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Lil Yachty On His Big Rock Pivot: ‘F-ck Any of the Albums I Dropped Before This One’

With his adventurous, psychedelic new album, 'Let's Start Here,' he's left mumble rap behind — and finally created a project he's proud of.

By Lyndsey Havens

Lyndsey Havens

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Lil Yachty, presented by Doritos, will perform at Billboard Presents The Stage at SXSW on March 16 .

Lil Yachty: Photos From the Billboard Cover Shoot

Someone has sparked a blunt in the planetarium.

It may be a school night, but no one has come to the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City, N.J., to learn. Instead, the hundreds of fans packed into the domed theater on Jan. 26 have come to hear Lil Yachty’s latest album as he intended: straight through — and with an open mind. Or, as Yachty says with a mischievous smile: “I hope y’all took some sh-t.”

For the next 57 minutes and 16 seconds, graphics of exploding spaceships, green giraffes and a quiet road through Joshua Tree National Park accompany Yachty’s sonically divergent — and at this point, unreleased — fifth album, Let’s Start Here . For a psychedelic rock project that plays like one long song, the visual aids not only help attendees embrace the bizarre, but also function as a road map for Yachty’s far-out trip, signaling that there is, in fact, a tracklist.

It’s a night the artist has arguably been waiting for his whole career — to finally release an album he feels proud of. An album that was, he says, made “from scratch” with all live instrumentation. An album that opens with a nearly seven-minute opus, “the BLACK seminole.,” that he claims he had to fight most of his collaborative team to keep as one, not two songs. An album that, unlike his others, has few features and is instead rich with co-writers like Mac DeMarco, Nick Hakim, Alex G and members of MGMT, Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Chairlift. An album he believes will finally earn him the respect and recognition he has always sought.

Sitting in a Brooklyn studio in East Williamsburg not far from where he made most of Let’s Start Here in neighboring Greenpoint, it’s clear he has been waiting to talk about this project in depth for some time. Yachty is an open book, willing to answer anything — and share any opinion. (Especially on the slice of pizza he has been brought, which he declares “tastes like ass.”) Perhaps his most controversial take at the moment? “F-ck any of the albums I dropped before this one.”

His desire to move on from his past is understandable. When Yachty entered the industry in his mid-teens with his 2016 major-label debut, the Lil Boat mixtape, featuring the breakout hit “One Night,” he found that along with fame came sailing the internet’s choppy waters. Skeptics often took him to task for not knowing — or caring, maybe — about rap’s roots, and he never shied away from sharing hot takes on Twitter. With his willingness and ability to straddle pop and hip-hop, Yachty produced music he once called “bubble-gum trap” (he has since denounced that phrase) that polarized audiences and critics. Meanwhile, his nonchalant delivery got him labeled as a mumble rapper — another identifier he was never fond of because it felt dismissive of his talent.

“There’s a lot of kids who haven’t heard any of my references,” he continues. “They don’t know anything about Bon Iver or Pink Floyd or Black Sabbath or James Brown. I wanted to show people a different side of me — and that I can do anything, most importantly.”

Let’s Start Here is proof. Growing up in Atlanta, the artist born Miles McCollum was heavily influenced by his father, a photographer who introduced him to all kinds of sounds. Yachty, once easily identifiable by his bright red braids, found early success by posting songs like “One Night” to SoundCloud, catching the attention of Kevin “Coach K” Lee, co-founder/COO of Quality Control Music, now home to Migos, Lil Baby and City Girls. In 2015, Coach K began managing Yachty, who in summer 2016 signed a joint-venture deal with Motown, Capitol Records and Quality Control.

“Yachty was me when I was 18 years old, when I signed him. He was actually me,” says Coach K today. (In 2021, Adam Kluger, whose clients include Bhad Bhabie, began co-managing Yachty.) “All the eclectic, different things, we shared that with each other. He had been wanting to make this album from the first day we signed him. But you know — coming as a hip-hop artist, you have to play the game.”

Yachty played it well. To date, he has charted 17 songs on the Billboard Hot 100 , including two top 10 hits for his features on DRAM’s melodic 2016 smash “Broccoli” and Kyle’s 2017 pop-rap track “iSpy.” His third-highest-charting entry arrived unexpectedly last year: the 93-second “Poland,” a track Yachty recorded in about 10 minutes where his warbly vocals more closely resemble singing than rapping. ( Let’s Start Here collaborator SADPONY saw “Poland” as a temperature check that proved “people are going to like this Yachty.”)

Beginning with 2016’s Lil Boat mixtape, all eight of Yachty’s major-label-released albums and mixtapes have charted on the Billboard 200 . Three have entered the top 10, including Let’s Start Here , which debuted and peaked at No. 9. And while Yachty has only scored one No. 1 album before ( Teenage Emotions topped Rap Album Sales), Let’s Start Here debuted atop three genre charts: Top Rock & Alternative Albums , Top Rock Albums and Top Alternative Albums .

