Bringing Hickory, NC flavor to Sacramento through clever wordplay and beats - Yumz Awkword will be heard.
When conducting interviews as a journalist, it's on you to transform a conversation of words into a written masterpiece that draws in readers - it's an unappreciated art form that gets consistently consumed by the masses without notice. While most of my career has been perfecting the alchemy of changing chicken sh*t conversations into articles of gold - when speaking with Yumz Awkword, he was already golden.
Born in a place known more for stock car racing and the birth of NASCAR, Yumz Awkword put his soul on a track and recorded his first song at the age of 13. According to his VoyageLA interview, "it was off from there; I made so many mixtapes and an album - it's crazy around 2019 I moved to Sacramento".
"So just keep doing you, and keep doing your thing. You keep believing in yourself because it is the only motivation for you." - Yumz
KB McIntosh: As a transplanted artist in Sacramento, How important was it to show up for Sacramento?
Yumz Awkword: Hey man, I love Sacramento.
Yumz Awkword: I'm from North Carolina, but I started my career in Sacramento - in places that I couldn't do in North Carolina. My music career changed when I stepped foot on this ground. I have a lot of love for this place, and I feel Sacramento could be a whole Westcoast Atlanta. So I got hella of love for Sac, bro. Shout out to the 916!
Yumz Awkword: Once I click out here, I want to spread all over North Carolina, and then I'm gonna bring something right back to my city. So it's all good.
KB McIntosh: Since getting the love you've received, has it made ripples to where you are, your hometown?
Yumz Awkword: Back home, I had a little wave. So when I moved to California, it only grew, and everybody saw that I was serious. Now, I go back home; I'm a hood celebrity, and my city shows me the love, bro. Shout out to Hickory, North Carolina.
KB McIntosh: This was your first solo show - How does it feel to have community support?
Yumz Awkword: That thing went up! It was one of my longer sets and one of my best sets. I performed some of the new rock music I've been testing out, and I had a great time at the show. Shout out to Higher Frequency, bruh.
Yumz Awkword: It was a group effort. Though I was the headliner, Badguy AC, who was the opener, sold tickets. So it's like both of us and then GabeTheFourth, he worked hard, Higher Frequency worked hard to push it. It was a team effort, and it made me feel good.
Yumz Awkword: Like my mom was like jumping up and down when she found out I sold out - it made my mom proud. So, you know, it was hella lit, bro. This is what I came out here (Sacramento) for.
"When you hop out on this wave, you either bail or you gon surf" - Yumz
While his Aboriginal-like walkabout to expand his musical career on the Westcoast has led to his first soldout solo show and a slew of opportunities that most up-and-coming artists could only imagine. Though I had missed the concert due to a prior journalist engagement, after an exchange of direct messages with the man himself - I found myself ushered into an afterparty event that was like no other.
The Famed Odd Cookie Bakery was set for Yumz's new music video.
KB McIntosh: What made you decide to shoot a music video directly after the concert?
Yumz Awkword: I'm big on "when you see an opportunity, take the fuck out of it". To get people in the same place to be in a music video and have the perfect place. Shout out to Odd Cookie for allowing us to shoot here.
Yumz Awkword: I was like, "we'll have everyone in one place," and all my people showed up - CHRM, BAEGOD, Sbvce, Jazz, all of them, you feel me? So, you know, everyone out here.
KB McIntosh: For any up-and-coming artists in Sacramento, North Carolina, or wherever. Are there any words of wisdom you can impart to them?
Yumz Awkword: Just keep going. No matter what. No matter what scene is supporting or how many times you got to switch it up. No matter if your friends back out on you - Just keep going. Because you are the motivation.
Yumz Awkword: I think the biggest problem for artists is we're always looking for motivation, bro. We're always looking for all of that extra shit when we already got it in ourselves. So just keep doing you, and keep doing your thing. You keep believing in yourself because it is the only motivation for you.
KB McIntosh: I appreciate that, man, and I thank you so much.
Yumz Awkword: I appreciate you. Shout out to everybody that supported me, and thank you for this interview - because this helps me reach the masses more. Thank you (KB) for even being interested in doing this Big dog.
For me, Yumz Awkword is the bi-product of love from a community that isn't really easy to sway, where most artists tend to find themselves washed out to sea by the crushing wave known as Sacramento - like his song "Surf" from his 2021 project The Villian Arc, "when you hop out on this wave, you either bail or you gon surf" and to me, that's a reflection of his tenacity, and for Yumz Awkword it's nothing but clear water.
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