The Untold Truth Of Yung Gravy

Rapper Yung Gravy debuted on the music scene in 2016 with his self-released single "Mr. Clean." The song, which samples The Chordette's "Mr. Sandman," gained traction and led to four albums, collabs with sought-after rap artists, multiple tours, and millions of fans. Not too bad for a kid from Minnesota who was an undergrad at the University of Wisconsin when he started making tracks.

Yung Gravy, who went from hiding his rapper identity in order to keep a job at a venture capital firm to making out with moms on the MTV red carpet, is taking his fame in stride. The 26-year-old doesn't hold back in either his song lyrics or in his interviews. Gravy told Substream Magazine, "Obviously there's been a lot of times where people have been like, 'Whoa, dude, like, are you really gonna say that?'" Well, the answer is, yes, he sure is. This is the untold truth of Yung Gravy.

Yung Gravy, a native of Rochester, Minnesota, attended the University of Wisconsin and graduated in 2017 with a degree in marketing. "It was a pretty crazy last semester," the rapper told UW alumni mag OnWisconsin. At that point, Yung Gravy's career had begun to take off, and he found himself having to juggle homework with travel to meet record execs. While still an undergrad, he was signed to Republic Records, a label owned by Universal Music Group. The label boasts mega-stars like Ariana Grande, Taylor Swift, Florence + The Machine, Drake, and Post Malone.

Although it seems like it would be tempting to leave college behind after such a big break, Yung Gravy decided to stick it out and graduate. "I wanted to say I did it," he told OnWisconsin. "But I also knew my mom would want me to." Gravy credits his college major with giving him some insight into the music industry. "A lot of the business and marketing stuff has really stuck with me and helped me," he told the alumni magazine. "I've always been very particular with imagery and branding."

Given the way his career has blown up, its hard to imagine Yung Gravy doing anything other than making music. But he did have some other ideas in mind. He told Substream Magazine, "I wanted to be a pilot at one point. I thought about that. But I didn't end up studying [that] in school." Yung Gravy was also rather savvy when it came to business, even at a young age. In an interview with VLAD TV, he revealed, "My hustle in high school was I'd convert the smart kids into weed smokers and then sell them $60 eighths." Perhaps a little shady, but enterprising all the same.

Yung Gravy's business sense stayed with him throughout college, where he worked for a venture capital company. "I was doing all the branding for these smart people that weren't good at branding," he told Substream. The company ended up offering him a position running one of their other offices. "I had a job lined up. But I probably would have ended up just doing some other, like, entrepreneur-type move because that's what I ended up liking the most."

Yung Gravy is not the only member of his family to make a significant mark on the world. His father, Peter Hauri, was a respected psychologist, and one of the first to research the mechanics of insomnia. He even wrote a book on the subject titled "No More Sleepless Nights" and was the director the Mayo Sleep Disorders Center (via Boston.com).

Peter Hauri was also an inventor, according to his son. In an interview on the Zach Sang Show on TikTok, Yung Gravy explained, "One notable thing that probably everyone can relate to is my dad, at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, helped invent on the side of the road the little bumps. It's for if you fall asleep while driving and you start veering off it makes that noise and you wake up." The little bumps are known as rumble strips, which can be life-saving.

Peter Hauri was born in Switzerland, and so Yung Gravy has dual Swiss American citizenship. Sadly, Hauri passed away at the age of 79 after an injury caused by a fall. Yung Gravy seems happy to keep his father's legacy alive, speaking about him in interviews and noting his impressive achievements.

In 2020, Yung Gravy released the single "Martha Stewart" off his album "Gasanova." When asked by Substream Magazine to talk about the song, Yung Gravy spoke about his affinity for the iconic lifestyle maven. "Martha Stewart is just the embodiment of everything Gravy, like everything that I rap about. Like she hangs out with cougars -– well you hear it in the lyrics but -– hangs out with cougars in the kitchen, self-made, I'd set all my songs self-made, went to jail briefly." He added, "Martha Stewart's a hustler! It's just very fitting." In addition to writing a song about her, Gravy has Stewart's signature tattooed on his bicep. "I asked her to sign me," he told VLAD TV. He clarified that she didn't pen her autograph directly onto his arm, but on a piece of paper which he used as a stencil for the tattoo.