“It feels good to know that people in that world received this so well,” says Motown Records vp of A&R Gelareh Rouzbehani. “I think it’s a testament to Yachty going in and saying, ‘F-ck what everyone thinks. I’m going to create something that I’ve always wanted to make — and let us hope the world f-cking loves it.’ ”

Yet despite Let’s Start Here ’s many high-profile supporters, some longtime detractors and fans alike were quick to criticize certain aspects of it, from its art — Yachty quote-tweeted one remark , succinctly replying, “shut up” — to the music itself. Once again, he found himself facing another tidal wave of discourse. But this time, he was ready to ride it. “This release,” Kluger says, “gave him a lot of confidence.”

“I was always kind of nervous to put out music, but now I’m on some other sh-t,” Yachty says. “It was a lot of self-assessing and being very real about not being happy with where I was musically, knowing I’m better than where I am. Because the sh-t I was making did not add up to the sh-t I listened to.

“I just wanted more,” he continues. “I want to be remembered. I want to be respected.”

Last spring, Lil Yachty gathered his family, collaborators and team at famed Texas studio complex Sonic Ranch.

“I remember I got there at night and drove down because this place is like 30 miles outside El Paso,” Coach K says. “I walked in the room and just saw all these instruments and sh-t, and the vibe was just so ill. And I just started smiling. All the producers were in the room, his assistant, his dad. Yachty comes in, puts the album on. We got to the second song, and I told everybody, ‘Stop the music.’ I walked over to him and just said, ‘Man, give me a hug.’ I was like, ‘Yachty, I am so proud of you.’ He came into the game bold, but [to make] this album, you have to be very bold. And to know that he finally did it, it was overwhelming.”

SADPONY (aka Jeremiah Raisen) — who executive-produced Let’s Start Here and, in doing so, spent nearly eight straight months with Yachty — says the time at Sonic Ranch was the perfect way to cap off the months of tunnel vision required while making the album in Brooklyn. “That was new alone,” says Yachty. “I’ve recorded every album in Atlanta at [Quality Control]. That was the first time I recorded away from home. First time I recorded with a new engineer,” Miles B.A. Robinson, a Saddle Creek artist.

Yachty couldn’t wait to put it out, and says he turned it in “a long time ago. I think it was just label sh-t and trying to figure out the right time to release it.” For Coach K, it was imperative to have the physical product ready on release date, given that Yachty had made “an experience” of an album. And lately, most pressing plants have an average turnaround time of six to eight months.

Fans, however, were impatient. On Christmas, one month before Let’s Start Here would arrive, the album leaked online. It was dubbed Sonic Ranch . “Everyone was home with their families, so no one could pull it off the internet,” recalls Yachty. “That was really depressing and frustrating.”

Then, weeks later, the album art, tracklist and release date also leaked. “My label made a mistake and sent preorders to Amazon too early, and [the site] posted it,” Yachty says. “So I wasn’t able to do the actual rollout for my album that I wanted to. Nothing was a secret anymore. It was all out. I had a whole plan that I had to cancel.” He says the biggest loss was various videos he made to introduce and contextualize the project, all of which “were really weird … [But] I wasn’t introducing it anymore. People already knew.” Only one, called “Department of Mental Tranquility,” made it out, just days before the album.

Yachty says he wasn’t necessarily seeking a mental escape before making Let’s Start Here , but confesses that acid gave him one anyway. “I guess maybe the music went along with it,” he says. The album title changed four or five times, he says, from Momentary Bliss (“It was meant to take you away from reality … where you’re truly listening”) to 180 Degrees (“Because it’s the complete opposite of anything I’ve ever done, but people were like, ‘It’s too on the nose’ ”) to, ultimately, Let’s Start Here — the best way, he decided, to succinctly summarize where he was as an artist: a seven-year veteran, but at 25 years old, still eager to begin a new chapter.

Taking inspiration from Dark Side , Yachty relied on three women’s voices throughout the album, enlisting Fousheé, Justine Skye and Diana Gordon. Otherwise, guest vocals are spare. Daniel Caesar features on album closer “Reach the Sunshine.,” while the late Bob Ross (of The Joy of Painting fame) has a historic posthumous feature on “We Saw the Sun!”

Rouzbehani tells Billboard that Ross’ estate declined Yachty’s request at first: “I think a big concern of theirs was that Yachty is known as a rapper, and Bob Ross and his brand are very clean. They didn’t want to associate with anything explicit.” But Yachty was adamant, and Rouzbehani played the track for Ross’ team and also sent the entire album’s lyrics to set the group at ease. “With a lot of back-and-forth, we got the call,” she says. “Yachty is the first artist that has gotten a Bob Ross clearance in history.”

From the start, Coach K believed Let’s Start Here would open lots of doors for Yachty — and ultimately, other artists, too. Questlove may have said it best, posting the album art on Instagram with a lengthy caption that read in part: “this lp might be the most surprising transition of any music career I’ve witnessed in a min, especially under the umbrella of hip hop … Sh-t like this (envelope pushing) got me hyped about music’s future.”

Recently, Lil Yachty held auditions for an all-women touring band. “It was an experience for like Simon Cowell or Randy [Jackson],” he says, offering a simple explanation for the choice: “In my life, women are superheroes.”

And according to Yachty, pulling off his show will take superhuman strength: “Because the show has to match the album. It has to be big.” As eager as he was to release Let’s Start Here , he’s even more antsy to perform it live — but planning a tour, he says, required gauging the reaction to it. “This is so new for me, and to be quite honest with you, the label [didn’t] know how [the album] would do,” he says. “Also, I haven’t dropped an album in like three years. So we don’t even know how to plan a tour right now because it has been so long and my music is so different.”

