If you read hip-hop forums, the prevailing consensus seems to be that Lil Yachty isn't all that good. And for most people, I can see why this is the case.
After all, I even had the same response when I watched him at the 2016 XXL Freshman Cypher. He didn't seem to be a creative or innovative lyricist, and just had a droning delivery. And I thought his artist name was stupid as well.
As fortune would have it, though, he turned out to feature on a song that started scoring big in the US. I wasn't too enchanted with "Broccoli" at first, and there were a couple of reasons, the main one being Lil Yachty's presence on it.
But the more it grew on me (and boy, it grew on me a shitload, landing at #13 on my EOY 2016), the more I grew a sort of fondness for Yachty's verse (even if it remains the worst part of the song).
Naturally curious, I thought I would give a project of his a listen. And for the most part, it was what I expected, particularly in the vocal department.
In saying that, though, I feel like I'm a bit more lenient to Yachty than most people will be.
First of all, the production on this overall is quite good and spacey, I feel it mostly matches the mood that Yachty is trying to achieve.
And secondly, as much as the vocal delivery can be annoying, I think it works in the album's favour for the most part. It almost sounds like it is being sung by an adult with a child-like maturity, that is copying the typical violence, sex and money cliches of the genre, but is completely unaware of the dangerous and frightening implications of what he is saying. It's an intriguing spin on the genre, and is probably the album's main saving grace.
This is best exemplified in the single "Minnesota" and its video. Yachty is riding on a Zamboni in an ice rink and having a party, looking like he is having the most fun of his life, while there are cuts interspersed of a person with a cut on their face bleeding, which we would assume is a result of what Yachty is talking about. Furthermore, you have a couple of other rappers on board, who sound completely aware of what they are saying, making it sound like Yachty is in the early stages of joining a gang, where it is still a relatively "fun" experience, while his senior authorities are out committing crimes which Yachty is completely naive to. You just know that in his mental state, as much fun as it is now, this is not going to end well for Yachty.
Something I should note is that he switches between two personalities on this project: Lil Yachty (his nice side) and Lil Boat (his dark side). It works fine enough in the scheme of the album, but I definitely prefer the Lil Yachty songs for the most part.
When all is said and done, however, I only liked one song on the record, so I can't rate it all that high, but hopefully I gave enough reason here for why I didn't think it was completely horrible.
4
After all, I even had the same response when I watched him at the 2016 XXL Freshman Cypher. He didn't seem to be a creative or innovative lyricist, and just had a droning delivery. And I thought his artist name was stupid as well.
As fortune would have it, though, he turned out to feature on a song that started scoring big in the US. I wasn't too enchanted with "Broccoli" at first, and there were a couple of reasons, the main one being Lil Yachty's presence on it.
But the more it grew on me (and boy, it grew on me a shitload, landing at #13 on my EOY 2016), the more I grew a sort of fondness for Yachty's verse (even if it remains the worst part of the song).
Naturally curious, I thought I would give a project of his a listen. And for the most part, it was what I expected, particularly in the vocal department.
In saying that, though, I feel like I'm a bit more lenient to Yachty than most people will be.
First of all, the production on this overall is quite good and spacey, I feel it mostly matches the mood that Yachty is trying to achieve.
And secondly, as much as the vocal delivery can be annoying, I think it works in the album's favour for the most part. It almost sounds like it is being sung by an adult with a child-like maturity, that is copying the typical violence, sex and money cliches of the genre, but is completely unaware of the dangerous and frightening implications of what he is saying. It's an intriguing spin on the genre, and is probably the album's main saving grace.
This is best exemplified in the single "Minnesota" and its video. Yachty is riding on a Zamboni in an ice rink and having a party, looking like he is having the most fun of his life, while there are cuts interspersed of a person with a cut on their face bleeding, which we would assume is a result of what Yachty is talking about. Furthermore, you have a couple of other rappers on board, who sound completely aware of what they are saying, making it sound like Yachty is in the early stages of joining a gang, where it is still a relatively "fun" experience, while his senior authorities are out committing crimes which Yachty is completely naive to. You just know that in his mental state, as much fun as it is now, this is not going to end well for Yachty.
Something I should note is that he switches between two personalities on this project: Lil Yachty (his nice side) and Lil Boat (his dark side). It works fine enough in the scheme of the album, but I definitely prefer the Lil Yachty songs for the most part.
When all is said and done, however, I only liked one song on the record, so I can't rate it all that high, but hopefully I gave enough reason here for why I didn't think it was completely horrible.
FAV TRACK: MINNESOTA
LEAST FAV TRACK: FUCKED OVER
5/10