An Interview With YTB Fatt, the Hardest New Rapper Out of West Memphis

Eric Diep links up with YTB Fatt to talk about dedicating his latest project to his late brother, being embraced by Memphis OGs, giving back to his community and more.
By    August 28, 2024

Image via Alex Figs


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Eric Diep lives to blog another day.


YTB Fatt is intimately familiar with death. The memories are vivid. Fatt recalls eating cereal with his cousin Zai in South Memphis when he was 15 years old. They exchanged “I love yous.” It was any other day. Fatt says his cousin was just going to change clothes and come back. Noticing he left his bowl, he put the bowl in the sink. Once he got a call from a friend that he got killed in the streets, he remembers racing to West Memphis to see his body lying on the ground.

Twenty-three now, Fatt’s relationship to loss has driven him to get sober; the pain he endured in the trenches became his motivation to create some of the most honest hymns in Southern hip-hop. Not only does he pay tribute to passed loved ones with tattoos or eulogies, he also samples the songs they used to listen to together. One of his late aunties put him on to artists like Usher, Juvenile, and Tyrese. “When I play that, that’s who I think of,” Fatt says. “That’s my momma, her sisters, all of them. My momma had it hard also, so we be playing them music and I’m thinking to myself, ‘Damn, I’m finna remix this shit.’ I don’t be trying to remix this shit, but when I hear beats, I just go.”

On Zai, his July mixtape, is one of the most cutting street records of 2024. Here we have an upstart rapper from West Memphis, signed to Moneybagg Yo’s Loaf Boyz label, boasting a Memphis drawl with a Midwestern sound. His best moments feature cavernous bass and sinister raps about grinding, saying fuck the other side, and living with the peace he’s found after surviving duress. His voice cuts through with a raspy delivery as he’s “knee deep” in the “fox shit.” With Fatt, it’s not the chase for cosigns or acclaim, it’s all about a dedication to breaking his family’s generational curses. He’s made ends meet by gambling big during dice games and locking in the studio for over 100 days straight. He’s stunted with cash, jewelry, and big mansions on social media, but fears returning to empty pockets and grief.

On this August day, Fatt calls from his home studio, fresh off getting three foxes tatted on his right arm. He’s working on the deluxe to On Zai, an additional five tracks with one featuring Lil Dann, which he says will be songs about what’s happening in his life right now.

“I’m finna let these folks know what I’m going through,” Fatt says. “Not on the pain side, but through the gangster side. Fuck who? Shit, who we don’t fuck with. I’ma let it be known.”



How did you put together On Zai?


YTB Fatt: It was so live creating the album. I brought everyday hood vibes to the studio. Before I needed peace to make music and shit, but on the outside of the booth I got the studio looking like the hood. I got the studio looking like the trenches. I still got dice games going on. Typical hood shit and on the block. I be having the studio looking like that so I can make the music I need to make.


You recently got three foxes tatted. What else have you got?


YTB Fatt: I got Foxes. I got my manager Dan Joe tattooed on me. I got Dan Joe whole body on me and his name above me. I got Foxes on me. I got my hood on me. I got Richest Fox on my back with the brick walls. And I got my brothers’ names on me. Big Fethas. My little brothers. Bagg. Loaf Boyz. I just got everything that’s surrounded by me. I gotta get that all on me. I’m finna get a lot of portraits too, a lot of faces.


Let’s go back to your early days before the success. Bankroll Freddie is someone who supported you coming up.


YTB Fatt: That’s big brother.


How did you two meet?


YTB Fatt: I was in Memphis. Everyday, I was hanging around his brother. His brother is named Slick. One weekend, Bankroll, he had like four shows. It was going crazy. So Slick put me on the road. So I built my bond with Bank, brought my guys around, and formed a real team. We was deep on the road.


Did he bring you on tour?


YTB Fatt: Yup, we did club shows in 2022. We went to a lot of states. I don’t be talking, especially when a higher power in the room, higher than me. I just be quiet and just watch. When we were spending our time together, I was talking though. I was just mostly watching, sitting up, learning.


During that time, you weren’t making music yet? You didn’t have any songs out?


YTB Fatt: Yeah, I had some little songs out. I was around the streets still when I was around Bank. That’s how I really worked my magic. Everybody was around. Some folks were just around. I almost felt like if I’ma be around, I’m finna be doing something.


