Burnt Toast · Edison Shen and Nathan Xie

Diving Deep Into the Notes

May 28, 2020·40 min·4 clips

A simple MP3 lease for a beat costs $30, but exclusive rights can run hundreds of dollars.

The episode opens with hosts Edison Chen and Timothy interviewing Daniel Hong, a teen rapper who goes by Youngha, about his music career and creative process. Daniel says music is essentially his only hobby besides video games and volleyball, and that he practices it daily. When asked about pursuing music professionally, he says he would only leave college if he was earning at least 50,000 streams per month — enough to suggest a viable path. He clarifies he would be content as a smaller artist with a modest but stable income rather than chasing mainstream fame. Daniel explains he started as a producer but found beat-making difficult to master, so he transitioned to licensing beats from YouTube creators, paying around $30 for a basic MP3 lease and noting that exclusive rights can cost hundreds of dollars. He describes the core components of a rap beat — kick, snare, hi-hat, bass, melody, and synths — and explains how producers often layer online samples with original drum patterns. His home studio setup consists of an iMac, Logic Pro X, a microphone, a keyboard, and a guitar interface, and he strongly prefers it over renting studio time, citing a bad experience with Young Cyrus where setup issues wasted an hour of paid time. On lyric writing, Daniel acknowledges the challenge of writing rap as a kid without a dangerous or traumatic background, and describes studying mainstream rap to understand audience interests while mixing in personal experiences. He admits he hasn't yet developed a unique sound and sees that as a goal for the future. His origin story traces back to a last-minute decision to attend Pacific Trails Middle School, where he met Young Cyrus, who introduced him to production and rapping and invited him into a collective called Grave Digger Gang. The group eventually disbanded due to internal beef and members he describes as fake, and Grave Digger Gang has since become a clothing brand. Daniel names Quadeca as his favorite rapper, praising his versatility across rap styles, and also cites Juice WRLD and lo-fi artist Palfu as influences. He defends autotune as a legitimate tool that fine-tunes pitch rather than replacing talent, distinguishing between stylistic heavy use and lazy overreliance. On promotion, he expresses frustration that paid promotion has overtaken talent as a driver of success, but predicts that artists who blow up without genuine skill will eventually fade. He argues that flow is the most important element of a rap song, more than lyrics or beats, though he acknowledges a great song ideally has all three. On KSI, he suggests the YouTuber-turned-rapper is carried by his featured artists, noting that KSI's solo songs have far fewer streams than his collaborations. Daniel says staying humble is important and distinguishes between having a performance character and genuinely having a big ego, warning that unchecked ego can lead to unnecessary beef. He closes by mentioning his own podcast project called Roll the Dice, a rap game show format where contestants freestyle on randomly selected topics, though its future is uncertain due to scheduling issues.

As heard by us

A candid guest spot that follows Daniel Hong from college math to the roots of his rap start.

Burnt Toast brings on artist Daniel Hong for a conversation that moves from music as a daily habit to the harder question of whether it could become a career.

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Why you'd press play

Press play if you want a chaotic rap chat that still lands on real career questions.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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