Unghetto Mathieu discusses new music and creating a lane for himself through Happy Trap.
Viral YouTuber and rising rapper Unghetto Mathieu began content creating with his brother, Viral YouTuber King Imprint, since he was only 13 years old. As Mathieu grew he eventually branched out and began content creating for his own channel in 2019 and the rest is history. While it may seem like his love for YouTube came first, Mathieu’s been writing raps since before the 5th grade. After following the success of Donald Glover’s career as Childish Gambino, Mathieu was motivated to pursue music. Mathieu joins us today to talk about his latest video for “Better Than Me” and how he predicts his own future. The “Happy Trapper” defines his genre for us as well as naming a few other artists that fall in this category of trap. Mathieu went from being depressed , working at the Dollar General to signing with Epic Records in a matter of 2 months. To find out more, check out the full interview below.
The Knockturnal: How long have you been creating content?
Unghetto Mathieu: That’s a tricky question because I been doing it since 2013 with my brother, but as far as myself, I’ve been making my own content since 2019.
The Knockturnal: At what age did you start experimenting with music?
Unghetto Mathieu: In 2015, in the 5th grade, Childish Gambino gave me the sense and idea that I could rap. His music motivated me. He showed me you don’t have to be tatted or wearing chains to be able to do this. From then I knew I wanted to do music. From that moment on I knew I wanted to do music. I would write raps, but I kept them to myself until 2015.
The Knockturnal: Did you always know music would be part of your journey? Was that always part of the plan?
Unghetto Mathieu: Music was always a part of the plan. It was somewhat intertwined in my life. Whether through dancing etc. From watching Michael Jackson performances a million times all the way until I started recording and putting out music. Music has been a big part of my life.
The Knockturnal: How does being a content creator affect your creative process when making music?
Unghetto Mathieu: I know that it does help with the fan interaction and my community because it feels more like a family rather than a fanbase. I’m able to speak to them and talk to them. It feels like their brother just put out music when I drop something. I’m able to put my song’s in my YouTube videos that way people who wanna watch me because of YouTube can hear my music in the middle of video. When they like it and find out its me then they turn into a full-on fan.
The Knockturnal: Is it hard to balance being both a YouTuber and artist?
Unghetto Mathieu: Definitely it’s super hard and time-consuming to edit these videos, people love the way I edit so I do them by myself and when you have to go to these studio sessions and photoshoots, and make, drop and promote music, it’s hard to be able to consistently drop YouTube videos and content. It’s a pick and choose with different artists that I link with because it’s like do I want to make music videos with this person or do I want to make music. Rico Nasty and Luh Kel are two of the artists I felt this way with. Lil Tecca – we talked on Instagram and I asked which video has he seen and he was like “Plastic” by you. He knew me off music and I’m thinking it’s YouTube.
The Knockturnal: What have been the 3 biggest highlights in your music career so far?
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: “Plastic” is definitely a huge highlight in my music career due to the fact that I freestyled that song in my boy’s house- 5 million views on YouTube, I‘ve never had anything perform like that. I would say major artists reaching out to me, it’s cool to know that people appreciate my artistic creations on the musical side. I’m musically talented, that’s a big part of my life. It’s awesome to know that people take me seriously. My last highlight is signing with Epic Records, that’s definitely a highlight. The way it happened is a highlight.
The Knockturnal: Can you tell us how it happened and what it feels like to be signed to Epic?
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: Long story short, I was working at a Dollar General in 2019 and Spring came about and I knew – I was depressed I did not wanna work there at all, then Summer came and all these kids were out of school and I felt like if they’re out of school then I don’t want to be at work. With no backup and about a thousand dollars, which was two months of my rent, I quit my job. My manager told me we can drop “Let You Go” and we gonna get you signed in 2 months, so I pushed that song and created all the content I could. I was out dancing to it, doing everything I could. Luckily and fortunately Zeke from Epic Records found the song from one of my breakout YouTube videos and he reached out to my email. They flew me out to L.A. and I got to meet with Zeke & Sylvia, the CEO, and I performed for Sylvia in that room did a backflip off the chair and everything, and she was blown away.
The Knockturnal: In your own words, what is Happy Trap?
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: It’s something I came up with because of my musical style and sound. It’s like the nostalgic feeling you get when you listen to the melodies of the instrumentals mixed with the modern sound of Atlanta trap today, it just comes together perfectly. It just gives you a feeling of happiness.
The Knockturnal: Which other artists fall in the Happy Trap genre?
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: I would say Lil Yachty’s in there, but there’s not a lot of happy music today. It’s a lot of hardness and emo-ness.
The Knockturnal: Talk about your new single & video “Better Than Me”
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: It’s a song I wrote – not even thinking about a girl, but just a lot of situations. Most songs I write about girls and situation got nothing to do with me, but then they end up having something to do with me which is the crazy thing so I write it for my future. I wanted to make something to show that I’m versatile and to not put me in a box so I took myself out of the box early on so I could do whatever I want. It’s a big commercial record that has a lot of potential.
The Knockturnal: What are you currently working on?
UNGHETTO MATHIEU: Currently working on the project Happy Trap- features, etc. It’s going to be a fire project. I can’t say more about it, but it’s going to be big. Worked with a few hand-picked producers who know how to make that happy trap sound.