Right, you don’t wanna be standing around doing nothing.


YTB Fatt: Hell yeah. Before Bank and everybody went to the shows, everybody met downstairs in the lobby. I have a video man downstairs to shoot all the videos and get all this shit, recording all the cars. He had like a blue fleet like how I got my car. His shit was all blue. So I was getting on that in there.


When did you make “Shot Off Gumbo?”


YTB Fatt: The day I met Bagg, two to three days later I made that song. They were talking about a weed strain. That weed wasn’t named yet. I go make a song, that’s what they named the weed. And we released it. I had no clue it would [go crazy]. I just know how hard a n***a wanted it. Right now, I’m still trying to treat it like back then. A n***a gotta go far.


You had these other songs too. You had “I Told You That” and “In My City.”


YTB Fatt: “I Told You That” was crazy. We was just talking about this. We got chased by the police in that video. That shit was so fucking crazy. We got chased by the police. Motherfuckers got chased by dogs. All types of shit. Shootout that day. Wild kind of shit. That just makes a n***a cherish these times so much, a n***a has been at the bottom for a while, so a n***a can never forget about the bottom.

That is going to make a n***a know, ‘Aight, I know where I come from so I can’t fuck this shit up. I’ma be right back [where I came from].’ On God, that’s what make a n***a cherish this. This is gonna make a n***a cherish the times. Like, okay, ‘I know I can’t make this move, I’ma go right back to jail where I was just at. They gonna be shooting at my ass every day.’ I’m just blessed though for the most part.


What about “In My City?” And putting that song together?


YTB Fatt: “In My City,” I remember that day like it was yesterday! Bank gave me a BKM chain that night. I said, ‘Man, I got a video shoot.’ He said, ‘Man, pull up on me I’ma give you a BKM chain for the video.’ I said, ‘What?’ So he was like an hour away, but the video shoot in like 30 minutes. Shit, we made the hour drive. It was another hour to get back. We shooting the video on the way there and the way back. We had to make this shit work.

Man, for real. Cause back then we didn’t have a cameraman that was with you 24/7. So when he pull up, you gotta really get your hours cause you paying [for it]. Video like $400, $500. Videoman probably gonna be there for two hours, 30 minutes cause the videoman don’t want to get caught up with what we got going [on]. Cause we got to make sure he stays safe cause this just is just a regular guy who ain’t in the street shit. By keeping him safe, we gotta make this happen fast. So nothing pop off. So just a lot going on around that time. But I’ll never forget it.


Since signing with Moneybagg, how has West Memphis embraced you?


YTB Fatt: You know, you got a couple of them coming at your gut, that want to hurt you. I’d say it’s a 60/40 split. 60 [percent] of them hate you and want to hurt you. But 40 [percent] of them just really love you and really love what you did, knowing where we came from. That other 60 percent know where we came from. They know. You still got some men ain’t got no understanding. The whole time they really want to thank you and just salute you but they just in they gut to where they can’t. At the end of the day, the objective is ‘I gotta get him outta here. I gotta hurt him.’


How does that even make you feel? You work so hard to get out.


YTB Fatt: It make me feel like I wanna go back to see how it is looking like right now. I want to go back home and do school giveaway drives. You know how you got a goal? Say your goal is ‘Aight, I want a new pair of shoes, I gotta get these shoes.’ Man, in the city? That’s some guy’s goal like, ‘Man, I gotta get this dude. I just like these shoes.’ Oh my life. ‘I gotta really help my momma, that’s my momma. That’s my goal.’ Some n***a’s goal, I gotta get this dude. I gotta hurt this dude. This dude is me.


You still want to give back? That’s still your intention?


YTB Fatt: I want to give back, bad. I want to buy the whole block. I want to buy about seven houses on the block. If I buy a house and let you move in it, them knowing I own this house, they’ll get so mad to the point you have nothing to do with it. You just live in this house. They’ll come and shoot this house up anyway just to destroy the light. Even though you’re just a regular civilian. You don’t know what is going on.


What keeps you motivated to give back to the community, want to buy blocks, and remain a light?


YTB Fatt: Me knowing where I come from. Me knowing that I couldn’t do this shit at first. I remember one time…I think my grandma needed a new radiator in her van. This shit was two and a half years ago. This shit was $60. Nobody, on my life. Call the dudes who had money, they was selfish. A n***a couldn’t get the radiator. Whole house couldn’t [get the money together]. This shit was rough. We couldn’t get the antifreeze or the radiator. This was our van, this is how we were moving around.


