Charlie Goldplated Breaks Back Into The Game With “Black Smoke”

Midwest rapper Charlie Goldplated, formally known as Young Focus, comes out the gate as a solo artist with “Black Smoke.”

Focusing on pure lyricism and clean-cutting bars, the 29-year-old rapper makes it clear that he’s back with a vengeance in his latest single. Formally known as Young Focus, as a member of the group The Cranberry Show, the Midwest native rapper has chosen to go the solo route and rebrand himself as Charlie Goldplated.

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His first solo track “Black Smoke” and is packed with witty wordplay that will have you scrubbing through the tune picking up pieces of bars you might have missed. Goldplated makes it clear he’s on a mission of rebirth in the rap scene and makes us believe that you can do anything you want to do in life…and begin again.

VIBE caught up with Charlie Goldplated to speak about his solo career, his new sound, and his plans for his career moving forward.

https://w.soundcloud.com/player/?url=https%3A//api.soundcloud.com/tracks/308152092&color=ff5500&auto_play=false&hide_related=false&show_comments=true&show_user=true&show_reposts=false

VIBE: How has it been recreating your image?
Charlie Goldplated: I honestly haven’t had to re-create too much. I was always myself, even inside the other entity. It’s easy for me to be me, pretending is too much work. I will say that I’ve acquired the taste for some flyer shit in life, though, so that might shine through. But that’s about it

What is your sound like now?
I feel like my sound is a lot more mature. After my Dad passed it really changed me as a man. I learned a lot about his life and things I was blind to as a kid, which is where my stories come from now. I’d say as a whole, the sound has become a little darker but a lot more lyrical.

Who produced the track?
I actually just found the instrumental on YouTube. After not rapping for years, I was looking to make a tape and didn’t really have any more connections to producers. Nobody would look out, so I went online for my fix. Hopefully, it’s not a hater out there somewhere wanting to sue me.

What are your plans going forward?
Going forward I plan to just carve my own spot. I wanna tell the stories about my family deeply immersed in the drug culture where I’m from, but in a revolutionary way. I think my full EP is going to be a wake-up call to the industry as a whole. That real rhyming shit is back. May it be on a trap beat, club beat, boom bap, or whatever. I’m here to claim whole summers.