“Yung Not Young”

Benjamin Talty, sophomore, also known as “Yung Salt” on the music platform SoundCloud, has released three albums over the past two years that have gained a lot of notoriety in the community.

When Yung Salt started making music, he said he didn’t really expect his music to gain such a following.

“It started off with me just having fun with my friend, and we would make dumb songs. But then I posted this one song, and surprisingly people really enjoyed it and I got quite a lot of views on it, and was told to make more songs and music.”

Salt’s first song, “Yung Salt is a Terrible Rapper”, ended up getting close to 2,000 views in early September of last year and the numbers continues to rise as he drops more songs. Salt’s three albums are constantly being talked about and among this is Salt’s most popular album,“The Adventures of Sodium Chloride” which came out in 2018.

“Hardest beat drop of the century,” said a follower on Salt’s SoundCloud.

Not only does Salt have an online presence but he is also very popular among Irvington students.  

Dedicated fan Paul Galano, junior, said, “He’s the best SoundCloud rapper I listen too, and I listen to his music everyday.”

It is hard to be a rapper and be taken seriously in the suburbs of Westchester but senior Hayden Rothman said that he “ respects the fact that he really tries to be a rapper.”

Yung Salt said he feels that his music has shaped who he has become today, and that he isn’t “Ben” anymore, his image is Yung Salt.

Salt’s raps often receives mixed reactions but that seems to be what he is going for.

“People think that I’m just a vulgar or dirty rapper, but the controversial topics that I rap about often evoke conversation in the community, which I think is a very important thing we need to have, as many people who want to express themselves through raps are behind closed [doors],” said Salt.

Although Salt’s raps contain things he are passionate about, his lyrics have actually started a feud with another rapper and student at Irvington, Noah Kossaskowy, a sophomore who goes by the name “Lil Bigfoot.”

Kossaskowy claims that the diss track about Salt had no motives behind it. “I did it because I had nothing better to do. There was literally no reason I made a diss track on him. I did it for the meme. He then wrote a diss track back and it was better than mine, so I had to delete my video,” said Kossaskowy.

Salt recognized that the Bigfoot’s song lacked quality production, but he felt disrespected by the song. Salt said that he had to have a good diss track in response to show him real quality and production.

“I had to go hard on the kid,” he said.

Salt’s inspirations include recently deceased rapper XxxTentacion.

“I idolize XxxTentacion, as the music he made really touched me deeply, and touched my soul. Xxxtentacion’s music takes rap to the next level when it comes to the different moods that his music can relate to. I try to base my music off his, adding similar flows, and try to make my flows and the way I make my music like his, so different people who have different tastes in music enjoy it.”

Salt’s musical background goes beyond rapping. Salt plays the piano and the guitar, and just as XxxTentacion is able to blend different types of musical genres, Salt plans on dropping a song that contains some more “chill vibes” soon.

Irvington kids have been a big help in spreading Salt’s music by introducing their friends to his music via social media.

“My best friend from camp lives in Irvington, and introduced me to his music. Now my friends and I listen to his music sometimes,” says  Samantha Weisman, a sophomore from Livingston High School.