Heart been broke so many times, I don’t know what to believe … Ahem, excuse us … Just a little Rod Wave “Heart on Ice†to mourn the loss of the YBN crew. The group’s three main rappers YBN Nahmir, YBN Almighty Jay, and YBN Cordae have gone their separate ways, the latter even dropping the crew initials from his rap name. The split was first signaled by the de facto leader and the group’s first breakout star, Nahmir, on Twitter on August 6. “They left this YBN shit in the gutter,†he subtweeted. “Remember that. I’ll turn it up myself.†In response to a fan, he replied, “Yea, it’s only me kid.†On August 16, the Grammy-nominated artist formerly known as YBN Cordae dropped the “YBN†from his Instagram, Spotify, Tidal, Amazon Music, and Twitter display names (his @ still has it, though). Some animosity detected, but if there’s any real beef, they’ve kept it offline.
The YBN (“Young Boss Niggasâ€) crew has taken on many forms over the years, but started with Nahmir and Almighty Jay on Xbox Live in 2014, when they were around 15 years old. (There are nine other members of the crew, but the trio holds it down mainly.) They found fame with their first and last full-length project, YBN: The Mixtape, in September 2018. Cordae’s “Kung Fu,†Nahmir’s “Rubbin Off the Paint,†and Almighty Jay’s “Chopsticks†all went viral. On August 11, Almighty Jay said he has new “music and direction†in a since-deleted Instagram post. And Cordae, who earned a Grammy nomination for his 2019 debut album, The Lost Boy, tweeted back in July that he’s ready to “unleash the vault.†YBN or not, new music is on its way. Their One Direction solo-career era has officially begun.