F.Y.I. is from Mid-City Los Angeles, California. He started his journey in music as a co-founder of the rap group, Those Chosen.
The West Coast rapper's journey began in the mid-2000's, culminating in Those Chosen recording over 100 songs and the release of numerous videos, mixtapes, and official commercial releases including the critically acclaimed ep, 5ive. The record was produced mainly by Grammy winning producer, Iz Avila (of the Avila Brothers) and featured "Soundclash", the #3 record on U.S. College Radio Charts, along with cuts like Spare Tires, and The 1ne. The group was listed in URB Magazine's Top 25 Artists to Watch which lead them to getting a distribution deal with Wes Jackson's, President/Founder of the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival, indie digital imprint Savannah Boogie.
Follow up projects and videos with Those Chosen allowed F.Y.I. to work with hip-hop's elite such as Alex Da Kid, Rich Kidd, T.H.X., Ras Kass, and Ab-Soul along with helping him build an audience through touring in cities, appearing on MTV2, and performing at music festivals like CMJ, A3C Hip-Hop Festival and the Brooklyn Hip-Hop Festival (2010). “Dopamine" a song featuring Those Chosen and Ab-Soul was featured on 2Dopeboyz.com and HipHopDX.com. The song "Off The Grid" was featured on the site AllHipHop.com. "Clap Clap" garnered media praise on URB Magazine's website, AllHipHop.com and YouHeardThatNew.com.
As a solo artist, F.Y.I. describes his style as life music. “The culture of hip-hop is in the music. It’s not just a rapper talking about the "game" of the rap music industry - you hear soul; you hear culture. All the triumphs, transitions and tragedies of life are all captured in my music,” he explains. It’s his charisma and passion for music that caught the attention of the European television network Eyeworks, leading F.Y.I. to star and co-host in a reality show called Holland in Da Hood. The show garnered a weekly 1 million viewership for the duration of the series. The anticipation for the show was so huge that when the first episode debuted it became the #3 trending topic worldwide on twitter, just below the NFL's season opener. F.Y.I has also been featured on BREAL TV's “The Dr. Greenthumb” hosted by B-Real of Cypress Hill as well as The HipHopDX webisode called “Hollywood Freestyles.”
F.Y.I., a self-described hueman (a word he uses to describe people as colorful, multi-faceted and multi-dimensional) has released several solo projects. You can find him on all social media platforms at fyipsalms. His first solo album, Yo! The Places You'll Go became #1 on CMJ's Hip Hop Charts topping major releases from noteworthy contemporaries in hip-hop at the time of its release. Next he released, Age/Sex/Location, which became the #5 Most Added album on CMJ's Hip-Hop Charts as well; garnering more attention to F.Y.I.'s hueman movement. His subsequent release was a EP titled, F.Y.I. Invented Green, featuring videos for the songs "Trust Me" and "Legend of G.O.A.T." In 2017, he released the social commentary driven album, ameriBLACKKK, featuring "These The Times (Don't Judge)" that received praise from The Source, Respect Magazine, OkayPlayer as well as gained rotation on college radio charts and The Heavy Hitters on Shade 45.
His next album, Herecember 20NOW, is set for release in Fall 2018.
His mantras continue to be "message over mayhem" and "walking by faith not by sight" which allows him to create a recipe of originality and creativity amongst the formulaic backdrop of pop music disguised as rap these days. Let that boy cook! - www.fyipsalms.com