It seems the admiration is mutual, as Martha Stewart herself used the song in a commercial for her Martha Stewart Kitchen collection. The spot features Stewart Facetiming Gravy for help in finding the right song for her presentation. Of course, he has the perfect suggestion, and Stewart is seen dancing around the kitchen to the tune named after her. Yung Gravy claims he and Stewart are now friendly, telling VLAD TV, "But now we're tight ... we watched The Kentucky Derby together ... I performed at a bat mitzvah and she was my date. It was lit."

Between his song lyrics and public declaration of his love of MILFs, it's no secret that Yung Gravy has a preference for older women. In July 2022, Gravy began an online flirtation with Sheri Easterling, mother of influencer Addison Rae, which seemed to escalate fairly quickly. The two initially connected via TikTok, then began communicating regularly.

In August 2022, Gravy appeared on the "BFFs Podcast," telling Dave Portnoy, "She basically showed some love and DM'd me at one point ... so I started showing some love back and now we're just being cute." He said of 42-year-old Easterling, "We're making videos back and forth and sending little wholesome DMs."

Easterling is estranged from her husband, Monty Lopez, and the two seem to have a contentious relationship. Gravy addressed the situation on "The Zach Sang Show," saying, "[Sheri] hit me up and was like, 'Don't get involved,' so I'm steering clear." But the problems in Easterling's marriage were not enough to keep Gravy away from his new crush.

On August 28, 2022, Yung Gravy and Sheri Easterling had their first date, which just so happened to be right in the public eye, at the MTV Video Music Awards. The pair showed up together, in full PDA mode, making out and smiling for the cameras. Gravy performed his latest single, "Betty (Get Money)," during the VMAs pre-show, but found time to give interviews about his relationship with Easterling. He told MTV, "I'm into MILFs and she's kind of the queen of MILFs, so I figured it was just a perfect match" (via People).

While the couple looked happy together, their presence caused a lot of controversy. A tweet from What's Trending read, "We would not want to be [Addison Rae] today as she's trending alongside her mom ... Sheri is causing quite the internet stir after attending the [VMAs] as [Yung Gravy's] date and showing lots of PDA on the red carpet." The tweet prompted Gravy to stick up for Easterling, retweeting the post and saying, "She's newly single and living her life. Leave her alone lol."

So, are these two for real or is the relationship manufactured for publicity? A source told Page Six they believe it's the latter. The source, apparently someone close to Yung Gravy, claimed, "It's a PR relationship. It's kissing, but it's not real." The source added that Gravy usually dates "young f***ng blonde girls ... I don't think he's just lusting after older ladies in real life." Perhaps time will tell.

Yung Gravy's music is pop sample-heavy with a modern trap twist. The contrast inherent on many of his tracks begs the question: who are Yung Gravy's musical influences? According to NME, Gravy had a diverse listening list, including classic crooners like Dean Martin to hip-hop groups like Three 6 Mafia. In an interview with VLAD TV, Gravy said that he discovered a lot of music by falling into rabbit holes on YouTube. "What, like, hit the hardest for me was soul and a lot of that stuff from the '70s [and] '60s."

As far as rap influences go, Gravy counts Chief Keef, Curren$y, and Tupac among his favorites. He told Substream, "... but I also listened to a ton of soul music and funk, so it's kind of all over the map. I really liked Earth, Wind & Fire-type artists. Patrice Rushen is a good one that I've always loved and have sampled a few times."

Of course, there once was a time when Yung Gravy was simply known by his birth name, Matt Hauri. When asked by The Wake how he got his moniker, Gravy explained the story, saying, "I used to freestyle with friends in high school. I had a few names: Mr. Butter, Lil Steamer, Jimmy Continental. I had a lot of names, but one time, I rapped a line about 'wavy' and 'gravy,' and it just kind of stuck." He added that Yung Lean was the influence behind the spelling of his name.

Gravy explained further in The East Carolinian, "I was 'Mr. Butter' at one point. I was like, 'Mr. Butter' isn't obviously a rapper name, so I got to go with something that's more rapper friendly and gravy just is smooth so that was that," he said. While Mr. Butter certainly has a nice ring to it, Yung Gravy seems to have made the right choice with a name that fits his genre of music.

