Honesty is something that comes easy to rapper Yung Delirious.
He’s calm, pleasant and chatty off stage. But he’s proud of his energetic performances, that relay — he hopes — that authenticity.
“The music is very important to me,” said Yung Delirious, born Eduardo Diodato II.
“So the way I perform is very, very important. It’s so energetic and vulnerable. My music is vulnerable. I like to connect with people, because I think the biggest thing with music is relatability. I want people to be able to relate to what I’ve been through. Maybe I can help them get through a time or escape a reality that they’re in.”
Now he’s a Grammy U ambassador and attending college, is playing Urbxn on Monday, Dec. 16, to celebrate the release of his new EP “22.”
“I think it’s the most unique music that I’ve ever released,” he said. “It’s in my own lane. I’ve been inspired by various artists throughout the years. I’ve created some really good music, in my opinion. My influences are very much outside of hip-hop. So there is electronic music, folk, even a little bit of country guitar. I have a guitar solo on there. It’s like a kaleidoscope. I’m still rapping. I’m not singing. It’s the most defined version of Yung Delirious. There’s a lot of humor on the record, too.”
The rapper spent his youth in Texas on a ranch surrounded by cowboys and country music.
“But I was always an ‘against-the-grain’ kind of person,” said Yung Delirious, who grew up a Detroit Red Wings fan. His favorite player is Lucas Raymond.
“I gravitated toward hockey. That was the one thing that no one cared about. Then I gravitated toward hip-hop music or even more like alternative rock, which nobody was listening to. I didn’t know why. When I got an iPod Shuffle in the fifth grade, I would just jam it and play songs my mom wouldn’t let me listen to. No one knew what was in my earphones.”
He was listening to the likes of Eminem, Lil Wayne and Hollywood Undead, all of whom he called his early inspirations. In junior high, he attended his first concert — G-Eazy.
“That changed everything for me,” he said. “I didn’t really know what I wanted to do. I didn’t think college was for me. I was obsessed with G-Eazy. The concert was in Houston with 4,000 or 5,000 people, who were all screaming the same words. They were listening to the same music I was listening to. I never felt that sense of community.”
His childhood wasn’t an easy road, however. When he was 6, he was diagnosed with Tourette’s. However, he overcame it unexpectedly and oddly after a trip to Washington, D.C., and New York.
“It was the first time I really left Texas,” he said. “My mom said when I came back, things were just different. I don’t know if seeing the world had something to do with her. I am an obsessive person. If I love something or even if I hate something, my mind will obsess over it.”
At 18, he joined the Army and served as a religious affairs specialist in Poland. Yung Delirious said that experience taught him discipline. His love of music was still in the back of his mind. Inspired by the likes of Eminem and Lil Wayne, he dove headfirst into music.
That vulnerability shines through in his music.
“I’m an open book,” he said. “There are a few songs that cut deeper, but I know my audience. I hope they appreciate that honesty, that vulnerability.”
Nico Jordan, Yung Delirious, Eloquant and American MXNIC
WHEN: 8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 16
WHERE: Urbnx, 2210 S. Sixth Street, Tucson
COST: $10
INFO: eventbrite.com
