Many fans were first introduced to the name White Gold this year, through his appearances on ‘s Music To Be Murdered By and Royce Da 5’9’s The Allegory. For those keeping score, the Bronx songwriter appeared on Eminem’s Bad Meets Evil reunion “You Gon’ Learn” as well as Royce’s “Black Savage” and “Hero. But questions remained as to how a 33-year-old New York vocalist ended up connecting with one of hip-hop’s most respected lyrical duos. Thanks to some groundwork from GENIUS, the inspirational story has begun to unfold. 

As White Gold (real name Bobby Yewah) tells it, his lofty features were ultimately arranged by Royce’s longtime manager Kino. That’s not to say he wasn’t a player before — he apparently scored production placements for Cam’ron, , , and Pusha — but those came before his rebrand as a vocalist. “I got involved with [Bad Meets Evil] through Royce’s manager Kino,” Gold tells Genius. “He hit me one day, and was like, “Yo, I heard a song that you did. Would you want to work with Royce?” 

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After a few studio sessions with Royce, the pair ended up developing the skeleton of “You Gon Learn.” “It was for Royce initially,” he reveals. “I think it was like six months later, Kino called me. He’s like, “Yeah, bro. Em heard it and was like, ‘Yo, I want the record and I want the dude that’s on there as the hook.’” And that was it. I had to keep the secret for six months or so, man.”

He also breaks down Royce’s “Hero,” explaining that Nickle originally wrote the song as a counterpart to Book Of Ryan highlight “Cocaine.” “He’s like, ‘Yeah, this is basically me making up for the collateral damage that came with ‘Cocaine,'” explains Gold. “He didn’t want his dad to feel like he was putting him down…Now, him going through whatever he has gone through with his sobriety and everything like that, he can see how flawed people are still just that, people.”

Check out the full interview right here. To those of you who discovered the singer-songwriter through Em and Royce’s albums, will you be putting White Gold on your radar?