Linafornia easily has one of the best stories to come out of the L.A. music scene this year. The Leimert Park native was always active in the local hip-hop scene, most recently as an aspiring producer and regular attendee at the neighborhood’s storied monthly Bananas hip-hop event. But in 2013, a serious car accident put her in the hospital for two weeks and kept her away from the scene for months. It was a close call that gave her a respect for the fragility of things, and the lengthy recovery time gave her the space and motivation she needed to hone her beatsmithing skills. When Linafornia turned up again at Bananas in 2014, her beats were sharper than ever. She played her first live gig ever that summer, and now as of March, 2016, she’s taken over the decks at Low End Theory, L.A.’s famed experimental club night, scored back-to-back first place finishes at the prestigious Beat Cinema Beat Battle, and, with support from Dome of Doom, dropped her debut album. YUNG is intimate and personal, a journey through her own taste and a worthy continuation of the work done by predecessors like Madlib and Erykah Badu, who have both strongly influenced her. We met up outside a cafe in Leimert Park on a recent warm afternoon to talk about her newfound success and her plans for the future.