Seeing as how Yung Gravy rose to fame through releasing songs on the music sharing website Soundcloud, it stands to reason that he'd have a large online following. As of September 2022, Gravy has 379,000 followers on Twitter, 2 million on Instagram, and a whopping 6.7 million followers on TikTok. Additionally, Gravy's YouTube channel has 1.57 million subscribers. The rapper seems to be very active on each of his platforms, creating new content regularly, promoting his music, and even interacting with fans.

Gravy told NME, "I really like meeting fans, a lot of them are down to earth." He went on to say that he feels as though having such a visible online presence has more perks than it has drawbacks. "Overall, there's not a lot of downsides other than Monty [Lopez], Addison Rae's dad wanted to fight me," Gravy said. He was referring to a TikTok video in which Monty Lopez challenged him to a boxing match. Yung Gravy was unconcerned, telling NME, "That sh** was just f***ing entertaining ... I feel really bad for his daughter because he was really embarrassing."

In the spring of 2022, Yung Gravy joined the band Limp Bizkit on their "Still Sucks" tour. Gravy opened up for the group at seven of their shows and counts it as a very positive experience. He told NME, "The band is really cool and [frontman] Fred Durst is such a nice guy." He went on to discuss how Limp Bizkit's fanbase differed from his own, explaining, "Their fans are a lot older [than my fans], they're in their mid-thirties and every day when I would go on stage as one of the openers, they'd be like 'ok, who is this guy?'" Still, Gravy enjoyed the challenge of winning over an audience who was unfamiliar with him, ultimately making new fans in the process. 

It seems as though Gravy and Durst got along well, with Durst giving Gravy a valuable piece of advice. Gravy said, "Fred Durst, he was like 'man don't get too into drugs. That's what everyone says, and that's what I'd say to anyone else [because] I've had phases before when I was too into drugs and drinking." Seeing as how Limp Bizkit is still together and touring since forming in 1994, Durst's advice might just be the key to longevity in the temptation-laden music industry.

While Yung Gravy's song lyrics often skew toward the comical, his work ethic is no joke. Since the 2016 release of "Mr. Clean" on Soundcloud, the rapper has released a plethora of singles, EPs, and albums. The EPs include 2016's "Mr. Clean," 2017's "Yung Gravity," 2018's "Snow Cougar," and 2022's "Cake and Cognac." Gravy's albums include 2016's "Thanksgiving's Eve," 2019's "Sensational," and 2020's "Baby Gravy 2" and "Gasanova."

In addition to making music, Yung Gravy has been steadily touring since 2018, performing across North America as well as the U.K. Even with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing a wrench into touring plans in 2020, Gravy has performed hundreds of shows, with more to come. According to the rapper's own website, Creamium.net, he is set to embark on yet another North American tour, with dates in the U.S. and Canada, in the fall of 2022. Most of the dates listed are already sold out.

Anyone who has seen a Yung Gravy performance knows the rapper favors a maximalist style. With his wavy blond locks and bright white smile, Gravy already has a look that stands out. Add to that big fur coats, lots of accessories, and flashy prints, and the visual is quite striking.

But it's not only the rapper's personal style that is carefully cultivated. Yung Gravy is particular about presenting a specific aesthetic in his music videos and his album cover art as well. In an interview with The Wake, Gravy said, "I feel like visuals are more important than people think. To me, if an album has a really dope cover, I'll be more drawn to it. I think it's really important, so I've always put a lot of effort into that. It takes a lot to find the right person to put that stuff together, but it's awesome to be able to connect with artists and see them in action."

Since Yung Gravy's musical debut in 2016, the sociopolitical climate in the U.S. has changed considerably. It's been a tough several years, and many fans have sought out music as a form of escapism. Here is where Yung Gravy really shines. With his throwback sampling and often outrageous lyrics, his music is a genuine good time. When asked by The Wake to describe his sound, Gravy replied, "Fun music, happy music, mom music ... there are a lot of ways to describe it."

In a 2020 interview with Substream magazine, which was conducted while Gravy was in quarantine at his mom's apartment in Minneapolis, Gravy described his music as, "Free. Freedom. I feel like it kind of gives people a feeling of like, not caring as much." He went on to add, "Carefree! That's a better way to put it ... Fun, giving people like a way to feel carefree and looking for one word, I'd say something like that, like carefree or, or fun." Judging by his rise to fame and his millions of fans, it's safe to say Yung Gravy is onto something. After all, MILFs want to have fun too.