Lil Yachty - "Let’s Start Here." Album Review
What's in a name? Well, for musicians, it can be one of the many ways they can evoke defining traits of their personas, as well as their music. What can be difficult to deal with, however, is when artists’ names cause them to be put in a box simply for the conventions the name evokes.
A couple of years ago, DRAM— short for Does Real Ass Music— changed his stage name to Shelley FKA DRAM, sometimes going by his birth name, Shelley. The change was to better represent where his music was heading; more introspective, and a better display of his singing abilities rather than the cheeky, happy-go-lucky flows he was known for, exemplified on songs such as “Broccoli.”
The featured artist on that very song, Lil Yachty, ran into a similar conundrum recently. Even before considering his discography, the name Lil Yachty already gives off a clear mental sonic image. “Lil” evokes an underling, and is a prefix used by many young rappers, especially ones who initially gain prominence on internet platforms such as SoundCloud. A yacht, a cliché material signifier of abundantly wealthy adults, is made juvenile and playful by attaching a “y” at the end. Up until this point, Yachty has made or attached himself to many comedic and viral anthems of the late 2010s, from the his early hit “Minnesota,” the cheeky and uplifting “iSpy” with KYLE, and the aforementioned “Broccoli” with DRAM.
In January 2023, Lil Yachty assembled hundreds of fans at the Liberty Science Center’s IMAX Theater in Jersey City for the premiere of his latest album, Let’s Start Here. He prefaced it by making his objective with the album known: “I really wanted to be taken seriously as an artist, not just some SoundCloud rapper or some mumble rapper.” What followed was a 57 minute-long sprawl that is a full-on detour into psychedelic rock, featuring woozy drums, glittering keys, and screeching guitars. We’ve seen this trajectory before with artists like Childish Gambino, who made clever story-based hip-hop and is now devoted to groovy neo-soul since “Awaken, My Love!” or fellow “Lil” rapper Lil Ugly Mane, who exploded onto the scene with an experimental take on Southern Hip-Hop, and then released the plunderphonic-inspired indie-rock odyssey “Volcanic Bird Enemy and the Voiced Concern.” Does Yachty’s latest prove that he can be a “serious” artist?
The opening track, “the BLACK seminole.” says it all. A 7-minute hellish dissent into hysteria whose erratic female vocalizations have created a knee-jerk comparison to Pink Floyd’s “The Great Gig in the Sky.” Immediately following, “the ride-” sees Yachty collaborate with an exciting new voice in the indie scene, Teezo Touchdown. Throughout the rest of the album, Yachty proves that his knowledge of the sonic world he’s found himself in is invaluable, making friends with some of its freshest faces and vital veterans. From Magdalena Bay to Mac DeMarco, Yachty’s eclectic list of collaborators he enlisted for this album gives credence to the fact that it is a genuine artistic statement and pivot, not made to chase a trend, capitalize on recognizable talent, or bloat itself to boost streaming numbers.
Yachty delivers his vocals earnestly, and even experiments with his voice. It’s certainly a nice change of pace compared to recent projects, where his asleep-at-the-wheel performance causes him to slink into the background on his own songs. “pRETTy” with Fousheé proves that his warbly vocals on last year’s viral “Poland” were not a one-off gimmick, however, placed in the salacious atmosphere of “pRETTy” gives them a more of an orgasmic connotation. Yachty also dives deep into his psyche throughout the album. The spoken-word interlude “:(failure(:” has him check in with himself at this point in his career over a bed of smooth electric guitar. The back half sees Yachty gasping for air amidst drug addiction and mental barricades, from the disco-infused “drive ME crazy!” to the gut-wrenching cries for help of “THE zone~” and “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST ViSiON!!!!”
Do rappers need to leave the bubble of rap in order to be “taken seriously” as artists? When all-important events such as the Grammys continue to neglect hip-hop in the general fields, is it diminishing hip-hop’s value as an art form? Of course, it’s important to keep in mind that there are inherent biases that perpetuate these beliefs, be it racism or just personal taste, but as hip-hop continues to dominate popular music in the 2020s, what leads its creators to want to see themselves outside of it? Perhaps the title itself is meant to serve as a guide post, where he wants to start over. Perhaps this is the real him, or maybe he will circle back to his SoundCloud rap stylings. Other artists who came up in the rap world have now committed themselves to a completely unrecognizable sound to their past discography, or rather strive to be seen as more than just a rapper. Nevertheless, Yachty’s statement begs the question of what a serious artist is, and what they sound like.
A common response to many pivot albums of the past rings true for Let’s Start Here.: Where does Yachty go from here, and will he implement these new textures into his future and/or usual sound? DRAM— now back to just DRAM for his latest album, What Had Happened Was...— has continued to capitalize on his proficiency in making R&B and neo-soul. Time will tell if Yachty decides to stick to his guns, but regardless, he shows a lot of promise in this new field.