While Yachty’s last full-length studio album, Lil Boat 3 , arrived in 2020, he released the Michigan Boy Boat mixtape in 2021, a project as reverential of the state’s flourishing hip-hop scenes in Detroit and Flint as Let’s Start Here is of its psych-rock touchstones. And though he claims he doesn’t do much with his days, his recent accomplishments, both musical and beyond, suggest otherwise. He launched his own cryptocurrency, YachtyCoin, at the end of 2020; signed his first artist, Draft Day, to his Concrete Boyz label at the start of 2021; invested in the Jewish dating app Lox Club; and launched his own line of frozen pizza, Yachty’s Pizzeria, last September. (He has famously declared he has never eaten a vegetable; at his Jersey City listening event, there was an abundance of candy, doughnut holes and Frosted Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pop-Tarts.)

But there are only two things that seem to remotely excite him, first and foremost of which is being a father. As proud as he is of Let’s Start Here , he says it comes in second to having his now 1-year-old daughter — though he says with a laugh that she “doesn’t really give a f-ck” about his music yet. “I haven’t played [this album] for her, but her mom plays her my old stuff,” he continues. “The mother of my child is Dominican and Puerto Rican, so she loves Selena — she plays her a lot . [We watch] the Selena movie with Jennifer Lopez a sh-t ton and a lot of Disney movie sh-t, like Frozen , Lion King and that type of vibe.”

Aside from being a dad, he most cares about working with other artists. Recently, he flew eight of his biggest fans — most of whom he has kept in touch with for years — to Atlanta. He had them over, played Let’s Start Here , took them to dinner and bowling, introduced them to his mom and dad, and then showed them a documentary he made for the album. (He’s not sure if he’ll release it.) One of the fans is an aspiring rapper; naturally, the two made a song together.

Yachty wants to keep working with artists and producers outside of hip-hop, mentioning the Yeah Yeah Yeahs and even sharing his dream of writing a ballad for Elton John. (“I know I could write him a beautiful song.”) With South Korean music company HYBE’s recent purchase of Quality Control — a $300 million deal — Yachty’s realm of possibility is bigger than ever.

But he’s not ruling out his genre roots. Arguably, Let’s Start Here was made for the peers and heroes he played it for first — and was inspired by hip-hop’s chameleons. “I would love to do a project with Tyler [The Creator],” says Yachty. “He’s the reason I made this album. He’s the one who told me to do it, just go for it. He’s so confident and I have so much respect for him because he takes me seriously, and he always has.”

Penske Media Corp. is the largest shareholder of SXSW ; its brands are official media partners of SXSW.

This story originally appeared in the March 11, 2023, issue of Billboard.

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On Sunday (July 28), Lil Yachty made it clear that he has more cash than the internet claims.

Over the weekend, social media reacted to his and ian’s Friday (July 26) release, “Hate Me,” in which the Nuthin’ 2 Prove artist spat, “Know I’m richer than your favorite rapper / If I’m not, then, God, kill my momma, huh / Biggest house on the street / The first Blacks here like Obama.”

“What possessed him to put this on his mom?” questioned one Twitter user. Another person replied with a screenshot of Playboi Carti ‘s, Kendrick Lamar’s and Lil Yachty’s reported net worths, which were $20 million, $90 million and $8 million, respectively. They also wrote, “Damn, he willingly jumped on that crack [with] both feet.”

Not long after, Yachty chimed in on the conversation to set the record straight. “I made $8 million in my first eight months of rapping in 2016. On God,” he quote-tweeted the post before adding, “Y’all be letting this internet guide y’all. In real life, s**t is different, I’m telling [you].”

Since 2015’s “One Night” turned him into a rap star, Yachty has worked with dozens of brands and even started his own at one point. He has teamed up with Sprite, Target, Adidas and McDonald’s and was appointed the creative director of Nautica in 2017.

Around the same time, Quality Control Music’s Pierre “P” Thomas claimed, “Lil Yachty made $13 million dollars in 16 months. Who gives a f**k about you n**gas’ opinion?” According to Complex , the bulk of the rapper’s revenue came from live shows, features and endorsements.

On the music side, Lil Yachty and James Blake debuted their joint project, Bad Cameo , in June. Despite having no guest contributors, it spawned fan favorites like “Save The Savior,” “Midnight” and “Woo.”

“I mean, granted, I think James has worked with [quite a] substantial amount of Hip Hop artists, but this project is so left for both of us,” the Georgia native claimed in a teaser clip shared in February.

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Karrahbooo Hits Back At Lil Yachty's Ghostwriting Claim: 'Stop Bullying Me'

Karrahbooo has responded to Lil Yachty ‘s fiery rant in which he claimed that he wrote all of her raps.

The Atlanta rapper, who recently departed Yachty’s Concrete Boys collective, took to her Instagram Stories early on Saturday (August 24) to address Lil Boat’s accusation.

“[P]ut it on yo kid i ain’t write these songs miles,” she wrote, addressing Yachty by his government name while referencing the child he welcomed in 2021 . “[S]top da cap and leave me out ur internet shenanigans [crying face emoji].”

