In recent years, 25-year-old Bay Area — San Francisco’s Fillmore District, to be exact — artist Lil Yee has racked up millions of streams for his melodic, stylistically-diverse take on his region’s most recognizable and infectious sounds. Now, Yee is back with plans for a new studio album, Live 4 It, Die 4 It, and is introducing the effort with a video for its lead single, the Zaytoven- and Cassius Jay-produced "Red Eagle."
"The main concept is that eagles fly alone and are a rarity, similar to myself," Lil Yee tells us, breaking down "Red Eagle." "Red’s my favorite color. It symbolizes blood. I’m running my show, being the head of the house, taking care of my sisters and brothers, I did everything on my own. My mom’s passing was a touchy situation for the whole family. I couldn’t cry in front of my siblings because I was the one who was telling them that it was going to be alright. The weight on my shoulders on everyone, showed no weakness. The eagle do shit by itself."
"The production company, Redwall, drew up the concept and I felt that it matched the song perfectly," Yee adds, explaining the origins of his new single’s visual. "We sat down and chopped it up, it took awhile to plan but it ended up coming out nice. A touchy video, the best thing is to do it in B&W. Started as inspiration from Bone Thugs ‘Crossroads,’ but ended up coming up with something else."
Concerning his forthcoming project, Lil Yee explains that the title comes from a "quote about life." "Basically what you live for and what you die for," he shares. "Music is something I live for and I rap about about a lot of family is incarcerated and so in essence, I live for them too. They living for the music. I got a few big cousins in prison for life and i’m their inspiration. It’s a touchy subject for me and my family. That’s the one thing that keeps them lit. They say to me, ‘We look forward to listening to your music.’ It’s a reflection of my life, all the shit I’ve been through … I took my time with this tape so it’s personal to me. I really got to take my time with it and show my craft and uniqueness, coming from the Bay, everyone expects everyone to have this hyphy sound, you need an uptempo beat, I’m here to show that the Bay Area is diverse."
You can check out Lil Yee’s new video for "Red Eagle" above, and check out the tracklist for Live 4 It, Die 4 It below.
Lil Yee – Live 4 It, Die 4 It (Tracklist)
1) Live A Lie (Prod. by Fki 1st)
2) Sacrifice ft. FMB DZ & Lil Pete (Prod. by Helluva)
3) Out of Breath (Prod. by Hitman)
4) War Wounds (Prod. by Zaytoven)
5) Red Eagle (Prod. by Cassius Jay & Zaytoven)
6) Mercy ft. Lil Pete & E-40 (Prod. by L-Finguz)
7) Concrete Jungle (Prod. by Yk808 Mafia)
8) Designer Baby (Prod. by JuneOnnaBeat)
9) Industry ft. Mozzy (Prod. by FKi 1st)
10) Reality (Prod. by. DatBoiGood)
11) Coming Around ft. The Jacka & Boo Banga (Prod. by L-Finguz)