Lil Yachty shocked the world with one of the most stark musical shifts from an uber-successful artist in recent history with his new album, released on Jan. 27. “Let’s Start Here,” as the name suggests, serves as a beginning for a new era of Lil Yachty.
Rapper Lil Yachty is known for his catchy pop-rap hits and signature falsetto vocals. Songs like “iSpy” and “Minnesota” carried him to fame in the mid-2010s during the rise of the trap subgenre. Since then, Yachty has continued to make music in this style, often at his best when collaborating with other popular trap artists. After a relatively unnoteworthy 2021, Lil Yachty was forced to release the single “Poland,” after it was leaked in October. Despite the song being made as a joke, it blew up on TikTok, propelling Lil Yachty back into the spotlight and setting the stage for “Let’s Start Here.”
“Let’s Start Here” sees Lil Yachty shift toward a psychedelic rock sound, a far departure from his trap roots. Lil Yachty expressed in a speech at his Jan. 26 album release party his dedication to his craft and desire to be taken seriously as a musical artist rather than just another SoundCloud rapper.
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“Music is everything to me,” Yachty said to the crowd of fans. “I respect all walks of music, not just rap/hip-hop, everything. So, I think I wanted to make something that showed the world just how great [music] was to me.”
True to his word, Lil Yachty successfully taps into a new genre in this album, something many rappers have tried and failed to do. Whether it be Kid Cudi’s ill-advised grunge album “Speedin’ Bullet 2 Heaven” or Machine Gun Kelly’s infamous transition to pop punk with “Tickets To My Downfall,” many former rappers have attempted rock albums that come across as tasteless imitations. Unlike his peers, Lil Yachty is able to capture the psychedelic sound gracefully while still adding his own unique flair. He primarily accomplishes this feat by partnering up with experienced psychedelic rock producers such as Mac Demarco and Patrick Wimberly of Chairlift fame.
The album’s focus on detailed production is evident from track to track. The opening song, “the BLACK seminole.” introduces listeners to the album with its reverb guitar, drawling drums and epic musical transitions. Amazing synthesizer work is also a staple throughout this project, sometimes fluttering in the background on tracks like “the ride-” and other times taking over a melody for a moment of intensity, like on “REACH THE SUNSHINE.” While psychedelic production is the norm for the album, Lil Yachty taps into other genres to give each track a different feel. We get a pop twist on “the ride-” while “drive ME crazy!” goes in more of a disco direction.
On top of the magnificent production, Lil Yachty brings his trademark musical asset to the album: his voice. In his SoundCloud days, the rapper stood out from his contemporaries as more of a singer, known for his signature, and often out of tune, falsetto. While Lil Yachty doesn’t choose to use his falsetto on every track, the signature pitch does make some notable appearances. On “the ride-” and the end of “sAy sOMETHINg” the artist takes his voice to new heights with surprising success. He uses quite a bit of autotune, but the alterations actually add to the psychedelic atmosphere, rather than taking away from the experience. Even though Lil Yachty is not the most technically-impressive vocalist, his electronic-sounding vocals make sense for the sound of this album and often work better than on many of his previous hits. The artist’s singing contains more emotion on “Let’s Start Here” than ever before.
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Skilled singers Foushee and Daniel Caesar, who each serve as great features on the project, continuously show up Lil Yatchy, although he does deliver on the vocals in his own right. Caesar provides stellar verses on the concluding “REACH THE SUNSHINE,” adding to the introspective theme of the track and album as a whole. Foushee shows up on two tracks, most notably “The Alchemist,” where she stamps her mark on the project with a smooth chorus to counter Lil Yachty’s high-energy verse. Caesar and Foushee are great additions, but Lil Yachty is the anchoring voice to the album.
Lil Yachty provides direction to each track, inviting the listener to follow along on his journey toward a new sound. The first half of the album sees Lil Yachty pondering responsibility and maturity, introducing the deeper and more serious tone of the project. The artist’s new maturity translates into a series of love songs where Lil Yachty makes it clear he is looking for a deeper connection with his partner. The three-song stretch of “WE SAW THE SUN!,” “drive ME crazy!” and “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST VISION” serve as the psychedelic climax of the album, with the tone shifting towards anguish on “IVE OFFICIALLY LOST VISION.” “sHouLd i B?,” a highlight of the latter half of the album, and “sAy sOMETHINg” see the artist trapped in the toxic aftermath of the failed attempt at love from earlier in the album. The journey ends with “REACH THE SUNSHINE,” which serves as an intense conclusion that immerses the listener in Daniel Ceasar’s silky vocals, Lil Yachty’s introspective lyrics and a wall of synthesizers.
While “Let’s Start Here,” is not a perfect psychedelic rock album, it successfully gives the listener a glimpse into Lil Yachty’s mind and effectively captures the sounds of its influences. “Let’s Start Here” has shown the artist’s immense versatility and potential to tap into any genre, proving wrong those who doubted Lil Yachty as a creator. Hopefully, Lil Yachty continues his creative metamorphosis in the next chapter of his discography.
Samuel Bartlett (26C, he/him) is from Durham, North Carolina whose major is undecided. Outside of the Wheel, Bartlett is involved with the Emory Climate Reality Project as an executive, helping plan events to raise awareness about climate change. He loves watching UNC basketball and exploring Atlanta.