She added: “[S]top bullying me big dawg [crying face emoji] i never said nothing u letting random fans get in yo head man up.”

Karrahbooo also posted a screenshot of her most popular songs on Apple Music and their respective streams, showing her solo track “Running Late” outperforming her contributions to Concrete Boys’ recently released compilation It’s Us Vol. 1 .

Earlier this week, Lil Yachty unloaded on Karrahbooo on Instagram Live  after she allegedly claimed that she was “bullied” by Concrete Boys and ultimately kicked out out of the group.

He made a number of accusations about his former assistant turned artist, including that she was “verbally abusive” towards his bodyguard and that he wrote all of her raps, including her  viral  On the Radar  freestyle .

“I’m so sick and tired of helping people,” he said. “Gon’ ‘head and tell people how you verbally abuse people. How you told my security guard, ‘Oh, you work for me. You’re poor and we above you.’ You talk to people like you nothing! [Tell people] how you told me you gonna spin on me when you see me. Your brain is clinically imbalanced.”

Yachty also denied mistreating the 27-year-old rapper: “Karrah, I have never bullied you. I let you live at my house for free! I ain’t never done nothing but be nice, love you, brought you around every rapper. I brought you around everybody from [Lil] Baby to Drake.”

He added: “You don’t even do nothing! I wrote every fucking verse you’ve done. I dressed you. I gave you that chrome Rolex. You were waiting tables! I changed your muthafucking life! And you on here lying talking about some ‘we bully you’? That shit got me fucked up, bruh!

“I wrote that fucking verse when we went on  On the Radar . I put you last on purpose so everyone would say, ‘Who the fuck is that girl?’ … I got the fucking reference.”

Backing up his claim, Yachty shared an iPhone voice note of his reference for Karrahbooo’s show-stealing verse in the Concrete Boys cypher.

Lil Yachty also denied stealing money from Karrahbooo and in turn accused her of owing almost $1 million to his label, which is apparently how much has been invested into her career.

“You talked to my fucking label crazy. You claim I was stealing money from you. Stealing money from you how, n-gga? You ain’t made no money!” he said.

“You $900,000 in the whole and I got every fucking receipt, n-gga. And I’ma post it. I dare you [to] try me. And I’ll post how much money your fucking streams have made.”

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He added: “Don’t go on the internet and act like I’m bullying you, bro. I’ve been nothing but loving and caring and paid your bills and gave you money and took you around the world. Nobody would even know who the fuck Karrahbooo was if it wasn’t for me.”

Yachty’s outburst was seemingly sparked by a social media post claiming that Karrahbooo had been bullied out of the Concrete Boys.

A restaurant employee claimed on X (formerly Twitter) to have been told by Karrah herself that she had been “kicked out” of the collective and that the group members were “bullying her a lot.”

Karrahbooo later made a vague reference to the drama on her own X account, quote tweeting her own post which said: “ion say too much cuz I know shit gone unfold on its own,” with the comment: “this aged well.”

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Karrahbooo Claps Back At Lil Yachty Following His Viral Tirade

The relationship between Lil Yachty and Karrahbooo is over, after the former went absolutely nuclear on Instagram Live. Lil Boat usually doesn't get too explosive on social media often. However, the Karrahbooo fan who disclosed that she was bullied out of the group obviously had him feeling some type of way. So, he promptly took to social media to leave Karrahbooo's entrails all over the internet . Yachty called out her character and even went as far as to claim that he "dressed" her, writing almost all of her songs/verses.

""Bro, go ahead [and tell] people how you talk to people... You talk to people like they were nothing. Like they're small, like they're beneath you". He took it even further, giving allegedly real interactions. "How you told me you 'gon spit on me when you see me. Your brain is clinically imbalanced". Then, a little later, he went for the killshot. "I've given you a career and time and time you just disrespect me. "I wrote every f***ing verse you've done, I dressed you... I been letting you do this whole thing where you act like you a princess". Yachty then concluded with, "Ichanged your motherf***ing life. You out here lying".

Read More: Usher Kicks Off Anticipated Tour After Suffering Serious Neck Injury

Fans Feel That Karrahbooo Proved Lil Yachty's Point

Now, about a day or so later, Karrahbooo is standing up for herself. She issued her response on an IG Story in attempt to disprove Yachty's bold songwriting assertion. "Put it on yo kid I ain't write these songs Miles (Lil Yachty's government first name) - __ - stop da cap and leave me out ur internet shenanigans 😂". She then showed two songs that she claims to have penned on her own, "Running Late" and "WHERE YO DADDY?". She then finished off the post with, "Stop bullying me big dawg 😂 I never said nothing u letting random fans get in yo head man up". She might be feeling she did something, but all fans can do is laugh at what they see as a feeble clap back.

"So her response is... "HA, I wrote 2 songs!" 😂", one user replies. "Bruuuuuh she steadying saying this man bullying her by calling out facts. Yall don’t see she clearly the problem?", another adds. Regardless of where you stand, the ball is now in Yachty's court. What are your thoughts on Karrahbooo's response to Lil Yachty's recent claims on Instagram Live? Do you think she did enough to disprove her former label head's statements, why or why not? Do you foresee Lil Boat issuing a response? What do you think led him to lash out against her and Mitch? We would like to hear what you have to say, so leave your thoughts in the comments. Additionally, always keep it locked in with  HNHH  for all of the latest news surrounding Karrahbooo and Lil Yachty. Finally, stay with us for everything else going on in the music world.

