Features : From East Texas, Young Wag brings “Keep Quiet” and blue collar trap out to the world

Texarkana, a city that straddles the Texas-Arkansas border, is not the first place that comes to mind when the subject is rap music.

Young Wag, William Stoker, creator of blue collar trap, knows all that.

“It's not,” he said. “It's really a country-blues area, but as far as rap, man, there are a lot. I mean, I'd say over 100 artists, male and female rappers. We just haven't had anyone blow up out of this area yet.”

Along with his plans to advance his own music, he hopes to help get for his region the musical recognition it should have. His latest single, “Keep Quiet,” drops August 27.

“This is a melting pot of a lot of different genres, different type of artists, and I just don't think we get the coverage that we deserve,” he said.

Asked to describe trap and blue collar trap, he has two things in mind. One is business and the other is musical. For business, the first word that comes to his mind is “hustle.” Trap, and trapping, in relation to rap, has long been associated with the drug trade, but trapping in a more southern sense means making money legally.

“Nowadays, we say we're trapping our clothing line, our music, our business. It's just, actively getting to the money,” he said. “I have a business. I get up every morning and what inspires me is that I can get up and get in the world. I find a way to get customers and get return customers. So to me, I'm still trapping.”

That applies to his air conditioning, refrigeration and appliance repair business, and it applies to the business of music, which he started in 2020.

Young Wag and rap music were born about the same time. Rap has been part of his musical roots from his earliest days, along with a lot of other styles. Part of that is due to his grandfather, Big Daddy Griff, who was a legendary DJ in the Dallas-Texarkana region.

“He did blues and soul, and so I grew up on that obviously, and church, and I also grew up on rap whenever I could find it, whenever I could hear it. I grew up on a little bit of everything.”

That includes some country. Some of his music has a definite country sound to it. Portions of “Dope Game” and “Deep South” mix in a decidedly country sound along with the beats and the rap.

When that is pointed out, he said, “See? That’s kind of what I told you about this melting pot. You know, I'm down here in the country. A lot of my friends come from all different backgrounds. They're not just, you know, one race. And I enjoy all music. Like I said, my grandfather was a DJ, so I know more music than I can recite who sings the songs.”

His favorites from the rap he grew up on include Lil Wayne, Common, Ludacris, Tupac and Biggie Smalls. From Common he got the motivational influence and from rappers like Ja Rule he got the music that mixed rapping with singing.

A lot of his music carries a message. He says he comes from the era of message music, “So it's kind of hard for me to make a song and not have a message of some sort.”

“Keep Quiet,” for instance, was written during a period when, he said, “there were a lot of cases going on with artists getting locked up. I’ll just say that.”

“It was just really one of those fun songs to just kind of talk about what's going on in the world, and, not really poking fun at anybody, but saying don't sit here and talk about it, because you're not in that situation and y'all would have done that if you had to. I'm talking a little noise, but I'm not talking to, you know, hate stuff.”

He outsources his beats but writes all his lyrics and does his own background vocals (“Keep Quiet” features Uno Loso). He writes every day. He listens to the beats and writes what the music brings into his head.

“If I like it, I say it. If I don’t, I’ll erase it.”

He has been on tour and has a show coming up in Fort Smith. He has just returned from some shows in Dallas.

An album is in the future, he said, but first there will be another single, “Come Up,” probably at the end of next month. That will feature Bo-Leg, a Dallas legend, he said.

The overall message of his music is, he said, “Get up. Hustle. Achieve your dreams. I just want to motivate people to get up, grind, stop the killing, stop the stealing, love your family, fear God but respect Him, and let's just grow.”

Stay connected to Young Wag and follow him on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

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