I remember the first time I saw footage of a Young B battle. It was his King Of The Dot tryout in June 2013. I wrote a small review of it that ended with the words “keep an eye on this guy.”
I remember the first time I saw Young B battle live. It was in a small room in Oakland against AB Hogish in October 2013. In my event recap, I said he had one of the best angles of the night and praised his ability to get the whole crowd laughing.
I remember the first time I saw Young B battle live on a main stage. It was in Atlanta against B Magic in front of Snoop Dogg, Nelly and a room packed with VIPs at Gladiator School in September 2014. He was incredible and had a standout performance on a card that featured tons of top tier emcees.
Photo by James Kreisberg for BattleRap.com.
I remember the first time Young B came into the BattleRap.com office for an interview. We sat and chatted for an hour. I knew going into our talk that he was funny and friendly but I didn't realize until after how deep of a thinker he was.
I remember the last time I saw Young B. It was in the parking lot after we watched Dizaster vs. Cassidy the day after “Ether" in Los Angeles. He told me how surprised he was to have so many people recognize him over the course of the weekend. He said he hadn’t realized how popular he actually was until that event.
Photo by Valerie Sakmary for BattleRap.com.
Since he passed, it’s become even more clear how popular he was. His face has been all over the Internet all week and tributes to him have poured in from all over the world, from England to Alaska.
The key to all of the moments I’ve listed above is that Young B was memorable. He left an impression on everyone who watched his battles online or who met him at an event. The memory of his quick smile, his sense of humor and his sheer enthusiasm will stay with us all.
From the beginning, Young B was always a star. It just took the rest of the world a bit of time to realize it.
RIP to him and condolences to his friends, his family and his community.
UPDATE: Young B's murder is still unsolved. The LAPD is offering a $50,000 reward in relation to the case.
What memories do you have of Young B? Leave them in the comment section below.
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