & Waffles?
Chicken & Waffles… All day ‘er day!
Celebrity Crush?
Lauren London.
Bathroom or Kitchen?
Bathroom…we just gon’ keep it at that! (laughs)
Favorite cereal?
I don’t eat cereal. I eat like bacon, eggs, and like waffles and stuff. Cereal is like for 6 or 7 yr. olds… I got to eat something that’s gon’ fill ya’ up! (laughs)
