Youtube personality, comedian, and social media personality better known as FreshPrinceYuup, has gained widespread popularity for his frequent videos on social media fails, struggle meals, street trivia, sketch comedy, and hilarious roasts. He was born on the south side of Chicago and grew up in the northwest suburbs of Illinois.
There’s not a day that goes by that someone mistakes him for Chance the Rapper. FreshPrinceYuup has always been creative and heavily involved in anything art. He wanted a change of scenery from Chicago and headed to California for college.
After making his comedic presence on Twitter he decided he wanted to take it to the next level and start creating content on Youtube. His YouTube career started in San Francisco while attending college for video game design at Academy Art University. He bought a cheap camera and filmed a video in his empty apartment with the help of some neighbors and schoolmates. After teaching himself some basic editing the first video he ever did amassed over 50,000 views and was even posted to WorldStarHipHop by Q. Soon after he took a break from school and moved down to San Diego. Appearing as the catalyst for his YouTube career more of his videos were being posted to WSHH and other sites leading to more traffic on his channel. He started many original series from his most popular content and his fans were quick to start submitting pictures and videos of funny fails, struggles meals, dumb tweets and facebook posts. And there’s at least one video on his channel that you can relate to and say to yourself, “that’s so me.” Not afraid to speak his mind, his delivery and edits make even somewhat serious topics hilarious such as his skit, “Guys Hate Women with Stretch Marks.” FreshPrinceYuup even goes around the United States to major cities for his Pop Quiz series. This live series involves him asking random people on the streets questions that might catch you off guard, but you should undoubtedly know the answer, however most people who answer the questions fail miserably. He has gained over 50 million views collectively through all his social and still gaining more. He just recently started a gaming channel on YouTube where he plays mostly horror games and his fans love to see him get scared.
RESPECT.: How’d you get started with your platform?
F.P.Y: started getting into twitter heavy when I moved to San Francisco for school. It was entertaining and I could post funny tweets all day. I grew a small audience on there and realized entertaining people through comedy was something I could see myself doing for fun. But you could only tweet so many words back in the day. I felt limited on how I could express my creativity/ I noticed more and more people were posting videos. So I decided to create my first video for Youtube around a trend “Things People Say”. I wanted to do something about the things that people say on twitter, since that’s where my audience was. I’ve never filmed before or even knew how to edit a video. I bought a cheap camera and filmed around my empty apartment with a few of my friends. After looking up some basic editing videos, I posted the video that night. I woke up the next morning half awake and found out Q posted my video on WorldStar.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BiFS-ktH0s1/?igshid=sagb3ra6mqev
RESPECT.: Does the notoriety come overnight or do you have to build your platform as you go?
F.P.Y: It can definitely happen overnight. It was a lot easier back in the day actually. But with all the changes in social media especially things like algorithms and engagement you def gotta adapt as you go. Videos can be a hit or miss but you gotta keep pushing. People get into the game thinking they’re gonna become a viral sensation overnight which is usually not the case. Just keep creating and being original and your handwork and talent won’t go unnoticed.
RESPECT.: Who are a few of your influences?
F.P.Y.: I’ve always loved Will Smith growing up, watching Fresh Prince. He heavily influenced my humor and comedic style. Another one is Dave Chappelle. He really made me want to start doing comedy skits. Til this day I randomly pull up one of skits and laugh my ass off. Outside of Hollywood and into the YouTube world big influences for me were Kain Carter (hotdamnirock) and Spoken Reasons. I used to watch them all the time.
RESPECT.: You started out on Twitter with skits what made you turn it up a notch to get to your next level and how are you maintaining that momentum?
F.P.Y: Twitter was just hella linear. It was just so limited back in the day. I turned to youtube to actually display my creativity visually. I look at my videos from years ago to right now and I love the progress and growth I’ve made. I maintain that momentum by jumping on trending topics and creating original series. You don’t wanna do videos like everyone else but you gotta jump on trending topics to maximize your reach. If you make videos your own way people are gonna watch. I can guarantee someone has your idea already or even filmed it but if you do it your own way and make it unique you already winning.
RESPECT.: I know a lot of people told you look like Chance the Rapper, what’s the most craziest experience you’ve had with someone telling you that?
F.P.Y: When I was filming my Pop Quiz video in downtown Chicago we had drew a crowd from all the cameras and mics. So as the crowd continued to get bigger the security came through on these Segways. Security thought I was doing some sort of unlicensed music video without their permission because some girls kept chanting “Chance The Rapper” like ten times and so they basically shut us down until we came back with a permit to film lol
RESPECT.: What keeps you motivated to work at your vision?
F.P.Y: It’s the fact that I can turn this hobby into a career. I wanna be able to wake up every day and actually LOVE my job. When I see my fans comments like “I’ve been pretty down and your videos make my day” that pushes me even more. I never knew that I could actually affect someones day in a positive way just by being myself on camera and having fun doing. I wanna my motivation and grind to motivate others.
RESPECT.: What’s the creative process like?
F.P.Y: It’s crazy because my BEST ideas at least to me lol come to me right before I’m about to go to bed. And I have to get up, open up my phone, and write these ideas down. Because if I don’t I forgot all that the next morning. Even if its just the topic of the video I’ll write it down. I’ll think of jokes, memes I can use in the video, I’ll even format it so it has a intro and a conclusion lol. Most videos I don’t write down anything and just say what comes to my head while I’m filming. But when I’m done filming its the edits that add even more comedy to the video.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BxIj8j0hheu/?igshid=1t20cab6f54az
RESPECT.: Does the thoughts of real success keep you up at night?
F.P.Y: To be honest all the time. Real success excites me. And this is something I’m passionate about. I see what others are doing in the industry and I’m like “that’s gonna be me one day” There’s gonna be up and downs. Real success doesn’t come easy. So I’m planning and grinding harder than ever.
RESPECT.: What are the rest of your plans for 2019?
F.P.Y: I plan to focus on my main channel but also my gaming channel as well. My gaming channel is a comedy channel and its already growing. I’m having fun with that and the feedback has been dope. Another big thing I’m planning to do is bring other influencers and creators into my videos. So expect a lot more funny collabs.
RESPECT.: What does RESPECT. mean to you?
F.P.Y.: I think respect comes in different forms. You and your best friend will call each other all types of names, and clown each other all day, but you still respect each other. You show your parents a different type of respect, your boss, your teacher etc. Respect has to do with your environment and relationship with that other person. But to me respect goes beyond people. Animals can be respected. Mother Earth can be respected. Did you throw your trash in the garbage or did you toss it out the window. Theirs level to it.
You can expect new skits and fresh content from FreshPrinceYuup very soon. Stay connected with him here.
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