Lil Yachty incensed traditionalist hip hop heads when he said he isn't familiar with the music of The Notorious B.I.G. or Tupac this summer, then declared Biggie "overrated" earlier this month.
After going through Biggie's catalog in the last couple weeks, he has evolved his position on the legendary Brooklyn artist, and explained his new thoughts in a new interview with Ebro.
"To this day, I feel like I was wrong for speaking about something like that without taking a second to listen," Yachty said. "Before I said that I was in the blind. I feel like I owe an apology. I didn't think before I spoke on that topic. I know now how important and just how serious it is to some people. I didn't want people thinking that I was disrespecting him because it wasn't a disrespect thing. That's just my personal opinion. My dad did not play Biggie or Tupac so I had never heard it. I'm not going to sit here and lie and say I just bump him. But I know for a fact he was spittin'."
He added that still has to visit Tupac's music, though "Changes" did bring a tear to his eye at one point in his youth, and elaborated on his desire to "promote positivity on a global scale" and how he views his place in hip hop. "It took me a long time to even accept and call my music hip-hop," he said. "I didn't feel like it was and I always got told it wasn't."
"It's a new sound. It doesn't have a title yet," he said of his style. "I hate that mumble rap title... I just feel like I'm not a part of it. I don't mumble."
Both Ebro and Yachty adopted more diplomatic stances than they have in interviews past. Ebro said that Yachty "has great hooks and melodies" and Yachty, more mature of after a year in the limelight, was more reflective than ever.
"This year has been so fast for me," he said. "I'm just trying to find some time to really become a hip-hop artist. I feel like I jumped in this game so fast and elevated past everybody, I didn't have time to do anything. I went from sitting in high school, laying on the couch, sitting in the college dorm for a couple days, and then penthouse, flashing lights, red carpet, big Benzes, fans [...] I didn't have any time to listen to Biggie because I didn't come up with it. And I was raised on telling the truth, so when it came time to talk about Biggie and Tupac, I only talked about what I knew."
Yachty revealed his plans to give acting a shot and debuted a new track "Judgement Free." Listen here and watch the full interview below.