Ya Boy

William Crawford (born on December 21, 1983, better known by his stage name Ya Boy), is an American rapper from the Fillmore District of San Francisco, California. He started rapping in the year 2002, with his song "16's With Me" being the first to hit it big locally. "16's With Me" was #1 on both major bay area radio stations, KMEL and KYLD for a number of consecutive weeks. It was produced by South San Francisco producer Big D The Impossible and sampled the Imperial March from Star Wars. Recently Ya Boy has gotten much underground hype from his song 100 Bars of Crack where he raps 100 bars over Dr. Dre's Nuthin' But a "G" Thang beat. It is featured on The Black Wall Street Journal Vol. 1. Even more recently, Ya Boy released "100 More Bars" which is done in the same style, but it uses the instrumental from the Jim Jones song "We Fly High". He graduated from El Camino High School in 2001. Ya Boy was given his name by his cousin Bailey (2), and was helped to develop into a rap artist by his other cousin San Quinn. In the Summer of 2005, Ya Boy released his first solo mix tape, Future of The Franchise, and it sold 10,000 copies in the first month alone. This was to be followed up by his debut album, Rookie Of The Year on Done Deal Entertainment, LLC. His album features E-40, Turf Talk, Clyde Carson of The Team (4), San Quinn and more. The first single off the album was produced by Rick Rock (2) and is titled "Step Ya Game Up." In 2006, Ya Boy began an affiliation with The Black Wall Street. The Game (2) took him under his wing and the two began to network. His affiliation with The Game (2) brought him a step higher in the rap game, as he began to collaborate with big name producers such as Jonathan "J.R." Rotem, Nu Jerzey Devil and Scott Storch to name a few. Pop star Britney Spears' ex-husband Kevin Federline called upon Ya Boy's talent for writing, and is having him write rap songs for his debut album. Since then he has left the label for unknown reasons. Ya Boy has stated in the song "Down By The Bay" saying "2006, Phat Rhat made the call, Gave me a million dollars brought me to Black Wall. And I still can't relax, told the fam i'd be back, but when I come back, I'd be back with a plaque." Starting many rumors that he will be back to The Black Wall Street Records by many fans even though the rapper is not talking about this, it is confirmed that he is talking about returning to his home San Francisco with much greater success as he believes. Even though he left to start his own label called Precise Music Group, he claims that he still is on good terms with The Black Wall street and greatly appreciates rapper The Game (2) for everything has done for him. He later on says "I have my own label Precise Music Group, Black Wall Street is my family". Ya Boy is the nephew of Phat Rat, who helped him found the Precise Music Group label, and has been helped on the music scene by his uncle. He is to release his second studio album in 2007, but it is unclear on which label. According to a recent feature on Details' website men.style.com, despite his gangster image, Ya Boy is being managed (at least in part) by Brody Jenner, star of the short-lived Princes of malibu and MTV's The Hills. He now released the single for Holla At Ya Boy produced by Cool & Dre for his self-titled album called Holla At Ya Boy. You can now hear it on his MySpace page.