Move over City Girls, here comes famous Sally & YB. Hailing from Atlanta, the promising musical duo is composed of two members—Famous Sally and YB—who exploded onto the scene with their breakout single, “Wassup Gway.” The virality of the record was something both ladies didn’t anticipate. The track currently boasts more than 4.5 billion views on TikTok, 606 million likes, 14 million shares and at least 2.5 million creations. It also peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s newly launched TikTok chart.
Famous Sally & YB are best friends in real life, and they’re both young moms who are about to embark on a journey of a lifetime. Their mixtape, The Truth, arrived via Epic Records in February. AllHipHop spoke with Famous Sally & YB virtually to discuss their background, going viral, signing to Epic, new music, opening for Lil Durk, their goals and more.
AllHiphop: For those who don’t know, who are Famous Sally & YB?
YB: I’m cool, laidback. I just be chillin’. I’m calm. Sally’s the lit one. I’m the shy one.
AllHiphop: Do you guys balance each other out then?
YB: Mmhmm. I might go in there a little shy. But when she lit, I get lit.
AllHiphop: How does it feel to be getting all this attention?
YB: To be honest, I love it. But then again, it happened so fast. It be unexpected. But overall, I love it. I love the turnaround too.
Famous Sally: I’ve always been popular in Atlanta, so I’m used to getting attention, but to be getting attention from people in the industry is nice.
AllHiphop: How’d it feel for “Wassup Gway” to go viral?
YB: When we first dropped “Wassup Gway,” we were playing around and experimenting. We didn’t think so many labels would hit us. We were just having fun. It was unexpected for the song to become so big. I thought it’d be something for us, for our friends.
AllHiphop: How did it blow up? Was it first on Tik Tok?
YB: Instagram doesn’t really make things big like TikTok does. But to be honest, a lot of people found out about it on Instagram first before TikTok. But when they used it on TikTok, things got crazy. They came up with their own dance. Everybody was doing this dance. TikTok took us all the way through. We kept coming #1 song on TikTok, everyday, for three weeks straight.
AllHiphop: Did you guys start it on TikTok, or someone else?
YB: Mm-mm, someone else did. It was this little girl, she goes to school with my sister. My sister had sent her the song, and she put the song on TikTok. She made her own little video, everybody else started doing the video. She went viral when she made her video. Everybody else started making the video too.
AllHiphop: Out of all the celebrities that cosigned the record, who were you most excited for?
YB: I was most excited for Drake, ‘cause Drake is big. But the first famous person to do it was Jayda [Cheaves]. I love when Jayda did it because she posted the song on her Youtube channel. She’s like “this my morning bath, wassup gway?” I loved it. I loved the Jayda video the most because it was genuine. It’s something she listened to, she said she got the song from TikTok and she loved it. Most celebrities did it because it was a viral TikTok., but Jayda did it because she said she loved the song.
Famous Sally: We were excited for Drake because he doesn’t do TikToks, so to participate in ours was spectacular.
AllHiphop: How did Drake cosign it?
YB: He did a show and after the show, he did it with a little girl.
AllHiphop: How did your life change after “Wassup Gway”?
Famous Sally: Financially, I was able to bless my family and upgrade my lifestyle for the betterment of my kids and I.
AllHiphop: How many labels were hitting you guys?
YB: A lot. We were going to a different meeting every day!
AllHiphop: What made you go with Epic Records?
YB: Other labels just wanted “Wassup Gway,” but we did “Gway” without no help. It’s a career for us, and other labels weren’t looking at it like. When we met with our a&r, he didn’t ask us if we could make another “Wassup Gway,” he asked to hear more of what we already had.
Famous Sally: And Epic made us feel comfortable, like family. So, we chose to sign with them.
AllHiphop: What inspired “What Your Name Is”? The video looked super fun!
Famous Sally: Our first song went viral and was bigger than our face and name, so our next single was like “What Yo Name Is.” We need everyone to know our name and not just the title of our first single.
YB: We had a lot of fun making that song. With that record, we were working with Trinidad. He said “I got these hooks I want y’all to listen to.” We love that hook because it gave us that vibe. “What yo name is? Who are you?”
AllHiphop: Best memory from the video shoot?
YB: I liked the whole video to be honest. The hallway scene, the classroom scene, I loved it all.
AllHiphop: What can fans expect from your mixtape, The Truth, out now?
Famous Sally: Our mixtape is versatile and shapes who we are trying to become as rappers.
YB: We called it The Truth because we tell the story about both of our lives. How we used to live before rap, how we are now. We’ve got “Gway” on it. We’ve got our new single “Scrilla,” which we put the video out with the mixtape. It’s one of my favorites.
AllHiphop: Why?
YB: It just hypes me up. It gives me a vibe.
AllHiphop: Do you guys see yourselves as the new City Girls?
Famous Sally: No, we’re Famous Sally and YB!
YB: I don’t like to compare, but I love the City Girls. To be honest, I haven’t seen a girl duo from Atlanta in a long time. I want us to be big for our city, like how the City Girls made a name for their city of Miami.
AllHiphop: I feel like Atlanta has all the biggest artists.
YB: They do!
AllHiphop: What were you guys doing before the music?
Famous Sally: We were doing whatever we had to do to make a living.
AllHiphop: How does it feel to be moms on top of all this?
Famous Sally: It’s fun for our kids to see us in superstar mode, but it’s hard sometimes being away from them.
AllHiphop: How was it opening for Lil Durk?
Famous Sally: It was cool opening up for Lil Durk!
YB: I loved it! The cameras, the flashes, it made us feel so big. When we ran out, everybody had their flash on. I felt like I was as big as Durk, forreal.
Famous Sally: The crowd was lit and knew our song word for word!
AllHiphop: Were you nervous at all?
Famous Sally: I’m always nervous, but it goes away once I hit the stage.
YB: I was nervous, too! Every time we walk out, we test the crowd. We say “Wassup Gway!” They’ll say “these hoes can’t f### with me.” Then we say it again: “Wassup Gway!” We had already got them amped before we walked on the stage. When we walk on stage, everybody screaming.
AllHiphop: Any goals for yourself at this point in your career?
YB: Yes, I have a lot of goals. I want to keep going. I want to keep pushing myself, I want to be real big.
Famous Sally: I want us to be the biggest and reach our highest potential as female rappers.
AllHiphop: Anything else you want to let us know?
YB: We’re still in the studio, making more music. We want to work with a lot of different people. I want to open more for other artists on tour.