Rapper Yung Gravy, playing Allentown Fair, laughing all the way to the top

• Rapper Yung Gravy performs at the Allentown Fair grandstand with opening act bbno$ at 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 2
• Tickets, at $44 and $64, available at The Great Allentown Fair website
• Gravy has had eight gold and platinum hits and has a new EP, "Baby Gravy III"

ALLENTOWN, Pa. — Punk magazine editor John Holstrom once wrote that it was punk rock's subversive humor that made it resonate so well in its formative years.

"It takes a lot of sophistication to appreciate punk," Holstrom wrote. "Or, better yet, none at all.”

The same could be said of Minnesota rapper Yung Gravy, who on Saturday brings his maddeningly catchy — but absurdist — raps about wooing your girlfriends ("Oops!") and your moms ("Betty (Get Money)" and "Mr. Clean") to Allentown Fair's grandstand.

Anyone who thinks that Gravy (given name Matthew Hauri) doesn't perform those songs with his tongue firmly in his cheek need only to hear what he said on a recent phone call from his hotel in Minnesota.

"If I’m not always taken seriously, it’s because of my persona and some of the lyrics," Gravy said.

"There was a period of time where ‘Mr. Clean’ was the most popular song, and people just know me as that guy. And then my song ‘Oops!’ came out, and people knew me as that guy.

“It feels really good to be able to … come back and [say] ‘Well, here’s another one.’ Here’s another certification and I just built a studio in my house out in L.A., and the wall is full of plaques."

And if that, in turn, sounds too materialistic for the 27-year-old rapper, consider that in less than seven years, he has racked up eight gold and platinum hits, with little commercial radio support.

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YMU Group

Breaking into the big time

Gravy broke on the scene in 2016 with "Mr. Clean," which sold platinum and paved the way for his 2019 debut album "Sensational," which he said basically is a collection of songs he had put together himself up to that point.

"‘Sensational’ ... was kind of all put together with different producers and it was things I was working on over time and building up, ‘cause I was growing," Gravy said.

“So it was a long, long period of time that that was coming together. It was a compilation of all the songs I had made during my first two years of growing as an artist.

“And then [2020’s] ‘Gassanova,’ my second big project, was completely at the house I grew up in. It was at the peak of COVID when I was writing that album, so I was home alone, working remotely on just about everything."

Since then, Gravy said, “I have learned a lot and evolved a lot in music production from the first project.

But "Marvelous" was the first album for which he was in the studio, working in person, with producers in Los Angeles, he said.

"So [it was] a lot from scratch, a lot more of myself, actually my input in the production and starting from nothing and just creating — inspiring the producers with my ideas and everything," he said.

“It was a lot more put together and just, you know, based on exactly what I wanted to do.”

"Marvelous" also produced Gravy's first hit to the Billboard charts — "Betty (Get Money)," which was released in June 2022 and hit No. 12 on the Pop chart and 30 on the overall singles chart.

That's an amazing feat for someone who already had seven gold or platinum hits, driven largely by his sharing them on social media — primarily TikTok.

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YMU Group

Sampling a hit

The song "Betty (Get Money)" samples — or, more precisely, interpolates — the 1987 Rick Astley hit "Never Gonna Give You Up."

“I just wanted to sample ‘Never Gonna Give You Up,’" Gravy said. "I’d sampled a lot of my favorite songs out there, and that one was always one of my favorites.

“And then I just wasn’t sure how likely it would be to be cleared [for commercial use], so at first we didn’t even try it, and then eventually we said, ‘You know what? Let’s give it a whirl.’ And then we circulated it and got it cleared.

“And it ended up being this better-than-I-expected. I was working with Dwilly, who was one of the producers I’ve recently done a lot with — he did a lot of ‘Marvelous.’ And it just came out great.”

But Astley apparently chafed at its usage.

“Yeah, it’s actually funny," Gravy said. "He didn’t write the song, so he had no input on clearing it, and then he started to come and present to me some terms that really weren’t, uh, legitimate. He tried to make an argument about it.

“Which is interesting because, at first, his wife, who is his manager, said they were hyped for us to release it, they were excited and all this. Anyway, he tried to get the money and it turns out that if you don’t write the song and you don’t even touch it, then you really don’t have a say.

“So everything was all good; I would love to do something with him in the future, but he tried to make a buck and didn’t.”

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YMU Group

Using 'vintage' music

The use of "Never Gonna Give You Up" again showed Yung Gravy's proclivity for using "vintage" music — tunes from the 1960s through the 1980s — for his hits.

“A lot of the music I listen to — obviously I listen to a lot of hip-hop — but usually what I listen to is soul and funk and earlier ‘60s to ‘80s records," he said. "And I sometimes will just take my favorites and sample them."

For example, on his early song "Gravy Train," he sampled Maxine Nightengale's 1976 song "Right Back Where We Started From," which he called "one of my favorite songs of all time." On his first EP he sampled Sun's 1978 hit "I Had a Choice," which he said was "also a Top 5 of the best songs I’ve ever heard."

“The earlier records, like ‘Mr. Clean,’ ‘Cheryl,’ the ones that I sample The Corvettes and Player, those, it was early in my career and I didn’t have a lawyer or anything. I just dropped them," Gravy said.

"And eventually they came and found it and we worked something fine and it was all cool."

But one instance in which it didn't work out was when Gravy similarly used George Michael's hit "Careless Whisper" in his song "Flex Season."

"It was one of my bigger songs, and then eventually his estate found that and was not happy with it and they shut that down," Gravy said. "That song no longer exists on the internet; kind of sad news — it was a fan favorite."

But he said "the OG band, the original Gravy train members, can still download it. It’s a great song.”

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YMU Group

Finding new fans — at fairs

Since the popularity of "Marvelous," Gravy said he's experienced a new phenomenon — young artists looking to work with him.

He recently was sought out by Dream though producer Y2K, a producer friend of his, and "he said there was this game who had this song and would love to have you featured — he particularly requested Yung Gravy."

Gravy said that when he heard the song, "Everest," he "thought it was cool, and I said, ‘I’ll try to put a verse together for this,’ And Y2K sat down and adjusted the production, made it a little more hip-hop. And I just remember it came out dope.

“I was happy to kind of give someone who’s trying music and in the early stages, give them a rap version and they’re gonna love it.”

Gravy also just last week released his third disc with rapper bbno$, who will open for him at the Allentown Fair. He said the disc, "Baby Gravy III," "is, like, some of the best recordings I’ve ever put out.”

"We do a lot of work together," he said. “So I have a full, 12-track album with one of my friends.”

Gravy also said that the recent fair shows he has done — including the Allentown appearance — are helping introduce him to a new audience.

“I’m excited. .. I love it," he said. "The fairs are really fun because it sort of opens up the fanbase.

“Last night I did the Minnesota State Fair, which I went to a few times … well, one time, as a high schooler," he said. "And I think about 10,000 people bought tickets here. So that was one of the biggest concerts I’ve done.”

He said he expects fans from New Jersey and Philadelphia to make the trip to Allentown Fair for his show.

“I love performing in both those places, so that will be perfect,” he said.

And if anyone doubts whether his humorous songs make him a real artist, Gravy said, “I can look at my wall [of gold and platinum records] and say, ‘Maybe it’ll work.’”