You’re from West Memphis. For people unfamiliar, what’s the difference between the north, east side, and south Memphis?


YTB Fatt: South Memphis, North Memphis, East Memphis. I say that’s probably 17 minutes from West Memphis where I’m from. It’s a bridge that divides it though. Bridge probably eight minutes to get over, five minutes to get over. Everything is set up differently. At the end of the day, everybody beefing with everybody. Memphis and West Memphis are just alike. West Memphis is just way smaller. I’d say South Memphis is half of North Memphis is the whole West Memphis.


Why do you think everyone is beefing? Is it generational? Where do you think it stems from?


YTB Fatt: For the most part, it is generational. I’m talking about real generational like once before all this, we was five years old and shit. But motherfuckas ain’t five years old no more. We grew up to just hate certain sides. Certain sides, a n***a was cool with some of these men on these sides but in our hearts it is all big hugs and and big brothers on some shit like, drilling in our head like shit, ‘These the folks here to watch out for.’


Do you think there will be a resolution in the future?


YTB Fatt: Believe it or not, the only thing that slows shit down is when the feds come. And that’s for the moment. It slows shit down for a couple weeks. When the feds leave, this shit is back bussin’. This shit back on. I swear, feds come clean shit up though. Feds make you come change your life, talking about I’ve seen men go to church after the feds come, talking that holy spirit. I love West Memphis though. It made me who I am, and taught me what I know.


Are you at a point in your life when you want to leave the street life?


YTB Fatt: Hell yeah. Man, I just put my niece in private school. Man, I can’t believe this shit. I never knew it would come to this point in life where the private school is around the corner. Man! This shit crazy.


You share on social media that you still talk to people behind the wall. Why is that?


YTB Fatt: You got too. ‘Cause shit, all my friends who are gone they didn’t have nobody they could call to show them 200, 300 thousand, a lot of chains, and shit like that. They just had to do their time. They didn’t have no rich friend. They had to ask their momma, $20 here and there. Shit, some of their mommas dead. Some of them got nothing, I’m talking about nothing. No dad, no mommas. Only child, living with his friends. I come from that.

I’m fortunate enough to have my momma and dad though and a house over my head. I had a house over my head until we were about 19 cause my house burned down. I’m talking about all my clothes, all my socks, all my draws. I had nothing until 19 to the end of 21. Probably two and a half years. I had to rebounce. Live with little cousin. My other homeboy. My grandma house sometime. She get tired of me sometime, I go back down the street. Shit, I had to switch it up. Swear to God. But that made me who I am though. That’s why I never forget the bottom and I never play with the top so I see myself going 25 more years in this shit, as long as I move right.


I honestly think you’re moving right. You’re connected to people who still fuck with you since day one. And then at the top is the Moneybagg Yos, the Yo Gottis, all those people. They fuck with you too because you’re real.


YTB Fatt: Yup. That’s why I got to always remember that. When some guys make it out, they feel like they the man and shit. They feel like, ‘Oh, I’m rich. I don’t gotta [do that].’ So by me not feeling like that, back around Bagg and Gotti, ‘Hell nah, I can’t settle. I gotta stay humble. Hell nah. I can’t talk shit yet.’ Even though a n***a got rich, but man I don’t see myself doing it. Shit, I still see the homeless and say, ‘Yes sir. Yes ma’am.’


I want to talk about On Zai. Who is Zai and why did you want to dedicate the album cover to him?


YTB Fatt: He played a real role in my life. He’s my ride-or-die, my big brother. It’s hard to describe. It happened right up the street at 15 years old. This was the first guy that I have seen die. Like, ‘Okay, this shit is real.’ He ain’t the first one to die, but he’s the first young n***a in West Memphis. Like the youngest. That shit made my head spin. That shit showed me, ‘We young, but you can still get your ass knocked off.’ That shit humbled me. When Zai died, everybody that was 14, it bothered everybody in the city. That shit fucked a lot of people up.


To honor him on the cover deserves all the respect.


YTB Fatt: I got Zai tatted on me probably like five times. Zai tattoos. My face, my arms, my hands, my back. I’m just Zai crazy. That was my guy.


