The album, which was released on the 27^th January, displays a welcome departure from Lil Yachty’s established trap sound and moves towards soulful neo-psychedelia. Praise for the evolution has poured in from all corners of the music sphere with Clash Magazine, Rolling Stone, social media, and even Grammy-winning musician Questlove hyping up the rapper.

Miles Parks McCollum, the rapper known as Lil Yachty and sometimes as Lil Boat, is from Georgia. Dropping out of Alabama State University in 2015 to pursue his rap career, he first gained recognition shortly after when his singles ‘One Night’ and ‘Minnesota’ from his debut EP exploded on the internet. He managed to seat himself in the prime position for fame as the world became engrossed in SoundCloud and “mumble” rap stars such as Lil Peep, XXXTentacion, Lil Uzi Vert, and Juice Wrld. The number of streams of ‘iSpy’, the Kyle track he featured on in 2016, displays his popularity with its 480M views on YouTube. With collabs with Migos, Young Thug, Gucci Man, Lil Baby, Offset, Cardi B, Wiz Khalifa, Drake, DaBaby, Kodak Black, and Diplo there’s no doubt of Lil Yachty’s impact.

Over the last few years, the SoundCloud rap style has taken a backseat with the revival of neo-soul, R&B, and psychedelia triggered by the likes of Danger Mouse & Black Thought with their warm mellow production, Silk Sonic and their soulful lush melodies, and Tame Impala’s trancey sound. In a talk before his album release, which Yachty shared on his Instagram, he told the crowd, “This album is so special and dear to me. I think I created it just because I really wanted to be taken seriously as an artist. Not just some SoundCloud rapper. Not just some mumble rapper. Not just some guy who made one hit. I wanted to be taken serious because music is everything to me. I respect all walks of music, not just rap and hip hop. Everything.”

“I really wanted to be taken seriously as an artist”

Lil Yachty

The psychedelic genre allows Yachty to explore and experiment with a new direction to the fullest ability. With the help of many of the leading alternative producers and songwriters such as the slacker rock SoundCloud famed Alex G, beloved indie rock hero Mac Demarco, the bold electropop duo Magdalena Bay, MGMT’s Ben Goldwasser, and Chairlift’s Patrick Wimberley, the rapper has developed an unconventional sound through the amalgamation his soft trap vocals with wavy instrumentals.

The opening track ‘the BLACK seminole’ sets the listener on a voyage with its rolling bassline, tight jazzy drumbeats, and echoey guitar solo. Yachty lets us know he’s not playing anymore drolling in his autotuned vocals, “No time to joke around, the kid is now a man” before Diana Gordon ends the track with some impressive cries which wouldn’t be amiss on Pink Floyd’s Darkside of the Moon. At times the instrumentals sound otherworldly and alien like on ‘the ride-’ with the contrast between the deep distorted bass and the high-pitched electronic synths. One of the standouts on the album is ‘running out of time’ where the groovy slow instrumentals and Lil Yachty’s laidback delivery juxtapose the lyrics that lament the loss of a relationship. Another surprise comes with the track ‘pRETTY’ in which Lil Yachty taps into his feminine side singing, “I am so damn pretty” and “I am too sexy”. He even pops a “bestie” in there which is guaranteed to make you smile. Mac Demarco and Alex G team up to provide the background instrumentals to Lil Yachty’s moving monologue about overcoming frustrations on ‘:(failure:)’. On ‘THE zone~’ Lil Yachty contemplates his career and his new direction pleading, “I’m so far gone/Can you take me back home?”, whilst guitars fuzz in the background. The song flows into ‘WE SAW THE SUN’ where Yachty’s anxieties are abated temporarily by his kaleidoscope-like visions. The song ends with a smooth sample from adored painter Bob Ross. Diana Ross takes centre stage on the impossibly mellow number ‘drive ME crazy!’. ‘sAy sOMETHINg’ features cascading autotuned vocals from Lil Yachty resulting in an earworm you won’t be able to – or want to – shake from your head. The album ends with ‘REACH FOR THE SUNSHINE’ a track that crackles with different elements trying to grasp the audience’ attention and Lil Yachty’s demonic cackles. For a nearly hour-long album, it’s impressive that there isn’t a single skippable song in sight

A music video for ‘SAy SOMETHINg’ was released on the same day as the album. Rich warm reds fill the shots and the dreamy transitions between Lil Yachty and his girlfriend (played by the gorgeous Anok Yai) talking in a plush dinner to the couple cruising around in a vintage car create a surreal feeling. The video takes an ominous turn after Yachty tells his girlfriend he loves her much too early – they’ve only been dating for two weeks! A waitress appears with an uncanny valley smile plastered on her face (similar to the album’s Aphex Twin-esque AI-generated album cover), his girlfriend becomes mouth-less before the table stretches drifting her away from him, and the baby he imagines them having pops into dust along with his love. The style in the video is impeccable with Yai dressed in a boxy leather jacket with glittering gold chain earrings before changing into a luminous white fur coat. Lil Yachty’s best fit is a sequined red and white shirt paired with baggy ripped light wash jeans and 70s orange square shades. Crowns & Owls, who have worked with the artists Slowthai, Skepta, and PinkPantheress as well as brands Nike and Diesel, direct the video.

The transition is such a surprise to fans, particularly because of Lil Yachty’s recent success with trap single ‘Poland’, which was released last year and went viral on TikTok. Despite the initial shock, we are delighted that Lil Yachty’s experimentations have resulted in the fun out-there hallucinatory sounds of Let’s Start Here and we can’t wait to see where Lil Yachty’s journey takes him next.

Words By: Molly Sutherland

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