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Who is Kentrell Gaulden (aka Youngboy Never Broke Again)?

CMS 120A Capstone Project

Sat, May 1st 2021 01:25 pm

By Caleb Kornaker

Special to Niagara Frontier Publications

Who is Youngboy Never Broke Again?

Kentrell Gaulden, the famous rapper, singer and songwriter from the slums of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, has consistently been releasing music under the name Youngboy Never Broke Again, since the age of 14. Many of Youngboy’s followers often refer to him as the unofficial “King of YouTube',' as he consistently appears as one of the most viewed artists on YouTube charts every month.

With the large social media platform Youngboy has constructed over the years came the spotlight of being famous, which has brought a lot of unwanted attention toward his criminal record. Due to the prominence of many negative articles surrounding Youngboy’s recent arrest found all over the internet, his perceivable positive character traits are now even more hidden behind the negative connotation in which his mugshots tend to allude his image to. Beyond Youngboy’s reoccurring record of criminal charges, lies an ambition-filled entrepreneur who has successfully constructed his brand, Never Broke Again, from the bottom up.

With regard to Youngboy manifesting his own brand, he has displayed an exceptional visionary mindset while establishing the creative process behind his Never Broke Again merchandise.

While debating with digital freelancer C. Caccamise on the difficulty of selling merchandise online, he states, “Selling any form of merchandise virtually is extremely tricky to learn as there are tedious different steps, which all require a unique skill set. The first step requires a creative mindset where you must cater towards the liking of your target audience with respect to designs and colors. Once the design is finalized and a sufficient inventory is stocked, in order to boost sales, the implication of Google Analytics along with applied critical thinking is then used to determine which items are succeeding and which are not.”

Since Youngboy pieced together his brand at such a young age of only 18 years old while at the same time being a high school dropout, he seemingly defied all odds that were set in front of him where nobody could stop his motivational drive to work except for himself.

Youngboy is unique in comparison to other members of the rap game, due to his seemingly never-ending rapid production of songs that he has been maintaining over the past three years. In order keep this up, Youngboy maintains a disciplined mindset of pushing through all of the hard work without taking any shortcuts, in efforts for higher-quality productions with greater rewards. It is important to note that, at only 21 years of age, Youngboy has put his blood, sweat and tears into writing and producing roughly 350 songs, which brought his net worth, as of 2021, up to $8,000,000.

Evidently, Youngboy has engaged in criminal activity, but do his previous actions fully characterize who he is today?

While applying this question upon interviewing B. Johnson, a Niagara University student who grew up in the inner city of Rochester, he said, “I most definitely do not think that Youngboy’s criminal record should hold any permanent-negative weight against his character, due to the fact that I have seen first-hand accounts of caring and compassionate people make one bad mistake, and then within the blink of an eye, they are heading full steam down the wrong intended path. On top of that, there are also countless external factors which lead to inner city crime such as the desire for unattainable materialistic goods and the lack of role models within children’s lives.”

Youngboy’s own father is currently serving a 55-year sentence in jail due to an armed robbery gone wrong, along with his mother being out of the picture. This forced him to grow up under his grandmother’s roof and influence. The same general premise of Youngboy growing up during his teenage years without the presence of a parental role model to look up to is the No. 1 risk factor leading to juvenile criminal activity. Youngboy being placed in a setting surrounded by prevalent gang activity with little to no guidance from parental figures most definitely provides some sense of reasoning and justification as to why and how he entered the life of crime at such a young age.

Coming from Baton Rouge, a city whose own police department predicted a whopping total of 77 homicides for the year of 2021, it is not that often to see many celebrities arise out of dire circumstances similar to the way Youngboy did. Since Kentrell exerts sympathy for people in poverty due to his own personal hardships he endured during his upbringing, he has put forward various acts of kindness in order to give back to the community where he was raised.

WATCH:

Youngboy was randomly spotted and recorded while handing out plates of food at a homeless shelter in his hometown, where he displays high levels of courtesy and compassion for those who aren’t as privileged.

While speaking to Niagara University Scholar, M. Bartus regarding Youngboy’s acts of community service, he states, “The fact that Youngboy himself doesn’t publicize his good deeds shows a lot about his character and how he stays true to himself. I honestly think that, in today’s world, this is very rare to come about, since most other celebrities tend to record their kind actions in order to improve their own personal image.”

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uK4lFvS5lDM

Youngboy has also been recorded handing out turkeys on thanksgiving at Kingpin Autosports in Gonzales, Louisiana.

Regardless of his fame, Youngboy shows copious amounts of discipline as he sets aside his personal aspirations and self-indulgences of thanksgiving, in order to assist those in actual need and to spread love to his fans.