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The 15 Best Lil Yachty Songs

Let's talk about the best Lil Yachty songs - from his early days with "One Night" to his most recent unreleased leaks. The Atlanta rapper has come such a long way since his debut on SoundCloud and subsequent signing to Quality Control. In no particular order, here's our list of the 15 best Lil Yachty songs.

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15. "Plastic" - Lil Yachty (feat. Icewear Vezzo and Rio Da Yung OG) (2021)

What better way to start this list off than Lil Yachty's iconic Michigan Boy Boat album from 2021? This banger features the likes of Icewear Vezzo and Rio Da Yung OG, who matched Yachty's energy perfectly. Talk about a Michigan masterpiece: "Plastic" shows off the best elements of the hip-hop sub-genre.

14. "Who Want The Smoke?" - Lil Yachty (feat. Cardi B and Offset) (2018)

Who can forget the first time they heard "Who Want The Smoke?" with Lil Yachty, Offset, and Cardi B all together on a single song. The energy was absolutely electric, and it's no coincidence why all three of them have continued to thrive in their respective careers to this day.

13. "Split/Whole Time" - Lil Yachty (2020)

This is arguably one of the hardest Yachty songs ever, I will vouch for that on anything. From the intro to the very last moment of this song, there's something very special about this one. It's so characteristic of Yachty, so it's no surprise why it's become such a popular song.

12. "Minnesota" - Lil Yachty (feat. Quavo, Young Thug, and Skippa Da Flippa) (2016)

Off his debut album, "Minnesota" is an absolute classic Lil Boat banger. The song shows off all of the best sides of Yachty around the time of his breakout into the music scene. Ahh, the good ol' days of SoundCloud.

11. "Solid" - Lil Yachty (feat. SoFaygo) (2021)

The beat of this song makes you want to tilt your head back and ascend into the sky. From Yachty's cunning bars to SoFaygo's unmatched vocal approach, they bodied this beat perfectly, and showed exactly how fire a collab between the two of them is.

10. "T.D." - Lil Yachty (feat. Tierra Whack, A$AP Rocky, and Tyler, the Creator) (2020)

Let's not forget Yachty's song with this legendary cast of characters, which sampled the "Tokyo Drift" production, and became a modern classic. Every artist on this song has a reputation for being creative, and they didn't disappoint with this one.

9. "Demon Time" - Lil Yachty (feat. Draft Day) (2020)

Yachty has a knack for putting listeners on to the best underground artists, and that's exactly what he did here with Draft Day. If you're a seasoned Yachty listener, then this feature should've came at no surprise to you.

8. "Get Dripped" - Lil Yachty (feat. Playboi Carti) (2018)

Here's yet another one of the best Lil Yachty songs. Off of Yachty's Nuthin' to Prove album, "Get Dripped" gave fans a rare glance at just how special Yachty and Carti collabs are. The two artists morph their unique Atlanta-based styles together, and create music that literally nobody else in rap could replicate.

7. "66" - Lil Yachty (feat. Trippie Redd) (2018)

As far as timeless Lil Yachty classics go, this song is one of the top options. Trippie Redd and Lil Yachty both bring an unconventional style to the table, so of course the result of their collaboration is exactly that: unconventional.

6. G.I. Joe - Lil Yachty (feat. Louie Ray) (2021)

Another song from Yachty's Michigan Boy Boat album, "G.I. Joe" was yet another standout. It's great to see the chemistry Yachty has with all of the many features from this project, but there's something especially unique about the energy shared between Boat and Louie Ray.

5. "All of the Opps Is Opp'd" - Lil Yachty (Unreleased)

While not everyone is probably hip to this song, everybody should be. This Cash Cobain-produced banger samples Roy Ayers' "Everybody Loves the Sunshine," and turned it into a contemporary drill classic. Thank us later.

4. "Dynamic Duo" - Lil Yachty (feat. Tee Grizzley) (2021)

The name of the song is no lie: Lil Yachty and Tee Grizzley really are a "Dynamic Duo," but you should've known that already, after their prior collabs. To Lil Boat diehards, this was no surprise. On a stacked project, somehow this song managed to be one of the standouts.

3. "Poland" - Lil Yachty (2022)

Talk about "best Lil Yachty songs." It's impossible to forget the iconic moment Yachty had with the leak of this song. "I took the woOoOoOoOok... to Poland" will never get old, at least to the younger generation. The memes that were generated from this wave will surely never age, that's for sure.

2. "DipSet" - Lil Yachty and Offset (2016)

Lil Yachty and Offset have connected numerous times on collaborations, yet for some reason, this one never ceases to smack. If you haven't heard it already, here's your chance. Feast your ears upon yet another classic.

1. "Coffin" - Lil Yachty (2020)

One of the most memorable Lil Yachty releases ever was his 2020 single, "Coffin." From the moment the video teaser dropped, the hype was there. This felt like the start of a new era of Lil Yachty, embracing the most modern landscape of music, as he's always done in true Yachty fashion.

