Emmanuel Okanlawon (born October 3, 2003), known professionally as YungManny, is an American rapper from Prince George’s County, Maryland.[1] He has released two albums, OKANLAWON and Confused, as well as 2 mixtapes, Wocko Simone’s Files and Hey Manny 2.
YungManny was born to first-generation Nigerian immigrant parents and grew up an active member of his church.[2] He started rapping at age 12,[3] and has released an album under RCA.[4]
Okanlawon first started playing music at the age of 10, playing piano at his local church[5]. Yungmanny started officially creating rap music at the age of twelve when he was trying to get on the television show, The Rap Game.[6] He graduated from high school early at the age of fifteen and started studying in college at seventeen.[7]
Yungmanny's style has been described as loud, brash, and fun,[8] with heavy stylistic similarity to DMV contemporaries, Q Da Fool, Xanman, and Goonew.[8] Yungmanny's early music had no swear words due to his upbringing[9] but that is no longer the case.
YungManny released his breakout hit “Moana”, alongside a music video (featured on his first mixtape Wocko Simone’s Files), on June 15th, 2018. As of May 13, 2024, the music video had 5.9 million views on YouTube. [10]
The song focuses on Manny’s beliefs that success is not worth it if one doesn't enjoy the process and the people they work with. [11]
“Moana” set a lyrical precedent for YungManny’s early career, with Manny choosing not to swear on the song. Additionally, YungManny is seen posing with drills instead of guns in the music video. However, YungManny moved away from this later in his career and began swearing in songs like Murdaman. [12]
“Murdaman” (Stylized “MURDAMAN!”) is a song released by American rapper YungManny as a promotional single for YungManny’s debut album Okanlawon. It was released on March 4, 2022, alongside a promotional music video.[13] The rapper also released a remix with American rapper Chief Keef, on August 9, 2022.
“All My Guys Are Ballers” is a single that was released on March 28, 2019 by YungManny. The artist also released a music video on Youtube, that as of May 13, 2024 had amassed 4,004,700 views.[14] The music video and song have many references to the artist’s Nigerian heritage. This track furthered Yungmanny’s want to make being African cool in America[1]