On Zai has you shouting out other names too. Can you break them down?


YTB Fatt: I’m finna break it down. Trey Trey that’s my brother. Trey still in the hood. Trey Trey on my label, Foxes Only, he rap too. I’ma break it down though.

Trey Trey is Zai’s brother. Their mom and dad got married, so that’s what makes them brothers. Trey the little brother. Then you got after Zai, CB. Clark Brown. That’s our other brother. He died in the alleyway in Westwood, jumping a gate. They caught him jumping a gate. I just gave him $10 two hours before he died. On my life, I had gave him $10. 12 in the morning, 1 in the morning, something like that. Then we got Quinn, Young Q. Young Q, Young Q, Young Q. You making me reminiscent.


These are people all over the album.


YTB Fatt: Yeah, Young Q all over the album. He’s all over my body too, his face on me and all type of stuff. Young Q…that’s when I stayed with my cousins cause we all lived in the same house. My big cousin killed him in front of Young Q’s momma, my momma. We was just a real family, but before he died, he told me he loved me though. I’ll never forget that shit. Man, them telling you they love you and just God grab them then. Just God grab ’em. After a man get shot, you right beside him. His whole neck blown off, but he tell you he love you though. Honestly, that’ll fuck your head up.

I dealt with that. Then, a week before I got signed, my Auntie Keisha, she on my face. That’s Young Q’s momma. She saw him die. So a week before I got signed, she got killed on me. I had to go identify her body. They called me because she was purple so nobody could [be like], ‘Okay, this Keisha.’ So when I pulled up, man, oh my God. That fucked me up. And earlier before that, she asked me to pay her phone bill. It was like $40. And I said, ‘No.’ But I still be asking myself why I said no. I be asking myself why did I say no all the time. ‘I don’t know TT, are you finna pay your phone bill or are you finna go buy some drugs? Sorry to say, but I gotta be honest.’

Matter fact, rewind a month after that, boom, my Aunt TT died. 30 days later, my brother Yas. Yas, he tatted on me. We in the studio, we counting $40,000 in the money counter. Boom. We walk out the studio go our separate ways. He tell me he love me, I tell him I love him. We just were going through a phase. We just got back cool. We was on bad terms. We just had got back together. Boom. We tell each other we love each other, he put my money in my backpack, it was like $40K. He go up the street, they put 100 shots in his car. He died.


Fuck.


YTB Fatt: Somebody has been watching us that whole night, though. They really wanted me and GCode. They really wanted my brother GCode, bad. Motherfucker wanted him bad. But we was on some fast ass shit. So the car they was in couldn’t keep up. So they got who was close to us, which was my brother. And that fucked me up. They caught him leaving the studio.

The year before that, I be rapping about GG. Jerrell. GG tatted on me eyes, face, a big part on my chest with some clouds. There was black ice on the ground. When my brother called me, he said, ‘Fatt, I got a bad feeling. I really need you to come get me. I don’t feel right.’ So I’m like, ‘damn.’ I’m probably like 25 minutes from him. But it is black ice, I’m knowing if I drive, I’m finna wreck. So I’m like. ‘I honestly can’t.’ I was in Memphis, he was in Marion. That’s like five minutes from West Memphis. Marion, Arkansas. I was shooting a video. Boom. Before the video shoot, he called me and said come get him. I said I couldn’t get him. I shot a video. During my video shoot, his little brother called me and said, ‘Aye, what GG told him come get him at, they caught him walking out the house and he got shot in the head.’


Jesus Christ.


YTB Fatt: I had to hear that during the video. Before the video, the one who died said come get me. I told him I couldn’t. This shit fucked my head up. That’s when I started smoking. See I’m three years sober now off the weed. I was on the weed, I was smoking so much. I was getting high as a mother man! Glad I stopped though. I just had to really face it all at once.


You’re a really strong person.


YTB Fatt: Hell yeah, I gots to be.


How are you dealing with it right now?


YTB Fatt: I just let it go. I just got off the lean. I’m like 37 days now. Straight lime water. Cucumber water. Lime water go crazy! I be dealing with it like that and I make my music. And I deal with it by laughing and smiling with my other brothers cause I cherish these guys. Me knowing once I hug these guys, we telling each other we love each other, me knowing where we come from, one of us sees that shit could happen. With that being said, it is sad to say. We ain’t prepared, but we know how to go about it if it happens. I got so much security right now. We got security, bulletproof [vehicles]. I just feel like we safe at the moment.