More music stories:

“Poland” by Lil Yachty: Why The Internet Is Obsessed with This New Song

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Lil Yachty Accused Of Unfollowing Drake Amid Rumors He’s Being Cut From Their Leaked Collab

Delve into the rumored tension between Drake and Lil Yachty. Learn about the possible fallout over a leaked collaboration.

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Drake and Lil Yachty may be at odds with each other—well, at least that’s what fans are currently speculating. While the evidence is somewhat inconclusive, nosy fans believe they have the receipts to back up their theory that Drizzy has upset Lil Boat and possibly fractured their relationship.

The circumstances causing the rift, one might ask? None other than one of the Toronto rapper‘s patented leaked releases. To be more specific, it appears the mellow drama may have erupted over the “Super Soak (S.O.D.)” collaboration that Yachty gave to streamer Kai Cenat to leak during a stream last month.

The track itself has seemingly already caused more than enough controversy, between Soulja Boy responding and threatening to figuratively choose violence should the song end up being a sneak diss, and Yachty revealing they leaked the song because they couldn’t get the sample cleared.

However, after reports that Drake is readying the song for an official release accompanied by a music video, but not a featured verse from Lil Boat as expected, the track has begun causing a stair once again.

Now, it appears the scandal attached to the release relates to Yachty’s alleged reaction to being taken off of the track. Instagram users pointed out that it appears as though Yachty unfollowed Drake on Instagram shortly after the rumors began circulating that his verse had been cut from the song.

But it appears as though the fan theory is either half-baked or Yachty was fully cooked on social media and reacted quickly considering fans also pointed out that Lil Boat appeared to be following Drizzy again after being called out on the timeline.

View this post on Instagram A post shared by AllHipHop (@allhiphopcom)

Though it feels like a bit of a reach to assume there is trouble in paradise for this collaborative pair based on a pair of screenshots from Instagram, the situation could also be very plausible. Yachty did end up swearing off of the Internet, after being roasted online following the interview he revealed the reason why social media influencer Mr. Hotspot denied clearing the sample for he and Drake in the first place.

“We couldn’t get the sample cleared so I just let Kai play it,” he shared. Yachty also announced that they were not officially releasing the track. “But it’s everywhere,” he said, adding that Mr. Hotspot “went down like a Christian path…it was crazy, everyone was like, ‘Are you serious?'”

In a sense, it wouldn’t be hard to believe that Lil Yachty is somewhat scorned by Drake’s choice to remove him from the track given all of the effort he’s put forth in order to bring it to the masses.

Check out the post below to see the receipts.

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How Lil Yachty Became Michigan Boy Boat

Before the release of ‘Michigan Boy Boat,’ Lil Yachty sits for an interview about how his collabs with Michigan artists energized him to grow as a rapper.

Lil Yachty has been spending a lot of time in Michigan lately.

Midway through one low-budget music video for a song called “Flintana,” he shows up in a parking lot with a crew of up-and-coming rappers from Flint: RMC Mike, YN Jay, and Louie Ray. At the beginning of the clip, there’s a disclaimer that says, “This song was made the night before, therefore nobody knew the lyrics,” and everything about it has the raw, spontaneous feeling of a collaboration that came to life on a whim at 2 a.m. In other words, it’s in a completely different universe from the glossy sheen of a song like “Oprah’s Bank Account.”

As Yachty lowers himself on the concrete and does push-ups at the end of Mike’s verse, you can’t help but wonder how the hell he ended up in a random Flint parking lot with a bunch of underground rappers in the first place. But he does such a good job matching the spirit of the song, context doesn’t really matter here. It’s all energy. After a few quick bars about pussy and a mouth full of gold, Yachty circles back with a couple Snoh Aalegra and Kevin Federline references to punctuate his second verse. And when he’s not rapping, he laughs along with punchlines from Mike, Jay, and Ray, hyping up his collaborators. “They have fun,” he says now. “They talk about all kinds of crazy shit.”

Later, there’s a Lil Yachty sighting at a Detroit studio with Rio Da Yung OG , and he materializes on two more songs with YN Jay. As the year progresses, Yachty’s Michigan collaborations keep popping up online, and each time he tries out self-described “unorthodox” flows, pushing himself to wild new lyrical territory. On all of them, he sounds more energized than we’ve heard him in years. Before long, it’s clear Yachty has become an honorary member of the Michigan rap scene, home to some of the most exciting ( and quotable ) new artists on the planet.

“They’re mad fucking lyrical in a weird way,” he points out. “The schemes and the cadences and the flows are so unorthodox.”

Yachty says these collaborations have taught him “how to have fun with it” again. He’s having so much fun, in fact, that he decided to make a whole mixtape and call it Michigan Boy Boat . The project will arrive on April 23, and judging by the tags on the announcement Instagram post , it will feature everyone from Veeze to Babyface Ray to Sada Baby to Icewear Vezzo. As Yachty puts it, the project is an opportunity to show love to the scene he’s grown to care about so much.

As the release date nears, the 23-year-old rapper hopped on the phone with Complex to talk about Michigan Boy Boat, three other projects he’s working on, a night in the studio with Freddie Gibbs, and more. The interview, lightly edited for clarity, is below.

