Issue 11

Hometown: Watts, CA ("the Jordan Downs Projects")

YMS Jay is a rapper in his early 20s out of the #JordanDowns projects of #Watts, CA. A testament to his talent and networking, YMS Jay has already established impressive connections in and out of the music industry, including with fellow Watts success stories @03greedo & @weezyhunch0.

According to Jay, ‘YMS’ stands for ‘Young Militant Shottas”— a collective of his friends growing up that includes “some who gangbang” to those who “just play football, rap, or do YouTube.”

In 2024, Jay was featured on the now infamous #Carrots Cypher alongside hip-hop icons @kalan.frfr, @john_mackk, #03Greedo, @walliethesensei, and others. The video was spontaneous, Jay says, a “spur of the moment” clip that has now stacked well over 100k views on YouTube:

“I was at Greedo’s house when they called him over to the studio and he told me I should go too, to meet this brand. But he didn’t tell me which brand it was. Shit. We got there and it’s a regular studio session with all these rappers and I saw all the little Carrots and shit. In the session they played this beat over and over. Everybody was just rapping to it and then everybody was like, ‘Fuck it, we're going to make this a cypher.’ It wasn’t planned to be a big Carrot cypher with all these rappers. It was just us in the studio. I had the best verse. I like @buddy’s verse too though. Buddy went crazy. John Mackk too."

Follow YMS JAY on Instagram at @ymsjaaay, and check him out inside UNDRGRND Magazine Issue 11 OUT NOW.