Newcomer STAR BANDZ stopped by Genius to break down her breakout hit “Yea Yea.” Produced by CYRUSXO, the track gained massive traction on social media after the 16-year-old Chicago rapper released it on her birthday. She recently teamed up with Veeze for the remix and shares her favorite bar from the Detroit rapper. On today’s episode of Verified, STAR BANDZ deep dives into her unapologetically raw lyrics, her journey to discovering her talent for rapping, proving she doesn’t need to cuss to stand out, and showing the world she’s anything but ordinary.
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00:00I'm a 16-year-old rapper from the south suburbs of Chicago.
00:03I'm Mexican, you know, and I'm a Mexican, so she was going to name me Estrella, but
00:09she said nobody was going to know how to pronounce it.
00:12Nah, she just called me Estrella.
00:13So that's my nickname.
00:14It's crazy how I'm here today, you know?
00:17And I was just in my room, just rapping, posting it on Instagram, and now I'm here.
00:21I made the song, yeah, yeah, around my birthday.
00:30I found the beat on YouTube, and I'm like, alright, this hard.
00:33And then I dropped it on my birthday, and every year on my birthday, I drop something.
00:37It started going up the day I dropped it, and I'd say like a month later, it was just
00:41crazy.
00:42I knew the song was going to hit, but did I think it was going to get me to where I'm
00:46at now?
00:47No.
00:48I didn't think it was going to be like a Chicago song that everybody know.
00:51This song was almost worldwide, you feel me?
00:54So it was crazy, for real.
01:09When I get in that mood, I'm telling you, I come up with the coldest things.
01:13I think I was just freestyling though.
01:14I cut the beat on.
01:15I'm like, dang, that's hard.
01:16Let me play it back.
01:17Alright, let me start freestyling.
01:18I'm like, what's up?
01:19How you doing?
01:20I don't even know my name.
01:21Stop.
01:22Okay.
01:23But I don't know how I came up with that, for real.
01:24I was just...
01:25I don't know.
01:26I be in that mood.
01:27I ain't gonna lie.
01:36In 2022, I found out that I really rapped, and it wasn't for fun, when I dropped the
01:41song on my birthday, and it went up.
01:44And I had a birthday party two days later, and it was deep.
01:47You feel me?
01:48And I was performing, and when that song came on, that specific song came on, everybody
01:52was rapping that song.
02:05I started rapping when I was 12, and I wrote my first song when I was 12.
02:08I was just shouting out my brother, and I was talking about my mama in the song, and
02:13I was even talking about how I ain't got to customize my music to get some racks.
02:18I said all type of stuff in there.
02:19It don't sound too good, but if you listen, it don't sound like no 20 year old, bro.
02:23Did you feel me?
02:24I was very talented for writing that song at 20 years old, and rhyming good.
02:28Some people be having a whole bunch of jibber jabber, and you just be like, what is she
02:32saying?
02:33Nah.
02:34You gonna hear me when I talk.
02:41When I get some money, I wanna spend it.
02:42And I know I'm gonna make it back, so I don't really care about spending it, because I ain't
02:47paying no bills right now, so I'm gonna spend that money on some clothes, I'm gonna make
02:52it right back.
02:53And then with, I ain't cocky, but I still ain't popping out the thing, paying.
02:55I performed at a birthday party when my No Hooks song came out, and that was the one
03:00that came out on my birthday before.
03:02Somebody invited me to perform at a birthday party, and they said they was gonna pay me
03:05after.
03:06A little 200.
03:07They never paid me.
03:08After that, you gotta pay me a deposit now.
03:11You gotta pay me before I get up in there.
03:13I just been standing on that sentence.
03:15Don't tell me you're gonna pay me, then I ain't pay me.
03:18And I ain't playing.
03:19Big bro passed me the bank.
03:20I'm a girl, but I still rock your world.
03:22I grew up around the gang.
03:23Hold up.
03:24Put it to her brain.
03:25That's thank you.
03:26No, she get the prank.
03:27I said that because I grew up around my brother and his homies, so I feel like I'm not your
03:31average female.
03:32You feel me?
03:33This is the way I act, talk.
03:35I just raised like that, so I just act how I act.
03:41I ain't got no kids, but all my kids start playing with me.
03:46Yeah, had to show them how to run the game.
03:48You got coach trying to be a player.
03:49I ain't got no kids, but all my kids start playing with me.
03:51I never heard nobody say that.
03:54Originally, the stop playing with me part wasn't there when it came from my head.
03:57I just said, I ain't got no kids, but all my kids in my notes, and then I just added
04:01the rest.
04:02Black Chuck, like I'm Obama.
04:03Tell him vote SB for me.
04:05I ain't made no money, y'all money, but I still got on that year.
04:08I was working the job, so every paycheck, probably like two some, one some, three some.
04:13You feel me?
04:14So what?
04:15Too much?
04:16But I still have my little sales, you feel me?
04:17So I'm still making my money, but sometimes it'll be slow, you feel me?
04:21I ain't made no money, y'all money, but I still got on that year, because like I said,
04:25I be spending money because I know I'm going to make it back.
04:27So if something come up, I'm going to save my money for this, and I'm going to put it
04:33down.
04:34So I still got on that year.
04:35But I don't do that no more, because I'm always going to have money in my pocket now.
04:38My head going to stay done, but if I pop out, I'm going to have that year on, and I'm
04:48always going to have some crispy shoes on, like I ain't going to pop out with no dusty
04:51shoes.
04:52So I'm fresh from head to toe, and I'm known, so he think I'm a player, but in reality,
04:57I ain't no player.
04:59Nowadays, I come outside a lot, but back then, when I was writing that song, I was in a crib.
05:10I'm going to school, doing what I do, getting home, and I just hardly go outside.
05:15I'm like a villain in my lair, you feel me?
05:17But if I catch a broad day, I'm like Buffy, I'm a slayer.
05:21Now you know Buffy the slayer, the vampire, you feel me?
05:23So it's just metaphors, you feel me?
05:29So I can do whatever I want, because I'm popping right now, and I'm popping, period.
05:34I'm going to keep popping.
05:42I've been told before, I don't look how I rap.
05:45I just sound the same when I'm talking.
05:47I sound how I rap.
05:48People always tell me, you don't look like you rap.
05:50People used to say that.
05:51I ain't heard it in a while, but it do be like some little comments, you feel me now?
05:55People hearing that like, she look like this, she not, she not this and that.
05:59Man, you don't know me, you don't know me.
06:03So I don't look how I get, but I know what I know, so I ain't got to prove myself to
06:07nobody, because I know what I know.
06:11You know the song goes to head, so I had to find a remix to hop on there.
06:14I had to find somebody to hop on there, so I'm like, I'm going to just reach out the
06:17B's.
06:18My favorite line at ECA was like, star bands is like D. Rose, the youngest ever, MVP.
06:24I'm like, yeah.
06:26I like that part.
06:27He's nuts on that.
06:28I ain't going to lie.