You really can’t think like that though because it is going to bring you down a rabbit hole and make you paranoid.


YTB Fatt: We enjoy this shit. We buy dirt bikes. We go skating. I’ll call a couple of females and have little parties. We be enjoying ourselves though. Go to the studio.


Thank you for sharing that about the people in your life. It must’ve been hard to witness losing all those close people to you.


YTB Fatt: Hell yeah, big brother.


Talking about the tape now, you have GloRilla on it. What’s your relationship like with her?


YTB Fatt: Glo Up, that’s my dog. I remember one time me and Glo Up had a show. I’ll never forget this shit. This was 2018 through 2019. They probably gave her $300 or $400. I’d probably say they gave me $175. We all had a show together. That shit was funny. I remember that. We all gon’ make it type [shit], that shit was live.


You and Rylo Rodriguez are on the album together too.


YTB Fatt: Rylo, he’s my brother man. We was just talking this morning. I went and bought a dirt bike. He talking about riding four wheelers. He says he is scared of dirt bikes. Me and Rylo built a bond. We built a real bond. That’s a good dude.


People are saying you and him should make a collab album.


YTB Fatt: We already got one, Godddamn it! But shit, it ain’t nothing to just really lock in and get a whole album. That shit would be so hard.


Are you pretty amazed at the people reaching out who fuck with your music?


YTB Fatt: Yeah, I fuck with Lil Yachty hard. That’s my guy. Trippie Redd, I fuck with Trippie Redd. He cool. That’s my guy. I got a lot of friends. When I was at the bottom, I was watching these guys. I’m just happy that these n***as really be checking on a n***a and calling a n***a. Meek Mill. I’m just happy that I got a bond with these guys. This shit feel good. Yo Gotti, Meek Mill, Rod Wave, Lil Meech, NoCap, Lil Baby, Lil Durk. These guys text a n***a, ‘Fox, how you doing? Just checking on you.’ Man that shit make me feel good. That shit motivation.


Does it give you validation that your hard work is paying off? That you’re part of the culture and one of the hottest rappers out?


YTB Fatt: Yeah, when I feel like that, I always think about the Goddamn bottom and that what makes me go back hard. I ain’t finna [say], ‘Ah, I’m the hottest rapper. I’m finna chill. Fuck the studio.’ Hell naw. I can’t say no shit like that. If I think I’m the hottest rapper, that’s what gonna make a n***a stay the hottest rapper.


On “On Zai Freestyle,” you rap, “I wish I could call Zai, I wish I could text young Q/I wish I could call little brother…I wish I could share my journey with my fans and let them know I ain’t a fluke.” If they were here now, what would you tell them?


YTB Fatt: Man, the shit I wanna tell them … man, I don’t even think I can say all that shit on the phone. I’m gonna be talking for a week. I’ll be talking for seven days straight. I won’t even sleep. I’m talking about 300 hours on the phone, the shit I wanna tell them. Cause it is a lot shit that wasn’t going on if they were here. A lot of shit I’m going through that I could tell my folks, but me telling them I would be more comfortable. I would be more comfortable with it. Because these guys right here they play about me. Whoever playing with me, they don’t play by me. They get mad if somebody play by me. Really all my guys like that, all my brothers like that.


What is Foxes Only and who are foxes?


YTB Fatt: It’s a hood in West Memphis called Foxwood. So as you post on the block for hours, around midnight, you’ll see running foxes. Fox family with their little clubs, the mommas. I’m talking about real, wild foxes. They only come out at night, two, three in the morning. They come from the backroad, trying to get to where they’re going. Built little homes and shit for the cubs. But they only in your hood, they ain’t nowhere else in West Memphis. Only in your hood.

‘Cause our hood connected to the back road and the back road you got coyotes. Like a big ass woods. Shit, it is Foxwood. I remember this shit like yesterday. We was so deep I didn’t want to call anybody by name. I just started saying, ‘Hey fox.’ I’m calling all the guys, a ‘fox.’ So they’re like, ‘Man, why you calling me that shit?’ I’m like, ‘I ain’t gonna lie, I ain’t finna call y’all by y’all names. And plus, we got foxes running around and shit. So shit, y’all some foxes.’ So we are all foxes.


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