Brooklyn's own, Young M.A—which stands for Me Always—made her mark on the music scene when she went viral for her "Chiraq" freestyle, which currently has a little over 4 million YouTube views. Although, Young M.A seemed to hold her own lyrically on the track, she admitted that she gained major exposure when Dr. Boyce Watkins stirred up major controversy over her song.
"Then I looked at it as negativity, but now that I developed and everything, I kind of look at it like it's a blessing," she said. "I understand what he was saying, but I took it as—don't judge me off of one song because you're not in my shoes. You're not living and experiencing the things that I'm going through in my life."
While she's a proud lesbian, Young M.A said she felt she was targeted by the "People's Scholar" because she's a female emcee. "I felt like maybe because I'm a woman and I'm speaking like this," She said before looking at the bigger picture, "I'm just happy it happened early."