Photo by Gunner Stahl  

How did you first get plugged in with the Michigan rap scene? I’ve always loved Detroit rap. I used to work with Pablo Skywalkin back in 2016. And I always loved Tee Grizzley. “First Day Out” was such an insane song, and I thought he was so lyrical. So I was working with him, and then my best friend Mitch started putting me on to other rappers locally who were on the rise, and I just loved their beats and their rapping schemes. I thought they were so dope. So that’s how I got into it originally.

A lot of people were surprised to see you show up in so many music videos with underground rappers in Flint and Detroit last year. How did the collaborations start happening? I was reaching out to them, bro. I was just coming to them. I wasn’t afraid to show love, and I wanted to work with all of them. So I would just hit them up.

What is it about their music that made you want to work with them? They don’t care. They want to have fun. And it’s funny . They’re mad fucking lyrical in a weird way. The schemes and the cadences and the flows are so unorthodox. And the style of Michigan beats just forced me into this really weird scheme. You’ll see when this mixtape comes out. I just rap really unorthodox on it. A lot of people won’t like it. A lot of people think it’s offbeat.

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Do you think these beats have pushed you to grow as a rapper? Yeah, I learned new schemes and cadences. And I learned to have fun with it. They have fun. They talk about all kinds of crazy shit.

Michigan Boy Boat is on the way. What made you want to do a full tape with songs like this? I just wanted to show love. That’s it. I just wanted to show love to all of those guys and their talent. And I feel like I rap my best on those types of beats.

You sound really energized lately. I remember a few months ago, you jumped in Cardo’s room on Clubhouse and told everyone how excited you were about a verse you had just written. Yeah. That verse was so fucking crazy. I was sitting on the toilet.

Overall, it seems like you’re having a lot of fun making music right now. Oh, yeah. And I’m about to drop so much shit, it doesn’t make any sense. I’m definitely having fun.

A couple months ago, you dropped “Hit Bout It” with Kodak Black, which was a crazy moment. What was that experience like? We didn’t record it in person, but I did take a trip out there to shoot the video. When I recorded the song, I was on my Detroit shit. What happened was, I posted a snippet on my Instagram. And he was originally supposed to do a verse for “Pardon Me.” You know, because he was just pardoned by Donald Trump. Then he was like, “Man, I ain’t going to lie. I really want to get on this.” I was super excited, and we made it happen.

In the behind-the-scenes video, it looked like you guys have a tight bond together. What’s your relationship like, and how did that all go down? I don’t know how or why. It just kinda happened. I hit him when he was in jail, and I wanted to show support and that I was fucking with him. And he would call me every now and then. We’d chop it up and just talk. I think he really supported that and respected that. And when he got out, it was just love.

Speaking of collaborations, you were just tweeting about Freddie Gibbs assembling the Avengers for his next album. Yeah, I was with him last night. I put him on some Detroit shit. [Laughs.]

How did you guys link up? After I tweeted that, he DM’d me, like, “Let’s link.” And I was out here and I pulled right the fuck up.

What was that session like? I was super excited. He’s really fire. He’s like a legend. He was super cool. He’s like a gangster. He was super dope, and he’s older. The session was really chill. I didn’t stay long, unfortunately, because I had to go to a session with Mac DeMarco, so I did the song and left. But it was dope as fuck. He’s funny as shit.

You recently tweeted , “I be sittin back watching y’all assumptions on situations and y’all be so off. The internet just be making up shit.” Do you think people have misconceptions about you at this point? What do people get wrong? Yeah, [some people] think I’m gay as fuck. But I have a beautiful girlfriend. And before her, I had plenty of bitches. You know? So that’s a misconception. But I don’t give a fuck.

You’ve been writing songs for other artists a little lately, like “Act Up” for City Girls, which I think opened some people’s minds to how talented you really are. Is that part of the appeal? I love gaining my respect.

As a songwriter for other artists, you have to put yourself in someone else’s point of view, and you’ve pulled it off really well so far. Why do you think it’s come naturally for you? Honestly, I was just bored, bro. One day I was in the studio, bored as fuck. And I was like, “Let me see if I can do this.” I did it.

Is that something you want to do more? I’ve done it a few times. I’ve done it. I stopped speaking on it.

I see. I was going to ask if you’d explore that more and ever write songs for pop artists or anything. Yeah, I’ve done some shit. I don’t want to get into it, but I’ve done some shit.

“Just listen to the f*cking bars because I promise I’m rapping my f*cking a** off.”

I know you’ve been in the studio with Taz Taylor and the Internet Money guys. Can you talk about that? We’re doing an album. I’m about to go see Taz right now. He’s a fucking king. He’s a fucking GOAT. I have respect for him, 100%.

What have the sessions been like so far? I’ve been in LA three days, and we’ve already made 24 songs. We’re working hard, bro. It’s fun. It’s melodic. It’s fully melodic.

Oh, shit. So a totally different sound from this next Michigan Boy Boat project… Yeah, I got projects, man. I’ve got my project with Internet Money. I’m doing my project with Lil Tecca. I got my project with Working On Dying. And then I’ll start my album fourth quarter of the year.

So there’s lots of shit going on. I’m dropping a shit ton this year.

