Rapper Yung Ro Describes Getting Shot in the Head, Secret to Billboard Success

Call Yung Ro the Soulja Boy of St. Louis, and he'll take it as a compliment. The eighteen-year-old rapper prides himself on producing the sort of vapid club bangers that make hip-hop heads cringe and record executives swoon.

What his rhymes lack in substance they more than make-up for in success on the Billboard charts. His new single, "Fresha Den a Mall," is in rotation on local station Hot 104.1 and up to number six on the R&B/Hip-hop singles chart. "Donk Dat," his extremely catchy ass-jiggling anthem, peaked at number three in 2009. Still, he remains unsigned and says he's the CEO of his own label, Black Pearl Entertainment, named after the tattoo shop on Olive Boulevard owned by his family.

We caught up with Ro last week and asked about an incident in November 2009 when he was grazed in the head by a bullet leaving a St. Louis club, his community organization Runway2Empowerment, and his success on the Billboard charts.