What made you want to make a bunch of different projects that show all your different styles, instead of just holding off and doing one big album? It didn’t start off that way. It honestly started off with me just fucking with all these guys that I fuck with. And they all love me for different things. Taz, he wanted to bring out my melodic side. You know, with Working On Dying, it’s just all types of heat.

Before you go, I wanted to ask about cryptocurrency. You created your YachtyCoin and then made an NFT. And I know you were an early investor in Dogecoin and SafeMoon and all this shit. How did you get into all of this? Well, my manager put me onto the whole YachtyCoin thing. This year and last year, I just took it and ran with it.

There are stories of people who invested early making ridiculous amounts of money. I know you were early, too. Have you seen crazy profits already? Oh, yeah. Ohhhh yeah . Mm-hmm.

What should people know before they press play on Michigan Boy Boat when it drops? Just listen to the fucking bars because I promise I’m rapping my fucking ass off.

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The Best Lil Yachty Albums And Mixtapes, Ranked

Which Lil Yachty albums do you think are the best? Below is the complete Lil Yachty discography, from his new album  Nuthin' 2 Prove to his first album Lil Boat . You can vote up more than one so feel free to base it on your favorite song or album as a whole. Despite being relatively new on the scene as compared to artists like Tyga, Lil Yachty already has quite an album list. With several hits like "One Night" off of Lil Boat and "66" off of Lil Boat 2 . 

Peruse the albums at your leisure because there is a lot to consider in the Lil Yachty mixtapes and albums list. He is known as a rapper, singer, songwriter and spans such genres as hip hop, trap and mumble rap. Have fun and vote up your favorites and see which ones are truly the best Lil Yachty albums.

• Quality Control, Capitol, Motown

1. Intro / Just Keep Swimming 2. Wanna Be Us (feat. TheGoodPerry) 3. Minnesota (feat. Quavo, Skippa da Flippa and Young Thug) 4. Not My Bro 5. Interlude 6. Good Day (feat. Skippa da Flippa) 7. Up Next 2 (feat. Big Brutha Chubba and Byou) 8. Run / Running 9. Never Switch Up 10. One Night 11. Out Late 12. F*cked Over 13. I'm Sorry (feat. TheGoodPerry) 14. We Did It (Positivity Song)

• Release Date : 2016

• Capitol, Motown, Quality Control

1. Self Made 2. Boom! (feat. Ugly God) 3. Oops (feat. 2 Chainz and K Supreme) 4. Talk to Me Nice (feat. Quavo) 5. Get Money Bros. (feat. Tee Grizzley) 6. Count Me In 7. She Ready (feat. PnB Rock) 8. Love Me Forever 9. Das Cap 10. Pop Out (feat. JBands2Turnt) 11. NBAYoungBoat (feat. YoungBoy Never Broke Again) 12. Mickey (feat. Offset and Lil Baby) 13. FWM 14. Flex 15. Whole Lotta Guap 16. Baby Daddy (feat. Lil Pump and Offset) 17. 66 (feat. Trippie Redd)

Metacritic score: 53/100

• Release Date : 2018

Nuthin' 2 Prove

1. Gimmie My Respect 2. Get Dripped (feat. Playboi Carti) 3. Riley from the Boondocks 4. I'm the Mac 5. Yacht Club (feat. Juice Wrld) 6. SaintLaurentYSL (feat. Lil Baby) 7. We Outta Here! (feat. Young Nudy) 8. Who Want the Smoke? (feat. Cardi B and Offset) 9. Worth It 10. Everything Good, Everything Right 11. Next Up 12. Forever World (feat. Trippie Redd) 13. Nolia (feat. Kevin Gates) 14. Fallin in Luv (feat. Gunna) 15. Stoney

Metacritic score: 52/100

Summer Songs 2

1. Intro (First Day of Summer) 2. For Hot 97 (feat. JBan$2Turnt, Byou and Big Brutha Chubba) 3. IDK 4. King of Teens 5. Shoot Out the Roof 6. Why? (Interlude) 7. Up Next 3 (feat. G Herbo) 8. DipSet (feat. Offset) 9. Life Goes On (feat. Cook LaFlare) 10. Yeah Yeah 11. Pretty (feat. TheGoodPerry) 12. Such Ease (feat. TheGoodPerry and Tyler Royale) 13. All In (feat. TheGoodPerry, Byou, Kay the Yacht, Big Brutha Chubba, Soop, JBan$2Turnt, Kodie Shane and K$upreme) 14. So Many People

Teenage Emotions

1. Like a Star 2. DN Freestyle 3. Peek a Boo (feat. Migos) 4. Dirty Mouth 5. Harley 6. All Around Me (feat. YG and Kamaiyah) 7. Say My Name 8. All You Had to Say 9. Better (feat. Stefflon Don) 10. Forever Young (feat. Diplo) 11. Lady in Yellow 12. Moments in Time 13. Otha Sh*t (Interlude) 14. X Men (feat. Evander Griiim) 15. Bring It Back 16. Running With a Ghost (feat. Grace) 17. FYI (Know Now) 18. Priorities 19. No More 20. Made of Glass 21. Momma (Outro) (feat. Sonyae Elise)

Metacritic score: 63/100

• Release Date : 2017
• Hip-Hop / Rap

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